I don't have any specific solutions. Except that it can start in the home. A change in how you raise your children, i guess. It would require a mindshift that needs to be taught early. We should stop telling kids "you can be whatever you want to be" in lieu of actual aspirations. When you ask kids this, you know, "What do you want to be when you grow up" they just make something up. Or they say something of which they know nothing about. We have a retarded way of implanting goals and aspirations in kids.
Honestly I like the sci-fi idea of analyzing a persons DNA and determining a persons pre-disposed potential and very early start them on that path. Let me be clear though I do not support forcing anything on anyone nor closing doors. The point is to gather whats likely to come naturally to a person and nurture that until that person figures out what it is they want in life. If they never figure that out, then at least they have a set of real skills to go on. Something they can be proud of.
What we do now is tell kids to imagine and think about what they want and at some later date they can achieve it. But kids should be doing not thinking. Trial and error is how most of us operate. Many people start too late in life and then they have no real skills to fall back on when their glorious plans fail (which they more often do).
Until the DNA analyzer I guess I would teach my future kids the skills I know and start them on a path in which I could conceivable help them later on if they need it. If they have their own goals and dreams that would be great. But my biggest fear is lack of direction. I guess my simple answer is parents need to be more involved? I guess its an unsatisfactory answer.
Another way: is large public projects geared towards space exploration. Something so large and pervasive in the public sphere that it doesn't matter what your job is. You would feel compelled and motivated to get up in the morning and clean those toilets cause every piece of the jigsaw matters in the public pursuit of putting men and woman on mars/alpha centauri. (An adaption of the WW2 model)