The Most Educated Countries in the World

24/7 Wall St.

5. United States
 Pct. population with tertiary education: 42.5%
 Average annual growth rate (2000-2011): 1.4% (the least)
 Education expenditure as pct. of GDP: 7.3% (6th highest)

Public spending increased by 5% on average among OECD countries between 2008 and 2010. In the United States, however, spending decreased by 1% during that time. Still, the U.S. spent more than $22,700 per student in 2010 across all levels of education, by far the most among countries reviewed. Once they have 10 years of experience under their belt, American secondary school teachers earn some of the highest salaries for their profession among developed nations. Yet, on average, 16- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. display the lowest mathematical proficiency out of all the countries assessed by the OECD.

4. Israel
 Pct. population with tertiary education: 46.4%
 Average annual growth rate (2000-2011): n/a
 Education expenditure as pct. of GDP: 7.5% (5th highest)

In Israel, 18- to 21-year-old men and 18- to 20-year-old women are required to enlist in the military. According to the OECD, this has resulted in much lower levels of enrollment for residents in this age group. The average graduate from a tertiary program in Israel also tends to be older than in much of the OECD. Annual spending per student for primary through tertiary education is considerably lower than other well-educated countries. With two American chemists who emigrated from Israel winning the Nobel Prize recently, the country may attempt to boost tertiary funding in the future, according to The Wall Street Journal.

3. Japan
 Pct. population with tertiary education: 46.4%
 Average annual growth rate (2000-2011): 3.0% (14th lowest)
 Education expenditure as pct. of GDP: 5.1% (6th lowest)

Japan spent a smaller percentage of its GDP on education than the average country measured by the OECD. But the country still has one of the most educated populations in the world. Additionally, nearly 23% of Japanese adults were proficient at the highest levels of literacy, roughly double the U.S. proportion. High school graduation rates were also among the best in the world in 2011. According to the OECD, average yearly spending per tertiary student in 2010 was considerably higher than the OECD average, and it is expected to increase.

2. Canada
 Pct. population with tertiary education: 51.3
 Average annual growth rate (2000-2011): 2.3%
 Education expenditure as pct. of GDP: 6.6% (10th highest)

As of 2011, about one in four Canadian adults — the highest proportion in the OECD — had attained a career-oriented, skill-based education. In 2010, Canada spent $16,300 for post-secondary schooling per student annually, second only to the United States, which spent well over $20,000 per student. As a percentage of GDP, Canada spent nearly double the OECD average on the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree.

1. Russian Federation
 Pct. population with tertiary education: 53.5%
 Average annual growth rate (2000-2011): n/a
 Education expenditure as pct. of GDP: 4.9% (5th lowest)

In 2011, more than half of Russia’s population 25 to 64 had attained a tertiary education. Additionally, nearly 95% of adults held at least an upper-secondary qualification at that time, compared with the OECD average of 75%. Russia has, according to the OECD, a “historically strong investment in education.” However, recent news could tarnish Russia’s well-educated image. Reports suggest widespread corruption in the education system, including cheating on standardized tests, selling of doctorates to politicians and the wealthy and fake thesis factories.

I don't know about you, but I'd remove Russia from the list because of that cheating business.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment

What's Wrong with Nut Gingrich on Child Labor Laws

Newt Gingrich is an idiot; the things he passes off as his brilliant ideas don't hold up well under close scrutiny-- or even casual scrutiny.

I was brought up to believe that my 'job' as a child was to go to school to learn as much as I could. This was a priority that came ahead of every other activity, including when I was old enough at 12 to start babysitting neighbor kids, and when I was old enough to get a more formal regular part time job - which I did on my 15th birthday.

Nut Gingrich, who truly puts the Grinch into politics, wants to set an example for poor children (many of whom have working parents, parents who are the working poor) and give the union janitor's jobs to kids.

Apparently it has never dawned on Nut G. that janitors and other union workers for that matter, have children.  Firing them will create more kids with unemployed parents.

It is the job of adults to work, not children.

The other thing that children need time to do for normal development, besides homework and other studying, is to play, not work. This is undervalued by too many, but it IS important, as I wrote about here, linking the recommendation of our military regarding recess and early childhood education in order to have qualified citizens for the U.S. military in coming years.  I began that post, "The Connection between Recess... and Military Recruitment", with this quote:

"It is becoming increasingly clear through research on the brain as well as in other areas of study, that childhood needs play. Play acts as a forward feed mechanism into courageous, creative, rigorous thinking in adulthood.
--Tina Bruce, Professor, London Metropolitan University

And the GrinchNut isn't proposing equal pay for equal work.  He wants to pay kids on the cheap for doing the same work as the adult janitors, and of course, unlike adult full time workers he also wouldn't dream of providing those working children with benefits like health care.

Nut the Grinch further has no regard for the risks, which are far greater for children, to exposure to concentrated chemicals used in janitorial work, as well as to the very real and necessary skills that go with such a job, and of course the use of power tools and equipment.

Far better to strive for better levels of adult employment, with benefits and a living wage for the parents of poor kids.  Far better to improve the education that kids in school receive while they are there, and if anything to extend the hours of actual education, but also of recess.

What we don't need to do is to advance our economy by exploiting children, while giving a pass on any further contribution through greater revenues by taxing the upper percentage of wealth more fairly, in relation to the middle and disadvantaged classes, both the working and unemployed living below the poverty line.

And clearly, unlike the expressed policy positions of Perry and Bachmann, the last damn thing we need to do is to disband the Department of Education.  The state of Texas has deplorable educational results, barely ahead of Mississippi and some of the other undereducated southern states. Perry is a perfect example of that lack of education, with his recent failure to understand that the voting age is 18, not 21.  I can only wonder, likewise, how the education of Georgia stacks up to more progressive states.  Herman apparently failed to learn the civics class fundamentals, of how the Constitution is amended, as demonstrated by a recent statement; he appears to believe that it is signed by the President the same way that regular legislation is signed.

Nut Grinch is just one more scrooge Republican who would push us further down the ladder in comparison to education levels in other countries.  And in doing so we will all be at greater risk through a diminished military.  If asshats like Nut GettinRich GingGrinch really want to support our military, it's past time when he should be actually LISTENING to the recommendations of that military, instead of talking smack to pander to the right wing extremists ignorance on these issues.

And then we have Michele Bachmann, who has demonstrated such ignorance in her pronouncements on so many topics, that she is a true embarrassment to the educators of two states that are consistently among the highest performing in educational statistics - she shames BOTH Iowa and Minnesota.

Nut Gingrich, promoting yet more incredibly bad right wing extremist ideas.  We need more recess, we need more class time in our schools, not child labor. 

Discovering the Cranium of Copernicus: Putting a Face to the Historical Name

I am an unabashed geek; so I'm taking some time away from politics, economics, and the circus of current events to indulge that interest in science and history.

Copernicus was an amazing individual, one of the most accomplished men in history - the man to whom the revolution of the study of science (and the revolution of the earth around the sun) is attributed (De revolutionibus orbium coelestium).  But astronomy was only one of his many talents, almost a hobby.

So, it has been a disappointment to me that in conversations about the discovery below, not very many people were very conversant with the details of his life or significance.  One of the benefits of having a correct image of what Copernicus looked like is that it makes him more vivid, more real, and that in turn makes his life and accomplishments more present for us.  It connects us to our history.

It is remarkable how closely the computer generated forensic image resembles the contemporary portraits of Copernicus.

And, no, he is not the Renaissance astronomer who had a fake/ prosthetic nose.  That was the Dane, Tycho Brahe.  And no, he is not the one who was under house arrest for writing that the earth revolved around the sun; that was Galileo Galilei, and it was arguing FOR the concepts of Copernicus that got him in hot water.  Likewise, Kepler was another proponent for Copernicus' ideas about astronomy and cosmology.

So, out of respect for the enormous contributions made by this extraordinary individual, I offer the following news item in that context. Wherever you are, stop and take a moment to raise your cup, bottle, or glass of your beverage of choice to Copernicus. Without his role in history, we would not live in the wonderful world of scientific discoveries that we do.

From MSNBC.com :

Archaeologists identify Copernicus’ skull

DNA tests planned to confirm Polish astronomer’s remains 

updated 11/15/2005 11:49:12 AM ET 

A computerized portrait, released Thursday by Polish police, reconstructs the face of a man whose skull was found buried in a cathedral in the northern city of Frombork. Archaeologists believe the skull was that of the 16th-century astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

WARSAW, Poland — Archaeologists believe they have located the grave of 16th-century astronomer and solar-system proponent Nicolaus Copernicus in a Polish church, one of the scientists announced Thursday.

Copernicus, who died in 1543 at 70 after challenging the ancient belief that the sun revolved around the earth, was buried at the Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Frombork, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of the capital, Warsaw.
Jerzy Gassowski, head of an archaeology and anthropology institute in the central Polish city of Pultusk, said his four-member team found what appears to be the skull of the Polish astronomer and clergyman in August, after a one-year search of tombs under the church floor.
“We can be almost 100 percent sure this is Copernicus,” Gassowski told The Associated Press by phone after making the announcement during a meeting of scientists.
Gassowski said police forensic experts used the skull to reconstruct a face that closely resembled the features — including a broken nose and scar above the left eye — on a Copernicus self-portrait. The experts also determined the skull belonged to a man who died at about age 70.
The grave was in bad condition and not all remains were found, Gassowski said, adding that his team will try to find relatives of Copernicus to do more accurate DNA identification.