The Generation Between?

Source: "THE DUMBEST GENERATION: The Kids Are Alright. But Their Parents ..." by Neil Howe, The Washington Post, December 7, 2008.

The cohort of Americans born in the late 1950's and early 1960 shows up worse on average than previous and subsequent generations in the historical records of the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the SATs.

Americans born from 1958 to 1962 have the highest share that has never completed high school among all age brackets between 25 and 60. They also have the lowest share with a four-year college degree among all age brackets between 30 and 60, and they're tied for lowest in graduate degrees.

The author suggests that this cohort tended to include more later children in large families than earlier or later cohorts, suffered from schools that were not as effective as those "enjoyed" by other cohorts, and faced significant career challenges following the "Baby Boom" generation. The author points out that there were of course outstanding people, including Barack Obama, in this cohort.

One wonders whether there are comparable experiences in other countries. Do we expect the smaller families that came in the wake of family planning programs in developing countries to lead to better intelligence and educational outcomes? Certainly it seems reasonable that better schools (and better teaching) will lead to better educational outcomes.

I would note that the cohort involved lived through strange times in the United States, with the anti-Viet Nam war movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the Hippie counterculture, the expanded use of recreational drugs, the improvements and increased utilization of contraceptive technologies, etc.