2.1 Educational Attainment

In recent years there has been a national awakening in regard to a widening education gap between the U.S. and heretofore "underdeveloped" countries. In 2001, India graduated almost a million more students from college than the U.S. did. China graduates twice as many students with bachelor's degrees than the U.S., including six times as many graduates majoring in engineering (Friedman, 2005). According to the Lumina Foundation (2008), among older adults ages 55-64, the U.S. has the highest percentage of college degree holders among all countries ranked by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; however, among young adults ages 25-34, the U.S. ranks eighth. To close the gap in degree attainment to match the level of the highest performing nations, the U.S. would have to increase degree attainment to over 30% of current levels, equating to an additional 10,000,000 college graduates in the adult population.

In a speech to the National Governors’ Conference in February 2005, Bill Gates opined that an American high school education is obsolete, as by the 12th grade, U.S. students score near the bottom of all industrialized nations in math and science. A college education has become a necessity if young people are to be minimally competitive in the global economy. This "education crisis" has begun to challenge U.S. capacity to innovate and, therefore, the country’s economic and social pre-eminence. The National Commission on the High School Senior Year (2001) concluded that "In the agricultural age, post-secondary education was a pipe dream for most Americans. In the industrial age it was the birthright of only a few. By the space age, it became common sense for many. Today, it is just common sense for all."

The data in Table 1 and Figure 1 demonstrate that, in terms of educational attainment among peer counties, Spartanburg ranks lowest in percentage of residents over 25 years of age who are high school graduates and lowest in percentage of residents over 25 years of age who are college graduates.

 In fact, as the data in Table 2 demonstrate, Spartanburg has the lowest ratio of residents with bachelor’s and graduate degrees and the highest ratio of residents with less than 9th grade education, as compared to peer counties and the state and national averages^.

However, when data for current graduation and dropout rates* are examined (see Table 3), it becomes clear that a higher percentage of students in Spartanburg County, as compared to peer counties, are graduating high school, and a lower percentage of students are dropping out of school. Among peer counties, Spartanburg County has the highest rate of black / African American students who graduate and the second highest rate of Hispanic students who graduate^.