I always assumed (and still believe) they are both (lack of eduction, lack of well paying employment) are both results of other root causes. In other words if you couldn't make it through high-school or college (for whatever reason, ability, environment, access, attitude, etc) then whatever those reasons are make you also unable to acquire and keep a decent job.

>"[..]then whatever those reasons are make you also unable to acquire and keep a decent job."

And unfortunately for them, it doesn't keep them from inflicting the same life-outlook on their offspring. Greatest tragedy of our society, that we overlook that.

We supposed to neuter people?

Of course not, that's horrible.

I'll leave it to the smart statists out there to figure out how to remedy this tragedy whilst staying within the "moral framework" they have in-place already. You know, the thing that makes it "illegal" to carry bad-plants in your pocket while simultaneously making it legal to bring innocent life into this world without being able to take care of it, and ultimately making it suffer.

Where does a person's right to reproduce end? Where does a child's right for a fighting chance begin? And to what sense do we have a duty to protect either right?

I don't know if it's as simple as it being always being either causation or correlation. Education level is used as a proxy of potential wellbeing indicators.

Yes, there are rare people who have never finished high school and had material success, probably most drug dealers who cashed out and bought franchises or real estate. So logically then general causation is ruled out.

But for most people without high school degrees it's extremely difficult to disassociate their lack of education with later material success.

50 years ago it wasn't that weird to find a person with a good combination of smarts and work ethic who just happened to not graduate from high school, for whatever reason. The lack of a HS diploma isn't necessarily a stain.

In the year 2015, graduation from high school is a much easier in almost all ways. If you can't manage to graduate there is something seriously wrong and I probably don't want to hire you.

This is why I'm always terrified of trying to push more and more people through educational hoops: the ones who don't make it are that much more weird and excluded.