the strength of the relationship between postsecondary education and opportunity

Americans welcome the increasing reliance on postsecondary education as the arbiter of economy opportunity 
because, in theory, it allows us to expand merit-base d opportunity without surrendering individual responsibility. after all, we each have to do our our own homework to make the grades and do well on the tests  that get us into college and in line for good jobs. education has become the nation's preferred third way between the economic instability that comes with runaway global markets and the individual dependency that Americans associate with the welfare state.
the growing economic power of postsecondary education allows us to anchor economic opportunity in individual talent and effort without government interference in the economy or the labor market.