Lurking behind all this are two emergencies. One is the calamity for individual households whose breadwinners are pushed out of previously stable trades by a political vanity project by the progressive left.The other is the economic disaster of “human capital” destroyed. The 190,000 people who will no longer be employed by Germany’s car industry after the green transition, for instance, are 190,000 people who know how to perform highly skilled tasks. They will no longer be practicing those industrial arts or—crucially—passing them on to the next generation of apprentices and younger workers. Once that deep well of knowledge is depleted, it isn’t obvious how it can be replenished.
IMO, destruction of human capital is one of the most overlooked crises that western societies are facing.
Speaking as a university professor in the US and the parent of two kids, my very strong impression right now is that the education I grew up with (and of those who grew up together with me), is superior to the education of today, at both the grade school and college levels.
In fact, both my wife and I sometimes feel sad that we don't think our children are achieving the same levels of academic ability that we had at their age. We try to supplement their education at home, but it's hard to find the time and we don't think the school systems are doing a good job; despite us sending them to schools that are already considered quite good for our area.