Education Statistics

plug: graphs prepared using Mariner Calc

updated: 2024-02-08

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"Res ipsa loquitur."
(The facts speak for themselves.)

**Science & Engineering Degrees**
from US Department of Educationism National Center for Education Statistics Digest of Education Statistics
total degrees (doctor's+master's+bachelor's) earned by USA citizens
Total Bachelor's Degrees Earned	Total Degrees Earned
Total Computer & Information Science Degrees Earned	Total C&IS Degrees Earned by US Citizens
STEM Degrees Earned by US Citizens	Total STEM Degrees Earned by US Citizens
Professional Degrees Earned	Professional Degrees Earned (zoomed)
Percentages of STEM Bachelor's Degrees Earned by US Citizens	Percentages of STEM Master's Degrees Earned by US Citizens
Percentages of STEM Doctor's Degrees Earned by US Citizens	Percentages of Total STEM Degrees Earned by US Citizens

Aggregate SAT Scores

"In a sharply worded veto message, [president James Buchanan] condemned land-grant colleges as an unconstitutional extension of national power & a deliberate challenge to the principle of federalism, which reserved certain rights & responsibilities for the states, local gov'ts, & individuals. The American Founders, Buchanan argued, had not made education a federal prerogative.
But [in 1857, Republican Justin] Morrill evidently knew what other politicians have since learned: that gov't power advances most easily in times of crisis. Momentarily defeated, but undaunted, he later re-introduced the bill as a war-time measure, & in 1862 it was signed into law. The foundation thus was laid for the transformation of higher education through federal legislation...
Even with the introduction of land-grant colleges, there were only 563 institutions of higher learning operating in the United States by 1870. They enrolled few students, many of them under the age of 16. They also had painfully modest means & most teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. All told, they awarded only 9,371 bachelor's degrees, no master's degrees, & 1 doctorate that year.
In 1872, Harvard's freshman class of 200 was the largest in the country. Yale, with 131, & Princeton, with 110, were next in size. Many schools counted themselves fortunate to attract 50 entering students." --- George Roche 1994 February _The Fall of the Ivory Tower_ pp 28-29 (citing US Dept of Education 1991 "Historical Summary of Faculty, Students, Degrees, & Finances in Institutions of Higher Education 1869-1870 to 1988-1989 _Digest of Education Statistics_ table 160 pg 166; George H. Douglas 1992 _Education Without Impact: How Our Universities Fail the Young_ pp 3, 15)

"While only 2% of the population attended college in 1870, by the beginning of WW2, the figure had mushroomed to 15%. By the 1960s, it more than doubled to 33%. In raw numbers, the 1960s saw enrollment increase from about 3M to nearly 9M students, &, by the end of the 1970s, there were over 11M. In the 1980s, the college population finally peaked at 12.5M & has remained at roughly that level ever since. The nation's 2K plus, 4-year colleges & universities are granting well over a million bachelor's degrees, over 300K master's degrees, & nearly 40k doctorates every year... But is it education?" --- George Roche 1994 February _The Fall of the Ivory Tower_ pg 47 (citing _Historical Statistics of the US, Colonial Times to 1957_; 1975 _Statistical Abstract of the US_; 1989-1990 _Fact Book on Higher Education_; Martin Anderson 1992 _Imposters in the Temple_ pg 31; 1993-08-25 _Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac_ pg 5)

"In 1900 only 5% to 10% of the US population graduated from HS. By 1940, 5% to 10% went to college. By 1983... 80% of the population graduated from HS & over 60% of all HS graduates [over 48% of the population] attended college." --- Robert E. Kelley 1985 _The Gold Collar Worker_ pg 11

"For the great mass of Americans in the 19th century, there was no culture except self-culture. In 1900 only 6.3% of America's 17 year olds graduated from high school, and only 2.3% of youths 18 to 24 years old were enrolled in college degree-credit programs. Of the prominent business-men listed in the 1900 edition of _Who's Who in America_, 84% had not been educated beyond high school. But times were changing." --- Peter Baida _Poor Richard's Legacy_

"School attrition was common among immigrant children in general but was especially pronounced among the Italian children. In NYC, in 1908, there were only about 1/3 as many children in the 8th grade as in the 3rd grade. Among Italian children, there were only 1/10th as many... While 16% of the Russian Jews & 15% of the Germans completed HS in that era, less than 1% of the Irish did so & no Italian youngsters at all in NYC. By 1931, about 42% of all HS students in NY graduated, but only 11% of the Italian-American HS students did so." --- Thomas Sowell 1981 _Ethnic America_ pp 120-121

"More black males passed the tough entrance examination to NY's Stuyvesant HS in 1938 than in 1984, even though the black population of NY was much smaller in 1938." --- Thomas Sowell 1993 "A Look Back" _Is Reality Optional?_ pg 170

"[I]n 1940 only 38.1% of the population had completed HS; by 1990 that figure had climbed to 85.7%... In 1900 only 7% of all 14-17 year olds attended HS; by 1960, 90% did so." --- David Shenk 1997 _Data Smog_ pg 65 (citing census bureau)

"Prior to the war, of the top 10th of all HS students in intellectual ability, only 60% attended college & less than 1/2 managed to graduate. By 1960, over 90% of the top 10th entered college, & by 1970, 85% to 90% were receiving a degree." --- Derek Bok 1993 _The Cost of Talent_ pg 38 (referencing Charles Manski & David A. Wise 1983 _College Choice in America_; Taubman & Wales in F. Thomas Juster 1975 _Education, Income & Human Behavior_ pg 47)

"The goals & values of Mexican Americans have never centered on education. As of 1960, only 13% of Hispanics in the SW completed HS, compared to 17% for blacks in the same region, 28% among non-Hispanic whites, & 39% among Japanese Americans... As of 1950, only 8% of SW Hispanics had completed HS. In 1 decade, this rose to 13% & then to 29% in 1970... Among 3rd generation Mexican Americans in these areas, 38% completed HS; but among those in the urban 1st generation... only 13% had done so; & among the rural 1st generation, only 4%..." --- Thomas Sowell 1981 _Ethnic America_ pg 266

"Back in the 1960s, thousands of computer specialists were working in industry, but they had been educated as mathematicians, physicists, & engineers. They learned computer science on their jobs -- in effect, by apprenticeship. Only in 1964 was the 1st advanced degree in computer science awarded." --- Dimitris N. Chorafas 1986 _4th & 5th Generation Programming Languages_ pg 6

"Hugo Black had been ahead of his time for most of his life. Graduating from the University of Alabama Law school without high school diploma or college degree, he maintained a rigid reading schedule of 'great books' to compensate for his lack of formal education." --- Bob Woodward & Scott Armstrong 1979 _The Brethren_ pg 67

"[A]verage scores (as reported by the National Assessment of Educational Progress) on science & civics for HS seniors were unchanged between the late 1970s & late 1980s. Meanwhile, average spending per student (adjusted for inflation) rose about 25%. The same is true at colleges. In 1966, entering college freshmen averaged 466 on their verbal college board test; by 1990, the average was 422. With so many colleges, getting in is easy, except at 100 to 200 elite institutions. Among HS seniors, only 1 in 8 does more than 2 hours of daily home-work... But of course, many students aren't ready for college. Drop-out rates are huge; roughly 1/2 of freshmen at 4 year institutions [don't graduate within 6 years]." --- Robert J. Samuelson 1995 _The Good Life & Its Discontents_ pg 175 (data from the Digest of Educational Statistics)

"A recent study tracking the education of over half a million students at 300 institutions documented that only about 50% earned a bachelor's degree within 6 years." --- George Roche 1994 February _The Fall of the Ivory Tower_ pg 168 (Mary Crystal Cage 1992-07-15 "Fewer Students Get Bachelor's Degrees in 4 Years, Study Finds" _Chronicle of Higher Education_ pg A29)

"Professional degree $3439, doctoral degree $2747, master's degree $1956, bachelor's degree $1540, associate degree $1188, vocational degree $990, high school diploma $415." --- Michael Rothschild 1992 _Bionomics_ pg 391 n 21 (citing 1988-03-17 "Dollars for Degrees" _WSJ_ pg 21 which cited the census bureau)

"the real wages of HS drop-outs in the US declined by ~20% since 1979 -- the period when the most aggressive investments were being made in over-seas, low-cost-labor plants." --- Terrence E. Deal & Allan A. Kennedy 1998-12-?? _The New Corporate Cultures_ pg 156

"In 1990, nearly 80% of the adult population (25 years & older) had a high school [HS] diploma compared with 25% in 1940; the proportion of those with a college degree (4 years or more) had risen from 5% to 21%... State university systems heavily subsidize tuitions, & federal grants & loans provide additional college subsidies." --- Robert J. Samuelson 1995 _The Good Life & Its Discontents_ pg 174

"The crux of the problem is that financial aid packages are typically put together by the colleges themselves & are used to produce good public relations for the colleges, which can point to an impressive body count of minority students -- even if most of these bodies will never be seen on a graduation platform receiving a degree. This would be bad enough if the colleges were using their own money to rent minority students as window dressing. But most financial aid money for students does not come from the colleges & universities themselves. Out of $26G in financial aid awarded during the academic year 1988-1989, nearly $20G came either from the federal gov't or through federally supported programs such as subsidized loans. Why should the [tax-victims'] money be used to finance failure, for the greater glory of academic image? What is especially galling is that so many of the minority students who fail are perfectly capable of succeeding at some other college or university." --- Thomas Sowell 1993 "An Exceptional Need" _Is Reality Optional?_ pg 185

"Most companies have committees that judge applicants only by college degrees, college board scores, experience, background, references, recommendations, and so on. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb... There never has been and there never will be a test that can look inside a person and tell if he has what it takes. No one can accurately judge a person by looking at his background." --- Arthur L. Williams

"[A]lmost 90% of the most academically talented HS students do in fact go to college & up to 90% of them eventually graduate. In the last decade, unfortunately, America has lost ground. Average college costs have risen by 126% as family incomes increasd by only 73%. Meanwhile, the maximum federal grants available for needy students have dropped by 15% in real dollars." --- Derek Bok 1993 _The Cost of Talent_ pg 282 (referencing 1993 _Making College Affordable Again_ pp 3-4)

"In 1990, about 5% of the US 22-year-old population received degrees in science and engineering, down slightly from a high of 5.2% in 1987 [when the explosive growth of bodyshopping caught up with these fields, and just after a 'talent shortage' propaganda campaign]. About 200K degrees were granted annually, on average, in science and engineering from 1984 through 1990... For purposes of comparison, an assumption that 6% of 22-year-olds will receive science and engineering degrees from 1990-2005 yields an annual average of 219K such degrees awarded during the period... [while NCES later reported that, in reality, 275,923 STEM degrees, excluding the so-called social sciences which Braddock included in his estimates, were earned by US citizens in 2005, and 279,758 in 2006, blowing the socks off of Braddock's highest estimate]." --- Douglas J. Braddock 1992 February "Scientific and technical employment, 1990-2005" _Monthly Labor Review_ pg 38

"From 1984 to 1990, there were about 79K annual job openings due to employment growth, based on data in the [BLS's] industry-occupational matrix. This was a time of generally high demand for scientists and engineers, although there was a softening of demand toward the end of the period... job openings over the period averaged about 121K annually. Because, on average, there were 200K degrees in science and engineering granted annually over the period, the ratio of degrees to job openings for the period was about 1.6 to 1... on average, 79K of these graduates annually did not enter science and engineering occupations. Some were aliens who returned to their country. Many were bachelor's degree recipients who delayed entry into the field until receiving advanced degrees, but their numbers would have been about offset by entrants with advanced degrees who received their bachelor's degrees before 1984. [Or they had planned to enter a different field, or no suitable openings were available.]" --- Douglas J. Braddock 1992 February "Scientific and technical employment, 1990-2005" _Monthly Labor Review_ pg 39

"[O]f all Phi Beta Kappas graduating between 1970 & 1990, medicine claimed approximately 18%, although only 1.5% of all college graduates became doctors during this period. Private law practice accounted for 12% or more of Phi Beta Kappas, whereas only 3.5% of all college graduates took law degrees. In contrast, only 7% of the Phi Beta Kappas chose to teach in primary & secondary schools, although 10% or more of all college graduates took jobs in the public schools." --- Derek Bok 1993 _The Cost of Talent_ pg 235

"As of 1995 April, approximately two-thirds of the tenured or tenure-track faculty in biology who have received their doctoral training in the US have held at least one post-doctoral position after obtaining their doctoral degree." --- Jennifer Ma & Paula E. Stephan 2004-04-02 _The Growing Post-Doctorate Population at US Research Universities_ pg 2 (pg 4 in pdf)

"Within the Software & Computer Services Industry, 48% of employees possess a bachelor's degree, & 27% possess a master's degree. Employers reported that college graduates with computer science degrees comprise the primary source of labor within the cluster. However, with regard to the usefulness of a college degree, employees claimed that experience & technical certification were more important than degree-related education. Employees deemed training to be particularly important in this cluster." --- San Diego Workforce Partnership, Inc. & San Diego Regional Technology Alliance 2002 _San Diego's Software & Computer Services Industry Cluster_ pg 4/pdf12

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