10 Staggering Facts about Education in America

Dec 15, 2010|By: |20 Comments

Here at DegreeSearch.org, we’re always on the lookout for interesting education stats. We find plenty of tidbits that are interesting, but some are truly staggering. There are a lot of negative education numbers in our infographic, but don’t let that get you down. There is plenty of data out there to show that sticking with school pays off. Earning an associate’s degree could mean the difference of $100 a week in earnings more than if you held just a high school degree. A bachelor’s degree holder earns almost $400 more a week than high school grads.

What are the strangest or most surprising education stats you’ve heard? Send them our way! We’d love to hear them.

Source: Education Pays: A Study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics

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  • Rachel

    wtf is that comment on new zealand???, you’ve just lost all credibility with that…

  • Kitt

    is anyone out there over 50 plus trying to get a degree in accounting, with any information on best college online

    • http://mikemetcalf.com Mike Metcalf

      Hey Kitt, I’m not over 50, but DegreeSearch has a school matching tool to help people find the best online colleges. Here’s a link: http://bit.ly/yUykej

  • adminemo ouii

     we stady in morroco we didn’t hav a good titcher this is way we do the extra hours im sorry i dont speak inglich good

    but i can speak frensh

    mes salutation pour vous

    je vous sohaite une bonne anné scolaire

  • Srejn348

    these statistics really arent surprising, the fact that you would be surprised that New Zealand ranks higher than America is offensive to New Zealanders and when you put it like that how do you expect New Zealanders not to take offence.

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  • Glacius83

    I think #10 is way off. By putting it in terms of 18 and older they do not take into account the changes in earnings based on degrees. As far as I know, higher educations impact on earnings has shrunk in the past two decades.

    • Anonymous

      Glacius83,

      #10 is not “way off”. The numbers are based on the latest census earning info. If you are thrown off by the fact that they are 18 and older, feel free to check out the same stats for those 25 and older here:

      http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm

      While you are correct that the impact of higher education’s impact on earnings has shrunk over the past two decades, the difference is not dramatic. On average, a college grad still beats a high school grad in earnings every time.

    • Joseph

      Glacius83,

      The numbers are not “way off”. They are based on the latest earnings info from the census. If you’re hung up on the fact that it’s 18 and older, feel free to look at the 2009 data for 25 and over here. The trend holds just as strong. While it’s true that the earning gap has decreased some over the past 10 years, it hasn’t decreased that much. On average, a college grad beats out a hs grad in earnings every time.

      • http://pestcontrolseo.wordpress.com/ Thos003

        Thanks for the update. And the direction to more numbers.

  • Scott

    Woo Hoo, Canada outranks the US :D

  • Joseph

    No offense intended against New Zealand. I mentioned it, because I thought it would come as a surprise to many Americans. Another interesting stat is that although Americans ranked low in math, science and literacy, they ranked 1st in confidence. We’re so arrogant that it just comes as a total shock when smaller countries outscore us!

  • Anonymous

    Umm. 1.2 Million / 365 days = ~3287.7 dropouts per day, nowhere near 7000 per day. Maybe you guys should take point #4 more seriously.

    • Joseph

      Anonymous, you’re right! It doesn’t add up for 365 days, but it was calculated for 180 school days. The numbers are taken from Education Week. Here is their explanation of those numbers:

      Education Week. (2007, June 12). Diplomas Count 2007: Ready for What? Preparing Students for College, Careers, and Life after High School. Bethesda, MD: Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. Per day figure derived by dividing 1.23 million by 180 school days per year. Per second figure derived by dividing 1.23 million by 31,536,000 seconds in a full calendar year.

      The number is then 6,833 students every day, or nearly 7,000 students. We’ll update the graphic.

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous, you’re right! It doesn’t add up for 365 days, but it was calculated for 180 school days. The numbers are taken from Education Week. Here is their explanation of those numbers:

      Education Week. (2007, June 12). Diplomas Count 2007: Ready for What? Preparing Students for College, Careers, and Life after High School. Bethesda, MD: Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. Per day figure derived by dividing 1.23 million by 180 school days per year. Per second figure derived by dividing 1.23 million by 31,536,000 seconds in a full calendar year.

      The number is then 6,833 students every day, or nearly 7,000 students. We’ll update the graphic.

  • Anonymous

    Worse than New Zealand? WTF?

    • Anonymous

      No offense intended against New Zealand. I mentioned it, because I thought it would come as a surprise to many Americans. Another interesting stat is that although Americans ranked low in math, science and literacy, they ranked 1st in confidence. We’re so arrogant that it just comes as a total shock when smaller countries outscore us!

      • http://eonlinebusinessdegree.org Business Graduate

        Yeh, I can definitely say that we are pretty arrogant and prideful people ha ha. I love these very interesting infographics.

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