What does it mean to be well-educated?

[aefenglommung]

What does it mean to be well-educated? Well, to begin with, education is not the same as credentials (diplomas, degrees, courses taken). Some of the most well-educated people I’ve ever known were some women in my inner-city neighborhood church forty years ago who all left school about age 16 to get married, raise children, and work. Yet they

Comments

[xxxbarnes]

I question (sincerely, because I don't know the answer) that more than 50% of our population had graduated High School before World War II. Many serving in the military (as well as many at home) did NOT have high school diplomas. You are correct about the government worrying about the influx of returning men seeking jobs all at once and the creation of the G.I. Bill to stagger the influx of job seekers. But that same act did more. It paid for almost any type of job training, not simply college, and it sponsored something referred to by the men as "the 52-20 club." Knowing that some men did not want to spring right into more training or education and many were in need of time to simply decompress from PTSD (then known as Battle Fatigue) This "Club" allowed returning veterans to do absolutely nothing for a year and get paid for it. They collected $20 a week for 52 weeks and just loafed and sorted themselves out or looked for employment

[aefenglommung]

In 1940, the percent of Americans age 25 or older who had graduated high school was about 25%
In 1950, it was 34%
In 1960, it was 41%
In 1970, it was 55%

This is not quite the same thing as the difference between matriculation and graduation (how many who started 9th grade finished 12th), because it adds all previous generations into the graduation rate, but I take your point.