A new publication, “Measuring Up 2006: The National Report Card on Higher Education,” provides ample grist for analyzing the adequacy of Virginia’s efforts to prepare its population to compete in a globally competitive knowledge economy. The good news: Virginia has improved its performance for the most part since 1992. The bad news. We’re losing ground internationally.
There is so much material that I can’t begin to digest it all. I’m hoping that readers can add insight in the discussion thread. To view the Virginia report card and its treasure trove of comparative data, click here.
Virginians can take some satisfaction in our scores: A- for preparing K-12 children for higher education, B for the participation rate in higher education, B+ in the completion rate and A in economic benefits flowing from the advanced level of education. But… no surprise here… we measure an F in affordability.
The chart at the top of this post represents the percentage of young adults (ages 18-24) enrolled in college in 2003. Virginia performs below the national U.S. average, and it lags such countries as Korea, Greece, Belgium and Ireland — and we’re on a par with Poland.
Well, those are small countries, you say, no big deal. To get the dynamic picture rather than a static one, click here (and scroll down one screen) to see charts comparing the educational attainment of older adults (35 to 64) vs. younger adults (25 to 30). America’s older adults are the second best educated in the world, training only Canada by a narrow margin, and exceeding No. 3 Finland by a wide margin. But the education level of young adults falls to No. 7.
Here’s what’s happening: The same percentage of young adults in America hold a college degree as older adults — no change. By contrast, the younger generations in other countries are zooming up the learning curve. Scary.
