Educational attainment in the United States

In 2018, nearly 9/10 (90 percent) of all adults 25 years or older reported they had completed at least high school, or obtained a GED/high school equivalency certificate. Over one in three adults (35 percent) had attained at least a bachelor's degree. Both of these measures are all time highs. In 2003, the percentage of the adult population who had completed high school or had not completed high school but obtained a GED increased for the first time since 2000, when it was 84 percent. This increase follows a general trend that the Current Population Survey has shown since educational attainment was first measured in 1947. Since 1983, the percentage of people either graduating from high school or failing to complete high school but getting a GED certification has increased from 85% to 90%. The greatest increases in educational attainment were documented in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. In the 1950s and much of the 1960s high school graduates constituted about 50% of those considered adults (25 and above). For adults aged between 25 and 30, the percentage of either high school graduates or GED obtainers was roughly 50% in 1950 versus 90% today. According to the United States Census Bureau, from 1940 to 1980, respondents were asked to what their highest grade or year of school completed was. Here are two examples of the questions asked: • What is the highest grade (or year) of school this person has ever attended? • Did he finish the highest grade (or year) he attended? The answers consisted mostly of the following: • No school completed or never attended school • Nursery school (added as a choice in 1960) • Elementary school, grades 1, 2, 3, etc. to 8 • High school 1st to 4th year…1, 2, 3, 4 • College, 1st year, 2nd year, etc. However, in 1990, the Census Bureau changed educational attainment question as society became more educated as a whole. Now, respondents are asked to report what their highest level of school/highest degree received is. Responses may include; "High school graduate" and "Bachelor's degree." ==Gender==

For the past fifty years, there has been a gap in the educational achievement of males and females in the United States, but which gender has been underperforming has fluctuated over the years. In the 1970s and 1980s, data showed girls trailing behind boys in a variety of academic performance measures, specifically in test scores in math and science. Employment rates linked to gender and educational attainment While the correlation between educational achievement and employment rates applies to both men and women, it's notably stronger for women. In 2021, among individuals aged 25–34, only 43% of women with education below the upper secondary level were employed, compared to 82% of those with tertiary education. For men, these figures were 69% and 88%, respectively. The significant gender gap observed among younger adults with education below the upper secondary level is unlikely solely due to differences in employability; rather, it's more likely tied to traditional gender roles. Women who anticipate fulfilling caregiving responsibilities at home instead of pursuing careers may have less motivation to pursue formal education, leading to lower educational attainment. This is evidenced by the fact that inactivity rates among younger women with education below the upper secondary level are, on average, more than twice as high as those for men, resulting in lower employment rates across OECD countries. Gender gap in literacy Traditionally, girls have outperformed boys in reading and writing. Although this gap may be minimal in kindergarten, it grows as students continue their education. According to the 2004 National Reading Assessment measured by the US Department of Education, the gap between boys and girls, only slightly noticeable in 4th grade, left boys 14 points behind girls during their 12th grade year. On the 2008 test, female students continued to have higher average reading scores than male students at all three ages. The gap between male and female 4th graders was 7 points in 2008. By 12th grade, there was an 11-point gap between males and females. In the more recent 2007 National Assessment of Writing Skills, female students continued to score higher than male students, though margins closed slightly from previous assessments. The average score for female eighth-graders was 20 points higher than males, down 1 point from the 2002 score. For twelfth-graders, females outscored males by 18 points as opposed to 24 points in 2002. All of these assessments were conducted on a 100-point scale. Graduation rates Overall, women have surpassed men in terms of completion of secondary and post-secondary education. In 2015/2016, women earned 61% of associate degrees, 57% of bachelor's degrees, 59% of master's degrees, and 53% of doctorates. A similar pattern is also seen in high school education, where, in 2016, 7.1% of males, but only 5.1% of females dropped out of high school. In 2015/2016, 56 percent of college students were female and 44 percent were male. From 1990 until 2015, the number of males enrolled in college increased by 41 percent, and the number of female students rose by 53 percent. In 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated that 18,423,000 males over the age of 18 held a bachelor's degree, while 20,501,000 females over the age of 18 held one. In addition, fewer males held master's degrees: 6,472,000 males compared to 7,283,000 females. However, more men held professional and doctoral degrees than women. 2,033,000 males held professional degrees compared to 1,079,000, and 1,678,000 males had received a doctoral degree compared to 817,000 females. Women were projected to earn 64.2% of associate degrees, 59.9% of bachelor's degrees, 62.9% of master's degrees, and 55.5% of Doctorates by 2016/2017. Gender gaps and communities The increase in educational attainment has slightly increased in certain communities. The graph below visualizes that there is not a huge shift in Asian communities from 2010 to 2022. In comparison to African-American and white communities, there has been an increase in those communities achieving their degrees. There have been reports as of last year stating that there have not been much improvements of marginalized communities going to college because that increase is ever so slight. • African- American enrollments are down 22% • Caucasian enrollments are down 7% Other communities reports are not as open to the public as we mainly focus on the two main communities when it comes to educational status and that itself is an issue because education is a topic that affects every person because that is the system we are born into and that we either have the choice to continue or not given certain circumstances. ==Ethnicity and race==

While the educational attainment of all races increased during the 1990s, with the gap between African Americans and non-Hispanic whites decreasing, differences between the races remain, especially among those with a bachelor's degree or higher. Hispanics and Latinos also trailed far behind in terms of graduating from high school; it was the only major group for which high school graduates constituted less than 80% of the population. This large inequality might partially be explained by the influx of uneducated foreign-born Hispanic Americans who had not been offered the chance to complete secondary education in their home country and who had not completed secondary education in the United States. Overall, nearly half (49.8%) of Asian Americans, nearly a third (30%) of non-Hispanic whites, 17.3% of non-Hispanic blacks, and just over a tenth (11.4%) of Hispanics or Latinos had a four-year college degree. The same differences decrease significantly at the high school level with 89.4% of non-Hispanic whites, 87.6% of Asian Americans, 80.0% of African Americans, and 57% of Hispanics or Latinos having graduated from high school. Additionally, 10% of Asian-Americans, 8% of whites, 3% of Mexican Americans, 3% of Native Americans and 2% of Black Americans scored above 600 on the SAT verbal section in 1990. Race gaps on the SATs are especially pronounced at the tails of the distribution. In a perfectly equal distribution, the racial breakdown of scores at every point in the distribution should ideally mirror the demographic composition of test-takers as whole i.e. 51% White Americans, 21% Hispanic Latinos, 14% Black American, and 14% Asian-Americans. But among the highest top scorers, over 60% of those scoring between a 750 and 800 (perfect scores) are Asians of Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Taiwanese, Japanese, and Pakistani descent, while only 33% are white, compared to 5% Hispanic Latinos and 2% Black Americans. The Racial achievement gap in the United States refers to these educational disparities between differing ethnic groups. Several racial achievement gaps remain present today because not all groups of students are advancing at the same rates. These racial achievement gaps have many individual and economic implications and there have been many efforts in education reform to narrow the gaps. Immigrants " in Africa. ==Income==

Educational attainment is strongly correlated with income in the United States. Although the incomes of both men and women are associated with higher educational attainment (higher incomes for higher educational attainment), large income gaps linked to race and gender remained at each educational level. In 2003, average incomes ranged from $13,459 for a male high-school dropout to $90,761 for a male with an advanced degree. The most significant average income difference was between those who had some college education or an associate degree and those who had a bachelor's degree. While those with some college averaged $31,046, those with a bachelor's degree averaged $51,194, over $20,000 (64.9%) a year more. This shows that race and/or ethnicity may play a role in income levels and job selection. }} The change in median personal and household income since 1991 also varied greatly with educational attainment. While both the overall median personal and household income increased since 1991, this increase did not take place on all levels of educational attainment. The overall income increased over the course of the 1990s, reaching its high in 1999, but has been decreasing ever since. In 1991 the median household income in the US was $40,873 in 2003 dollars, while the median household income in 2003 was $45,016. In 1999, however, the median household income was $46,236, 2.7% higher than today. While this trend held true for all levels of educational attainment the extent of chronicle fluctuations in income were greatly influenced by educational attainment. Yellow indicates the year with the lowest median income while green indicates the year with the highest reported median income. Among the races, educational attainment retains its dramatic effect on average income which varies significantly at each educational level. European Americans (White Americans) had the highest average income at every level of educational attainment. However, the proportion of those having college degrees is greater among Asian Americans than among non-Hispanic whites, and the overall highest average income is found among Asians. All races except Whites ranked last on at least one level with African Americans ranking last on the non-high school, high school and advanced degree level. Asians were second highest on the college graduate level and had the highest overall income among the general population. They also had the lowest average annual income for those with some college education or an associate degree. Racial income difference were also significant at every level of educational attainment with the largest racial inequality being between European and African Americans who did not complete high school and those with advanced college degrees. Overall, European Americans with an advanced degree had the highest average annual income with $74,122. Asian Americans had the second highest with $72,852. Hispanics and African Americans had the lowest annual incomes among those with advanced degrees averaging $67,679 and $59,944 annually. The largest racial inequity was between European Americans with a bachelor's degree who made $53,185 and Hispanics who made $12,263 or 29.9% less with an average annual income of $40,949. However, Asian Americans as a whole earn more than any other race due to a greater percentage of them being educated overall, an example of Simpson's paradox. ==Occupation==

The rising demand for skilled workers indicates that job markets are able to accommodate an increasing number of highly qualified individuals, offering them improved employment opportunities. Conversely, adults with lower educational backgrounds face more daunting prospects in the labor market. They tend to earn lower wages and are at a higher risk of experiencing unemployment. In the foreseeable future, their unemployment risk is expected to escalate further due to the likelihood of automation affecting many jobs that require lower qualifications. Studies suggest that around 14% of current jobs could vanish due to automation within the next 15–20 years, while another 32% are anticipated to undergo significant changes as specific tasks become automated The educational attainment varied significantly among the different types of occupations. The professional/managerial fields were the only two occupational fields where college graduates with a bachelor's degree or higher represented the majority. Among professional occupations, 99.1% of the population graduated from high school, 90.2% had some college education or an associate degree and over two thirds, 68.2% had a bachelor's degree or higher. Business and managerial occupations were second with 97.8% having graduated from high school, 79.5% having some college or an associate degree and just over half, 53.4% having a bachelor's degree or higher. While nearly all employment fields feature a population where over 80% had graduated from high school with over a third having some college education or an associate degree, the fields relating to agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and transportation did not. These, often described as blue collar, fields featured a labor force where less than a tenth of the population had a bachelor's degree or higher, less than half had some college or an associate degree, and less than 80% had graduated from high school. Overall, the least educated occupational field was agriculture, ranking last on all educational levels. Here 55.4% had graduated from high school, roughly one fifth (20.8%) had some college education or an associate degree and 6.8% had a bachelor's degree or higher. While the largest occupational field, that consisting of professionals and relating occupations was also the largest field, the fields with lower educational attainment combined were larger than the professional and managerial fields combined. Overall, 38.02% were employed in the professional and managerial fields while 61.89% were employed in the other white and blue collar fields were those with a bachelor's degree or higher constituted less than a third of the work force. ==Religion==

The Pew Research Center's 2014 Religious Landscape Study found educational attainment varied considerably across religious groups. Membership in these religious groups can be highly correlated with demographic groups and geographic areas, so membership in a particular religion is not the only explanation for these differences, and vice versa. Conservative Protestant Christian women who are more involved in their churches complete around one year more of schooling than those who are less involved. However, fundamentalist Christian students will likely have a harder time receiving higher education. This is due to the fact that fundamentalist Christians discourage college preparatory high school courses due to their emphasis on humanism, evolution, and tolerance. This in turn lowers their chances of getting into university, along with higher educational institutions sometimes discriminating against these fundamentalist groups. Using data from the 1987–88 National Survey of Families and Households, Evelyn L. Lehrer found that the religion with the highest level of educational attainment was Jews, that Catholics and mainline protestants fell in the middle, and fundamentalists had the lowest levels of educational attainment. Michael A Kortt and Joseph Drew found that educational attainment in regards to religion can change with time. Specifically they found that: • Christian Men in the Silent Generation had less educational attainment, but that their attainment increased for most denominations in future generations. • However, Christian groups that are not part of the National Council of Churches (NCC) retained low educational attainment because of their more tightly held conservative beliefs. • Additionally, educational attainment increased for Jewish males from Generation Y onward and from Generation X onward for non-Christian males of other religions. • Anglican and non-NCC Women mirrored the educational attainment levels of non-NCC men. • Jewish women had more educational attainment than non-religious women earlier than Jewish men did. • Other non-Christian religious women also achieved higher educational attainment in proportion to non-religious women earlier than their male counterparts, but this did not continue in Generation Y. ==Geography==

Educational attainment among the population aged 25 and above varied rather slightly with geography region. The population of the Northeastern United States, which had the smallest population of any region with thirty-six million residents, had the highest percentage of high-school and college graduates. The western United States had the highest percentage of those with some college or an associate degree and ranked second for college graduates. The South which had by far the largest population with roughly sixty-six million people had the lowest educational attainment at every level. The proportion of high school graduates was the largest in the Midwest while the proportion of those with some college or an associate degree was the second and that of those with a bachelor's degree or higher was the third largest of any region. ==Social class and education==

Educational attainment is one of the primary indicators of social class in the United States. While the American social class system is a vaguely defined concept with many contradicting theories, educational attainment emerges as one of the top assessments of social class. Not only is a high educational attainment a status symbol by itself, but it is also very closely related to the other two main indicators of social class: occupation and income. A graduate degree and the roughly seven to eight years of post-secondary education serve as the main requirement for entering the "professions" and becoming part of the professional middle class. but there also seems to be a widening income gap in between those who may be described as being middle class. Education is not only the main requirement for becoming a member of the professional middle class, it is also key to a comfortable lifestyle and economic security. ==Educational attainment in social theory==

Bourdieu and cultural capital Many scholars have studied educational attainment in the US as a form of social reproduction and stratification. In 1977, Pierre Bourdieu presented the idea that education leads to social reproduction and a stratified society by honoring the cultural capital of elite classes. Students who possess the valued cultural capital, according to Bourdieu, are rewarded with high academic achievement. When elite class members enter the workforce, they are channeled into high paying jobs and powerful positions within society, while those who did not achieve the same level of academic success fall into subordinate occupations and status levels. By rewarding the desired cultural capital with high academic achievement, upper classes are able and prepared to reach higher levels of educational attainment. Members of the working class, on the other hand, are not rewarded for their cultural capital in schools, and are instead socialized for working class jobs. Lareau and concerted cultivation Annette Lareau also addresses the factors that lead to social stratification in educational attainment. Lareau's idea of concerted cultivation refers to an active involvement of parents in a child's learning and development experiences by creating and controlling organized activities for their children. According to Lareau, middle-class parents engage in concerted cultivation to teach their children, while lower- and working-class parents do not. Laureau further explains that schools firmly encourage and expect parents to use concerted cultivation as a child-rearing strategy. The child-rearing practices of lower- and working-class families thus do not comply with the standards of educational institutions. As a result, lower- and working-class students develop a sense of "distance, distrust, and constraint" in educational institutions, while children of middle-class families gain a sense of entitlement. These differences in child-rearing practices lead to children of lower- and working-class families to lack the necessary life skills that the children of the middle class possess, further isolating them from educational opportunities. In the United States, education attainment typically is viewed as a sign of social status. Collins and credentialism Randall Collins contributed the idea of credentialism to the study of class-based differences in educational attainment. Collins maintains that public schools are socializing institutions that teach and reward middle-class values of competition and achievement. In this view, elites are selectively separated from other students and placed into prestigious schools and colleges, where they are trained to hold positions of power. ==See also==