I'll be candid: "Crisis" implies a temporary emergency that will eventually return to "normal." But "normal" was already failing millions.
Yesterday, I met someone who saw a gap the same way I've been describing it — sometimes with a little too much conviction ahead of the research, admittedly, where instinct led before evidence could follow. For that, I've faced my share of rejection.
But of late, I have been meeting more people who are willing to honestly engage with what's missing. And others who are willing to invest in fixing it, in kind or otherwise.
Education Is in Crisis
Education is in crisis. Not at any single level — this is systemic.
Post-secondary institutions felt the burn first. Those with the resources fought back in their own ways: Work-Integrated Learning, targeted incentives, and initiatives to revitalize demand. But that only addresses part of the problem.
If that gap doesn't close, public school boards will face a reckoning.
The Warning Signs Are Already Here
We're already seeing the signals. Parents in New York are shifting to private schools. In Florida, families are choosing homeschooling over the public system — and would do so even faster if they were compensated for it. The current output of our high school system isn't meeting the moment. We cannot let this trend continue.
The masses depend on public education. Our equality depends on it.
The Inequality Crisis
Women fought hard for equal rights. The inequality forming now may not be defined by gender, but it is forming. Consider what the internet disrupted: the single-income household model, where one person could earn enough for a good life, a home, and a family. That stability is eroding.
The next wave of inequality will be defined by access to the right skills, at the right time, through a system that's no longer delivering them.
Who Should Care
Advocacy Organizations
Women's and men's advocacy organizations — if a specific group bears a disproportionate cost of this crisis, they need to be at the table.
Generational Advocacy Groups
Groups representing today's students — and if none exist specifically for this cause, that gap itself may be an opportunity. What are current graduate organizations doing about this? Is it working?
Industries
Industries are already feeling the talent shortfall — they are experiencing the downstream consequences of a system that isn't building the right skills, all the while experiencing the highest unemployment rates.
Governments
Because declining affordability is already suppressing birth rates, which carries long-term consequences for economic health that compound quietly, until they don't.
The Solution
Cultiv8 Society has a plan to address this before it becomes catastrophically expensive. Post-secondary intervention has already cost billions — we have a roadmap of what late action looks like. I have a framework to break down the silos driving this crisis.
If this resonates, I would like to hear from you! If you are not willing to invest in it now, read that post again and see if that resonates. I would love your perspective!