well, I disagree, and not because I want to pick a fight, but because I am poor, and my son, an almost all-A student, is headed for high school next year and he wants to shoot for a career in engineering, and he needs college to make that dream come true. He has his hopes set on government grants and scholarships to make it happen. I find myself needing to balance out that hope against reality... government grants and scholarships have become rare birds and going into debt for a job that might never materialize in this generation's economy... is a bad bet. His older brother did it in marketing at a Big Ten University and so far has done well in sales, but he's watching his prospects dry up also, even though he is management level knocking on six figures (there is 17 years between them, the older brother is 31 years old) ... but his college loans are paid off, and he kept them low to begin with, so he did good... but everything has gotten far tougher since he pulled it off... and there are lots of quality engineers looking for jobs these days.
rising tide lifts all boats, even single mothers. But low tides kick everyone in the teeth, even great kids with a ton of enthusiasm and gifted IQs.
Your social points are all in good order, but the economic side to the story is applying itself even where the kids are walking the line.