Americans lead in Olympic gold medals, but fall short in Education Olympics
The U.S. picked up 46 gold medals during the 2012 London Summer Olympics, easily holding on to its spot as the world’s leader in winning Olympic gold medals. As the nation’s top athletes vied for the sports world’s top recognition, the people at Certification Map thought it might be interesting to compare how well the U.S. education system rates in comparison to some of its top competitors at the Olympics.
The result was this interesting infographic that highlights some of ways in which the U.S. lags behind when compared to other nations in the education arena. For instance, when it comes to graduation rates, at 77 percent the U.S. falls behind several countries including Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Hungary, France and Italy. As we’ve previously reported, the U.S. struggles in the areas of science and math and this is evident in the Education Olympics rankings. When it comes to math, the U.S. ranked second to last. In the science department, the U.S. global ranking of 23 wasn’t much better, making it fourth to last on the list.
There were some positives, though, for the U.S. in the Education Olympics. America got a silver medal when it comes to the percentage of the population with post-secondary education at 41 percent. Japan leads, winning the gold medal, with 44 percent of its population having some form of college education and Great Britain rounded out the top three, earning a bronze medal, with 37 percent of its residents having partaken in post-secondary education.
Here’s more of Certification Map’s Education Olympics findings:
![Education Olympics The Education Olympics [Infographic]](http://certificationmap.com/wp-content/uploads/Education-Olympics.jpg "The Education Olympics [Infographic] image")
Via Certification Map: Masters in Education and USC Rossier Online
