A significant part of this issue starts at the high school level. Kids in the “vo-tech” are treated like they are stupid. They frequently are bused to some central facility where they get less than a full day of instruction. What instruction they receive in general work and life skills subjects suffers due to time constraints.
I have spent some time at our local career center proctoring performance tests and while the students can pass the minimal test it seems as if they don’t get taught to the depth one needs to succeed in their chosen career. So they are not prepared to go on to college, yet don’t have the background needed to get a decent job.
Many moved on to private college. Unfortunately some students are just not employable for one reason or another - maybe they present poorly, are unmotivated, or never learned to work. Those failures were blamed on the college because NOTHING is anyone’s fault now, and the liberal education department jumped on the chance to “make it right”.
And it worked well....