[quote]Based on a study conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 24/7 Wall St. compiled a list of the 10 countries with the highest proportion of college-educated adult residents. Topping the charts is Canada — the only nation in the world where more than half its residents can proudly hang college degrees up on their walls. In 2010, 51% of the population had completed a tertiary education, which takes into account both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Canada commanded the top spot in the last study in 2000, but even still has shown serious improvement. A decade ago, only 40% of the nation’s population had a college degree.
Snagging the number two most-educated spot was Israel, which trailed Canada by 5%. Japan, the U.S., New Zealand and South Korea all ranked with more than 40% of citizens having a higher-education degree. The top 10 most-educated countries are:
How accurate is this? Singapore must be up there, so should Taiwan; although I know OECD doesn’t include them in their surveys.
Places like Ireland and Taiwan and HK would be higher but many of the older folk never finished school due to them being poor decades ago, which down weights the averages.
Interesting Germany and Scandinavians don’t appear due to their alternative apprentice systems, also tells you higher education as stated here can be over valued.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]How accurate is this? Singapore must be up there, so should Taiwan; although I know OECD doesn’t include them in their surveys.
Places like Ireland and Taiwan and HK would be higher but many of the older folk never finished school due to them being poor decades ago, which down weights the averages.
Interesting Germany and Scandinavians don’t appear due to their alternative apprentice systems, also tells you higher education as stated here can be over valued.[/quote]
Yep. I think a lot of people now pursuing a university degree are wasting their time.
For literacy 8 out of 10 of the same countries are in the top ten:
[quote]1. Finland 546
2. Canada 534
3. New Zealand 529
4. Australia 528
5. Ireland 527
6. South Korea 525
7. United Kingdom 523
8. Japan 522
9. Sweden 516
10. Austria 507[/quote]
[quote=“headhonchoII”]How accurate is this? Singapore must be up there, so should Taiwan; although I know OECD doesn’t include them in their surveys.
Places like Ireland and Taiwan and HK would be higher but many of the older folk never finished school due to them being poor decades ago, which down weights the averages.
Interesting Germany and Scandinavians don’t appear due to their alternative apprentice systems, also tells you higher education as stated here can be over valued.[/quote]
Yeah, and maybe if Rwanda never had a genocide they’d be number 1?
yeah but if we counted the older people who aren’t educated, and maybe count them as educated even though they are not, even though the survey was about educated people, but lets say they were, and then the apprentices, as well, you’d see a different result.
Yes education for the most part is affordable in Canada. I’m from Alberta, but myself and many of my friends went to school in Vancouver and it was still very affordable for them. Simon Fraser and UBC are excellent schools and both would be considered downright CHEAP when compared to anything of similar quality in the United States.
But price isn’t the only reason Canada is at the top of that list. We Canadians value education very much and rarely utter stupid phrases like higher education is only regurgitation etc. There are so many valuable things to be learned at University besides what’s written in the textbooks. It’s just as much about social interaction, creativity, and learning how to network then it is about actually learning facts and updated theories on the world around us ( which is also very important of course ) People who say that a University degree is a waste of time and money have completely missed the point of University…
Canadians in general very much respect higher education. I’m 100% an entrepreneur ( never had an official job in my life ) but I still feel my University education was absolutely vital and I wouldn’t trade it in for an extra 4 years of building personal businesses. Everyone who can afford it should absolutely go to University.
