Similar trends can be seen in every stage of the education system, and in almost every country in the world. Carol Frances, the former Chief Economist at the American Council on Education, describes it as “phenomenal,” “surging,” and “spectacular.” Stephan Vincent-Lancrin, senior analyst at the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, says it is “astonishing…people can’t believe it.” To Hanna Rosin, author of The End of Men, it is “the strangest and most profound change of the century, even more so because it is unfolding in a similar way pretty much all over the world.” Importantly, there is a gender gap not only in rates of college enrollment, as we described earlier in the year, and recently highlighted in the Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, but also in rates of completion among those who do enroll.
