Fun Fact Friday: September 29th 2017

 

KBIC Higher Education Practice is dedicated to providing you breaking news, industry data, resume and cover letter help, job search tips, and interview prep throughout the week. As we look towards the weekend, we’d like to help you wind down your week with fun facts about education, universities, and schools.

  • An estimated 2/3 of students who are unable to read with proficiency by the end of 4th grade will end up on welfare or in jail.[4]
  • Worldwide, 12%—or 775 million adults—are considered functionally illiterate.[28]
  • Over 93 million Americans have basic or below-basic literacy. Low literacy rates costs the United States over $200 billion each year.[16]
  • For every dollar that is spent on adult illiteracy, society receives $7.14 in returns, either through decreased expenditures or increased revenues.[16]
  • Approximately 90% of high school dropouts are on welfare.[4]
  • About 2/3 of the world’s lowest literate adults are women.[28]
  • Worldwide, low literacy rates can be linked to several disasters, including high infant mortality; the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other preventable infectious disease; prejudice against women, including female infanticide and female circumcision; and extreme poverty.

 

  • Over 70% of America’s inmates cannot read past a 4th grade level.[28]
  • The most literate city in the United States is Minneapolis, with Washington D.C. and Seattle rounding out the top 3.[4][19]
  • The most illiterate city in the United States is Long Beach, CA, followed by Mesa, Arizona, and Aurora, Colorado.[4]
  • South Sudan is the world’s least literate country, with a literacy rate of just 27%. Approximately 70% of children aged 6–17 years old have never set foot in a classroom.[30]
  • Approximately 1 in 4 children in America grow up without learning how to read.[4]
  • Technology is increasingly influencing literacy. Specifically, libraries are changing the usage and accessibility of materials, newspapers are increasingly found online, and the number of independent and small bookstores is decreasing.[24]
  • The top 10 universities in the United States are usually considered to be the following: 1) Princeton University, 2) Harvard University, 3) Swarthmore College, 4) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 5) The College of William and Mary, 6) Williams College, 7) Amherst College, 8) Stanford University, 9) California Institute of Technology, and 10) Yale University.[32]
  • While some people claim that it doesn’t matter where someone goes to college, graduates of the most selective colleges often earn more than graduates of less selective public universities. They are also employed at higher rates than community colleges and get more calls from potential employers than graduates of online universities.[24]
  • Yale University has produced more presidential candidates in the last three decades than any other university.[31]
  • Harvard University is usually considered the oldest and most prestigious institution of higher education in the United States. Its hometown of Cambridge, MA, is one of the most highly educated cities in the country.[31]
  • Three universities claim to be the oldest public university in the United States: the University of Georgia, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and The College of William and Mary.[31]
  • The oldest, continually operating school in the world is the University of Karueein, founded in A.D. 859 in Fez, Morocco. Originally a mosque, it was founded by a woman, Fatima al-Fihri. The oldest university is usually considered to be Nalanda University in India, founded in the 5th century A.D.[22]
  • The world’s second oldest surviving school is Al-Azhar University, located in Egypt. Founded in A.D. 970-972, the university is a center for Arabic literature and Sunni Islamic learning.[22]
  • The University of Bologna, Italy, which was founded in 1088, is the oldest university in Europe. The term “university” was coined at its creation. It is still considered a leader in European university systems. Notable alumni include Pope Innocent IX and Copernicus.[22]
  • Probably the most well known secret society at any university is the Skull and Bones club at Yale. Notable members include George W. Bush and John Kerry. They both remain secretive about the group’s activities to this day.[2]
  • The University of Oxford is the world’s oldest English-speaking university. Though the date of its founding is unclear, the formal date is usually considered to be A.D. 1096, though teaching from the Oxford location is older than this. Notable alumni include Lewis Carroll, T.S. Eliot, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dr. Seuss, and Stephen Hawking.[22]
  • The University of Cambridge is known as the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. It was founded by scholars who had left the University of Oxford over a dispute in 1209. Notable scholars include John Milton, Jane Goodall, John Cleese, Sylvia Plath, Alan Turing, Francis Bacon Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Stephen Hawking.[22]
  • The University of Indiana offers a unique degree: Bowling Management. This business degree program allows students to gain entry-level jobs in the bowling industry and offers classes on sales, pinsetter mechanics, and pro shop operations.[2]
  • There are several places where a person can buy a degree without completing a course. For example, the University of Berkeley (not to be confused with the University of California–Berkeley) is an online school that offers an honorary doctorate at a starting rate of $2,000.[23]
  • Some of the earliest universities in the world were Sumerian scribal schools, which were created soon after 3500 B.C. These universities were called eduba, which possibly meant “house of tablets.”[22]
  • The states with the highest graduation rates are Wisconsin, Iowa, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. States with the lowest are Nevada, New Mexico, Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina.[3]
  • Students are over 4 times more likely to drop out of school if they are unable to read proficiently by the 3rd grade.[4]
  • In the United States, 14% of new teachers resign by the end of their first year, 33% leave within their first 3 years, and almost 50% leave by their 5th year.[24]
  • In 2011, there were almost 49.5 million students enrolled in public schools. By 2021, nearly 52.7 million students are expected to be enrolled in public schools.[24]
  • A 2012 Gallup poll indicated that many Americans believed “No Child Left Behind” had worsened education in America.[10][21]
  • In most developing countries, public school is not free. Teacher salaries and the cost of books and uniforms are all paid for by the students’ families.[5]
  • The 2011–2012 homeschooling statistics show that nearly 1.8 million American kids are being homeschooled, which is double the number in 1999.[10]
  • Approximately 115 million primary school-aged children around the world are not enrolled in school.[5]
  • Children who are born to educated mothers are less likely to be malnourished or stunted. Each additional year of maternal education decreases the child mortality rate by 2%.[5]
  • Youth literacy rates in South American and European countries are among the highest with 90%–100% literacy. In contrast, the African continent has areas with less than 50% literacy among children ages 18 and under.[5]
  • There are about 97,000 public schools and 49 million students across the United States.[20]
  • Latino and Native American students have less access to advanced math and science courses and are more likely to be taught by first-year instructors than white students.[14]
  • Research shows that holding back students from kindergarten does not benefit them socially or academically. Rather, it actually increases the chances they will drop out of school later.[9]
  • Black and Latino students account for 40% of enrollment at schools with gifted and talented programs, but they represent only 26% of students in such programs.[14]
  • American Indian and Native Alaskan girls are suspended at higher rates than white boys or girls in the United States.[14]
  • One of 5 girls of color with disabilities receives an out-of-school suspension.[14]
  • Approximately 1/4 of schools with the highest percentage of black and Latino students in the U.S. did not offer Algebra II, and 1/3 of these schools did not offer chemistry.[14]
  • Black students make up 18% of pre-K enrollment in the U.S., but they make up 48% of preschoolers with multiple out-of-school suspensions.[14]
  • Black students in the U.S. are expelled at three times the rate of white students.[14]
  • By 2022, the number of Hispanic students in public elementary and secondary schools in the U.S. is expected to increase by 33%. The number of multiracial students is expected to grow 44%.[14]
  • According to Child Trends, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center, educational expectations are not has high for black children as they are for white children. Lower expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies, which lead to less-positive attitudes about school, fewer out-of-school learning opportunities, and less parent-child communication about school.[14]
  • Georgetown University offers a class Star Trek fans are sure to love: Philosophy and Star Trek. It poses a number of serious questions, such as How are the body and brain connected? What is free will? Is it possible to travel back in time?[2]

Source:  Karin Lehnardt