Boost the brain - shrink the belly
The USA has as a goal that 55% of the 25- to 34-year olds shall have an associates degree or higher by 2025. According to the latest OECD-report, USA is ranked number 12 among 36 countries with 40.4% of the age group of 25-34 having an associates degree or higher. After USA follow Denmark ranked 13, Sweden ranked 14 and Finland ranked 15. Norway is far ahead its Scandinavian neighbours with a 7th place. It is interesting to notice that the USA and Sweden have almost the same percentage of people with a higher education
One would think that Sweden with free college education would have a much higher percentage with an associates degree than the USA. One reason for the low statistics for Sweden I think is that many students at colleges and universities in Sweden do begin a college education but they never finish with a degree. For different reasons students drop out of college. While maybe in the USA where you have to work very hard to get a scholarship or pay a lot of money for a college education you are more motivated to actually finish with a degree. And of course the US can blame their low rank with the fact that a college education is expensive, so expensive that many talented kids cannot get the education they and their country need.
Obviously it is a problem for the USA and the Scandinavian countries except Norway to see fewer of their citizens getting a college degree. For the first time in the US history the younger generation will have a lower education than their parent generation. It seems like we are all getting fatter and dumber!
The next best selling pill would be the drug that will boost the brain and shrink the belly. But, who will invent it, probably a smart, well educated citizen from one of the top ranked countries such as Canada, Russia, Korea or Japan. Florida by the way is ranked 34 among the US states with 30.7% with an associates degree, a long way to go for Florida to reach the US goal of 55% for 2025.
Stats from The College Completion Agenda 2010, interesting reading indeed http://completionagenda.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/reports_pdf/Progress_Report_2010.pdf
