The first theory being *why* nobody wants education...
1.
http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-11181-0.html?forumID=6&threadID=179848&start=02. People have seen the results of offshoring and do not want to ruin their own financial lives by taking out a loan to get educated on something that'll go overseas. Which is rather more than what anyone expected.
3. Indolence/addiction/et al.
4. As children/students, their "peers" mock them for wanting to study.
Somehow, 1 & 2 combined outweigh #3 by some margin. #3 has numerous causes. Nobody gives a fizzle about #4 either, as parents are too busy working to earn enough money, too lazy about raising their children right, undiagnosed disorders in children, and/or schools won't punish the bullies because it's not up to the school to be the nanny. And as children DO look up to their parents and emulate such behavior... it's a mess. A big mess. (and if anyone disbelieves me, the animal kingdom is replete with proof that the more intelligent species guard and rear their offspring. The dumb ones just eat them, or let them be eaten. A very glib response, but worth pondering about in greater detail.)
As for answers, well the worst case scenario one I know of won't work because it really isn't about education. It's greed. After all, our society is told "spend spend spend" and then is blamed for doing so, often by the people who say to spend; the mitigating factors including oil prices, belief a person will have a job for more than 5 years, and so on.
Which reminds me, what is the point OF home ownership if the job changes so frequently, they'd have to sell, relocate, or hope it sells before their credit rating is ruined?
All of this, and other elements, lend to the belief there is no tinfoil shizzle going on; it's a massive mixture of disparate problems that WILL hurt everyone unless something happens. And even if the "Amero" and the NAU are real, well it might just turn things around for the better too.
Whatever happens has to be one organized, complete swoop or else it's a load of cow pucky.