Clive Crook calls our slipping performance “the dumbing of America.”

For the first time in decades, and probably ever, workers retiring from the US labor force will be better-educated on average (according to one measure anyway) than their much younger counterparts. Some 12 per cent of 60-64 year olds have a master’s degree or better; less than 10 per cent of 30-34 year olds do. More generally, the decades-long rise in the educational quality of the labor force is coming to an end. This is important, because that rise has been one of the principal forces driving American economic growth.

It was also a force for compression of the nation’s income distribution. I love to point out how investment in mass transit solves lots of problems at a stroke. The same applies to investments in education, particularly those that improve affordability. A better educated workforce boosts overall growth and increases the extent to which that growth is broadly shared.