Educational Achievement in the Nation: An Infographic
•At its center, OpportunityNation is working to increase economic opportunity and mobility in America – working to bring together a diverse set of unlikely allies, from the grasstops and grassroots, from the left right and center, and from a variety of sectors, to revitalize the American Dream and decrease the the opportunity gap in the United States, something that is a serious problem, especially for a country which was founded on a notion of opportunity, possibility and mobility.
That’s why we’re sharing this infographic from the fantastic website/magazine Good, who we’ve blogged about before. It’s not exactly new information, but in this case the website did a fantastic job illustrating the information. It’s all about the correlation between education levels and eventual total income, as well as mapping the areas where each is higher. And let me tell you, the correlation is apparent, and a bit alarming.
The lighter areas of the map show where both the high school and college graduation rates – or more simply, the education rates – and the median income rates are lower. The darker areas, accordingly, show where they are all higher. The map, as one might expect, is unfortunately split between dark areas and light areas. There aren’t really any gray areas. And that says a lot about the United States, and speaks volumes about the importance of education in today’s society. It also highlights why OpportunityNation is looking improve our country’s education system, all the way from early childhood education to post-secondary access and/or alternative training.
We must say though, as I’m sure you recognize, that there is not one silver bullet that will decrease the opportunity gap. It will take healthier communities, stronger families, and something I’m sure sounds familiar in today’s economy – jobs, jobs, jobs. So though OpportunityNation is committed to reforming education through bi-partisan ideas, we are also focusing on a diverse range of factors within American governments, communities, families and companies.
But enough about that. We’ll let you check out the graph, and decide what it says about our country yourself.
