There are many factors and I don't claim to have a handle on any of them.

I suspect the West's media culture is a big factor. Kids are exposed to an incredible amount of mass market media compared to when I was a kid. This is mostly due to adoption of technology into the areas of entertainment and information. When a kid sees star athletes making tens of millions playing sports he's going to question the necessity for school. When film and TV stars make incredible amounts of money and receive media coverage it's very attractive to the kids. Very few of these people put out the message that school is important because for what they do, it actually may not be. Oh, and the parents are buying into it too. How many people do you know that are trying to raise the next Tiger Woods?

Affluent societies spend less time working for the necessities and more time on entertainment and working towards materialistic goals. As a result these things are elevated to a higher social status. The entertainment business is king right now. Information has become a form of entertainment.

I see the geographical differences as a combination of the lag in the media culture (it's coming!) and the differences in culture itself. You see the struggle happening with recently immigrated families.

North American families are becoming increasingly culture generic. The melting pot is good in some ways but as in baking, mixing random ingredients it doesn't always turn out. The "old" cultures had a focal point and a history that made them at least identifiable and consistent (good or bad). It's hard to "fix" North American culture because it's a rapidly moving target.

Anyway, I'm not an expert on these matters so I'll stop here. The above is just my brain farts for the day.

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