I agree with the other posts. If we can't interest students in Ham Radio early, it's going down the drain. If anyone wants to speak to someone new now, they can get on a chat room...
We are becoming a consumer nation, producing less and less as time goes on. Technical jobs, even some computer jobs are being off-shored, removing the desire for new students in colleges to pick non-technical fields.
Math and Science/Physics is being dumbed down in early schools, and many schools can't afford to pay the better teachers. In part due to the need to allow Hispanic students to compete. Some schools, I've heard, even require Spanish education for prospective teachers!
The PC (Politically Correct) slant is affecting the Universities most of all. My son was going for a Math degree but was turned off with the requirement of 30 semester hours of multicultural core classes, and dropped out with only two Math classes to go! Literature replaced American Literature, with only 3 of the required books being written by authors in the US!). A BSEE at several Universities now requires 20%-50% more hours of Liberal Arts than 30 years ago, probably due to the low number of tenured Math/Sciences professors when graduation requirements are voted on...
A class in Black Studies was a required course in both my boy's High School too. I would expect that to change if the current Amnesty Bill passes, as the largest minority would be Hispanic then. (Well, after the over 55 who don't count -- we're too old to get "real" jobs when we're let go due to downsizing and outsourcing.)
Gary KB9CG