The United States has a shortage of educated workers. Employers are paying four-year college graduates 75 percent more than high school graduates, while 25 years ago college graduates only received 40 percent more. 'This is the first generation of American-born men who don't have substantially more education than their fathers' generation," says Lawrence Katz, labor economist at Harvard University.

At the beginning of the 20th century most Americans received eight years of schooling, but by the 1920s more than 50 percent of teenagers were going to high school. The trend toward more education extended to college, but in recent years things have leveled off. Even though more jobs require a degree, only 30 to 35 percent of young Americans graduate from college.

Some experts blame the American education system and its allowances for those who fail repetitively—causing students to put off pushing themselves to higher achievement (David Wessel, 'Lack of Well-Educated Workers Has Lots of Roots, No Quick Fix," The Wall Street Journal , April 19, 2007).