America Has World’s 4th Highest Level of College Attainment
Proponents of free market education reforms have been claiming for years that our schools are failing. One of their most compelling arguments has been that the dismal state of our K-12 public education system is responsible for our low ranking in college attainment compared with other nations.
The problem with this argument is that it is not true. The U.S. actually ranks fourth internationally in college attainment.
The commonly cited data is that the U.S. ranks 13th out of 34 OECD nations in terms of college attainment. However, this data only refers to the proportion of 25-34 year olds who have received a tertiary education, not the total number of people who have attained a tertiary education. When 25-64 year olds are included, the U.S. ranks fourth in the world, according to