Today's young adults are no longer out-learning their elders, according to a recent report from the American Council on Education, a group that represents colleges and universities in Washington, D.C.
The report, which focused on minorities in higher education, revealed that about 35 percent of Americans 25 to 29 years old have attained at least an associate degree - a figure that also holds true for Americans 30 and older.
Molly Corbett Broad, the council's president, said this is the first time in American history that the younger generation has not surpassed the previous generation academically through attaining advanced degrees, saying in a telephone conference that "the alarm bell should be going off."
"One of the core tenets of the American dream is the hope that younger generations, who've had greater opportunities for educational advancement than their parents and grandparents, will be better off than the generations before them," Broad said. "And yet this report shows that that aspiration is at serious risk."
Some minority groups, including American Indians and Hispanics, experienced a decline in the rate of young adults obtaining associate degrees, according to the report.
The report showed that the number of minorities enrolled in colleges and universities increased by 50 percent between 1995 and 2005, but Broad said this increase is not keeping pace with changes in demographics.
She said a primary reason for the stagnating performance of minorities is that their high school graduation rates have stayed the same, particularly among Hispanics.
Broad said boosting high school completion rates is the key to pushing stunted education trends forward because more high school graduates are now enrolling in colleges and universities.
The report found enrollment in colleges increased among high school graduates by 40 percent.
Cirecie West-Olatunji, an associate professor at UF's College of Education, said one of the reasons many minority students lag behind is because they grow up in poorer neighborhoods.
West-Olatunji said African-Americans in older generations, such as herself, grew up in more stratified communities where they could see successful African-American professionals.
"Young people never wondered if they could achieve the same things as everyone else," she said.
These days, she said, many minorities don't see the value in education because there are not as many professional role models for them.
The report also found a slight decrease in continued college enrollment, particularly among Hispanics and students from two-year community colleges. Broad said these habits would make it harder for the younger generation to succeed.
"Just as more and more jobs for which the U.S. can compete require higher levels of education, our new generation of workers is attaining lower levels of education," Broad said.
West-Olatunji said minorities will probably feel the hardest effects of these academic requirements because of their often lower economic status and the segregation still present in schools and neighborhoods.
"We haven't gotten better," she said. "We've gotten worse."
