Around the Nation: May 2009 Archives

This interesting Associated Press "Fact Check" article looks at some of the claims that people make frequently about international comparisons, saying that U.S. kids test worse than other countries, spend less time in school and have a lower graduation rate. According to the AP, statistics tell a more complicated story, with U.S. performance - although not absolutely stellar - comparing more favorably than some education critics assume. An excerpt:

"The U.S. does trail the most high-achieving countries, mostly developed nations in Asia such as Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. But the U.S. holds its own in the group that comes next, a group of developed countries that, depending on the test, includes England, Germany and Russia. In fact, the U.S. has gained on some of its toughest competitors since 1995, making bigger strides in math than Singapore and Japan, and in science than Japan."

According to this study by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, education is liked to good health. When looking at California:

Compared with college graduates, adults who have not graduated from high school are nearly three times as likely--and those who have graduated from high school are twice as likely--to be in less than very good health.

I'm a little uncertain as to how directly the two can be connected, as education is linked to income, which is linked to socioeconomic status, which has been clearly linked with health indicators. The study does acknowledge income effects. The variables seem rather linked and hard to separate.