The United States has a long tradition of recognizing the significant social and economic benefits of providing high-quality education for as many of its citizens as possible. The United States led the world, first, in expanding access to high-school education and, then, in the post-World War II era, access to college (Goldin, 2001; Goldin and Katz, 1999).
By 1966, about half of the workforce aged 25 and older had completed high school and about 10 percent had completed college. By 2006, more than 90 percent of adults in the labor force had a high-school education and more than 20 percent held at least a bachelor’s degree.