The correct answer to this open question is the following.
The astonishing growth of education in the late 1940s ( and thereafter ) seemed yet another sign that the American Dream was well and alive. Historian James Patterson explains how the increase in the number of Americans finishing high school and attending college supports the statement.
Patterson says that spending on public education per student, after the wartime doubled in the United States. From 1944 to 1950, the federal government supported education in public education in colleges and high school. By 1970, 70% of high school students graduated and almost 50% of youngsters became college students. Scholarships in major colleges were granted to the best athletes in the nation, which allowed many people to attend universities.
This information appears in James T. Patterson's book "Great Expectations. The United States, 1945-1974."