Editing Millennials (section)

===North America ===
According to the Pew Research Center, 53% of American millennials attended or were enrolled in university in 2002. For comparison, the number of young people attending university was 44% in 1986.<ref name="Solman-2019">{{Cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/anxious-about-debt-generation-z-makes-college-choice-a-financial-one|title=Anxious about debt, Generation Z makes college choice a financial one|last=Solman|first=Paul|date=28 March 2019| publisher=PBS Newshour |access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref> By the 2020s, 39% of millennials had at least a bachelor's degree, more than the Baby Boomers at 25%, the Economist reports.<ref>{{Cite news|date=12 September 2020|title=Younger Americans feel their voting weight| publisher=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/united-states/2020/09/12/younger-americans-feel-their-voting-weight|access-date=11 September 2020}}</ref>

In the United States today, high school students are generally encouraged to attend college or university after graduation while the options of technical school and vocational training are often neglected.<ref name="Krupnick-2017">{{Cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/decades-pushing-bachelors-degrees-u-s-needs-tradespeople|title=After decades of pushing bachelor's degrees, U.S. needs more tradespeople|last=Krupnick|first=Matt|date=29 August 2017|work=PBS Newshour|access-date=17 May 2019}}</ref> Historically, high schools separated students on career tracks, with programs aimed at students bound for higher education and those bound for the workforce. Students with learning disabilities or behavioral issues were often directed towards vocational or technical schools. All this changed in the late 1980s and early 1990s thanks to a major effort in the large cities to provide more abstract academic education to everybody. The mission of high schools became preparing students for college, referred to as "high school to Harvard."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/should-more-kids-skip-college-for-workforce-training|title=Should more kids skip college for workforce training?|date=26 January 2016| publisher=PBS Newshour|access-date=2 October 2019}}</ref> However, this program faltered in the 2010s, as institutions of higher education came under heightened skepticism due to high costs and disappointing results. People became increasingly concerned about debts and deficits. No longer were promises of educating "citizens of the world" or estimates of economic impact coming from abstruse calculations sufficient. Colleges and universities found it necessary to prove their worth by clarifying how much money from which industry and company funded research, and how much it would cost to attend.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/facing-skepticism-colleges-set-out-to-prove-their-value|title=Facing skepticism, colleges set out to prove their value|last=Marcus|first=Jon|date=22 January 2016| publisher=PBS Newshour| access-date=2 October 2019}}</ref>

Because jobs (that suited what one studied) were so difficult to find in the few years following the Great Recession, the value of getting [[Liberal arts education|a liberal arts degree]] and studying the humanities at an American university came into question, their ability to develop a well-rounded and broad-minded individual notwithstanding.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/so-you-have-a-liberal-arts-degree-and-expect-a-job|title=So You Have a Liberal Arts Degree and Expect a Job?|date=3 January 2011| publisher=PBS Newshour|access-date=4 October 2019}}</ref> As of 2019, the total college debt has exceeded US$1.5&nbsp;trillion, and two out of three college graduates are saddled with debt.<ref name="Solman-2019" /> The average borrower owes US$37,000, up US$10,000 from ten years before. A 2019 survey by TD Ameritrade found that over 18% of millennials (and 30% of Generation Z) said they have considered taking a gap year between high school and college.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/half-of-young-americans-say-college-isnt-necessary-2019-08-06|title=Half of young Americans say college is no longer necessary|last=Wellemeyer|first=James|date=6 August 2019| publisher=Market Watch|access-date=6 August 2019}}</ref>

In 2019, the [[Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis]] published research (using data from the 2016 ''[[Survey of Consumer Finances]]'') demonstrating that after controlling for race and age cohort families with heads of household with post-secondary education who were born before 1980 there have been wealth and income premiums, while for families with heads of household with post-secondary education but born after 1980 the wealth premium has weakened to point of [[Statistical significance|statistical insignificance]] (in part because of the [[Cost and financing issues facing higher education in the United States|rising cost of college]]) and the income premium while remaining positive has declined to historic lows (with more pronounced downward trajectories with heads of household with [[Postgraduate education|postgraduate degrees]]).<ref name="Emmons Kent & Ricketts 2019">{{cite journal|last1=Emmons|first1=William R.|last2=Kent|first2=Ana H.|last3=Ricketts|first3=Lowell R.|s2cid=211431474|year=2019|title=Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns|url=https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/review/2019/10/15/is-college-still-worth-it-the-new-calculus-of-falling-returns.pdf|journal=Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review|publisher=[[Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis]]|volume=101|issue=4|pages=297–329|doi=10.20955/r.101.297-329|doi-access=free}}</ref> Quantitative historian [[Peter Turchin]] noted that the United States was overproducing university graduates—he termed this [[elite overproduction]]—in the 2000s and predicted, using historical trends, that this would be one of the causes of political instability in the 2020s, alongside income inequality, stagnating or declining real wages, growing public debt. According to Turchin, intensifying competition among graduates, whose numbers were larger than what the economy could absorb, leads to political polarization, social fragmentation, and even violence as many become disgruntled with their dim prospects despite having attained a high level of education. He warned that the turbulent 1960s and 1970s could return, as having a massive young population with university degrees was one of the key reasons for the instability of the past.<ref name="Turchin-2010">{{Cite journal|last=Turchin|first=Peter|date=3 February 2010|title=Political instability may be a contributor in the coming decade|journal=Nature|volume=403|issue=7281|pages=608|doi=10.1038/463608a|pmid=20130632|bibcode=2010Natur.463..608T|doi-access=free}}</ref>

According to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], students were turning away from liberal arts programs. Between 2012 and 2015, the number of graduates in the humanities dropped from 234,737 to 212,512. Consequently, many schools have relinquished these subjects, dismissed faculty members, or closed completely.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Cherney|first=Elissa|date=16 July 2020|title=Illinois Wesleyan University drops religion, French, Italian and anthropology, over objections of alumni and faculty. Other liberal arts programs will be altered | publisher=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-illinois-wesleyan-university-liberal-arts-program-cuts-20200716-yo337lghgrdmnpdl4xhfarzqe4-story.html|access-date=17 July 2020}}</ref> Data from the [[National Center for Education Statistics]] revealed that between 2008 and 2017, the number of people majoring in English plummeted by just over a quarter. At the same time, those in philosophy and religion fell 22% and those who studied foreign languages dropped 16%. Meanwhile, the number of university students majoring in homeland security, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics ([[Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics|STEM]]), and healthcare skyrocketed. (See figure below.)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/19/worlds-top-economists-just-made-case-why-we-still-need-english-majors/|title=The world's top economists just made the case for why we still need English majors| last=Long|first=Heather|date=19 October 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=10 November 2019}}</ref>
[[File:Majors Change 2009-17.png|alt=|center]]
According to the U.S. [[United States Department of Education|Department of Education]], people with technical or vocational trainings are slightly more likely to be employed than those with a bachelor's degree and significantly more likely to be employed in their fields of specialty.<ref name="Krupnick-2017"/> The United States currently suffers from a shortage of skilled tradespeople.<ref name="Krupnick-2017" />
[[File:2006 MIT Integration Bee.jpg|thumb|left|Victors of the 2006 MIT [[Integration Bee]], with the champion, dubbed the "Grand Integrator" in the middle.]]
Despite the fact that educators and political leaders, such as President Barack Obama, have been trying to years to improve the quality of STEM education in the United States, and that various polls have demonstrated that more students are interested in these subjects, graduating with a STEM degree is a different kettle of fish altogether.<ref name="Drew-2011" /> According to ''The Atlantic'', 48% of students majoring in STEM dropped out of their programs between 2003 and 2009.<ref name="Tyre-2016">{{Cite news|last=Tyre|first=Peg|date=8 February 2016|title=The Math Revolution|work=The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/03/the-math-revolution/426855/|url-status=live|access-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200628224704/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/03/the-math-revolution/426855/|archive-date=28 June 2020}}</ref> Data collected by the [[University of California, Los Angeles]], (UCLA) in 2011 showed that although these students typically came in with excellent high school GPAs and SAT scores, among science and engineering students, including pre-medical students, 60% changed their majors or failed to graduate, twice the attrition rate of all other majors combined. Despite their initial interest in secondary school, many university students find themselves overwhelmed by the reality of a rigorous STEM education.<ref name="Drew-2011" /> Some are mathematically unskilled,<ref name="Drew-2011" /><ref name="Tyre-2016" /> while others are simply lazy.<ref name="Drew-2011" /> The [[National Science Board]] raised the alarm all the way back in the mid-1980s that students often forget why they wanted to be scientists and engineers in the first place. Many bright students had an easy time in high school and failed to develop good study habits. In contrast, Chinese, Indian, and Singaporean students are exposed to mathematics and science at a high level from a young age.<ref name="Drew-2011" /> Moreover, according education experts, many mathematics schoolteachers were not as well-versed in their subjects as they should be, and might well be uncomfortable with mathematics.<ref name="Tyre-2016" /> Given two students who are equally prepared, the one who goes to a more prestigious university is less likely to graduate with a STEM degree than the one who attends a less difficult school. Competition can defeat even the top students. Meanwhile, grade inflation is a real phenomenon in the humanities, giving students an attractive alternative if their STEM ambitions prove too difficult to achieve. Whereas STEM classes build on top of each other—one has to master the subject matter before moving to the next course—and have black and white answers, this is not the case in the humanities, where things are a lot less clear-cut.<ref name="Drew-2011">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/why-science-majors-change-their-mind-its-just-so-darn-hard.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104171721/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/why-science-majors-change-their-mind-its-just-so-darn-hard.html |archive-date=4 November 2011 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Why Science Majors Change Their Minds (It's Just So Darn Hard)|last=Drew|first=Christopher|date=4 November 2011|work=The New York Times|access-date=28 October 2019}}</ref>

In 2015, educational psychologist Jonathan Wai analyzed average test scores from the [[Army General Classification Test]] in 1946 (10,000 students), the Selective Service College Qualification Test in 1952 (38,420), [[Project Talent]] in the early 1970s (400,000), the [[Graduate Record Examinations|Graduate Record Examination]] between 2002 and 2005 (over 1.2 million), and the [[SAT]] Math and Verbal in 2014 (1.6 million). Wai identified one consistent pattern: those with the highest test scores tended to pick the physical sciences and engineering as their majors while those with the lowest were more likely to choose education. (See figure below.)<ref name="Wai-2015">{{Cite news|last=Wai|first=Jonathan|date=3 February 2015|title=Your college major is a pretty good indication of how smart you are|work=Quartz|url=http://qz.com/334926/your-college-major-is-a-pretty-good-indication-of-how-smart-you-are/|url-status=live|access-date=30 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116221413/http://qz.com/334926/your-college-major-is-a-pretty-good-indication-of-how-smart-you-are/|archive-date=16 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Crew|first=Bec|date=16 February 2015|title=Your College Major Can Be a Pretty Good Indication of How Smart You Are|work=Science Magazine |url=https://www.sciencealert.com/your-college-major-can-be-a-pretty-good-indication-of-how-smart-you-are|access-date=30 January 2021}}</ref>
[[File:Graduate Majors and GRE Averages.png|center]]During the 2010s, the mental health of American graduate students in general was in a state of crisis.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wong|first=Alia|date=27 November 2018|title=Graduate School Can Have Terrible Effects on People's Mental Health| publisher=The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/11/anxiety-depression-mental-health-graduate-school/576769/|access-date=25 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028033428/https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/11/anxiety-depression-mental-health-graduate-school/576769/|archive-date=28 October 2021}}</ref>