Friday, December 20, 2013

Two illuminating maps about education


High School Completion Rate by County

Bachelor Degree Holders by County

These two map come from an article in The Atlantic.

The light areas in the top map show what the article calls the southern dropout belt, where too many people don't graduate from even high school. Do you believe that it is just coincidence that these are areas with lots of poor blacks and Hispanics? I perceive that our national heritage of prejudice results in lack of incentives to minority kids in the dropout belt and lack of resources for their schooling. I suspect that these regions are economically as well as culturally poorer because they don't have as many educated people.

People with college degrees cluster in cities, especially the large cities on the coasts and in Colorado. I suppose part of the effect is due to their moving to places where there are jobs taking advantage of their educations, and thus paying more. Of course, employers of degree holders tend to locate in places where the amenities help them to attract college graduates.

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