OCR Text |
Show Survey on education educational Three-fourths of the population aged 25 and over were high school graduates in 1985 compared with only one-fourth in 1940, according to a report from the Commerce Department's De-partment's Census Bureau. The report also shows that about 36 percent of the adult population had completed at least one year of college and 19 percent had completed com-pleted four or more years of college in 1985. Only five percent had completed com-pleted four or more years of college in 1940, the year the bureau began collecting such data. Here are other highlights from the report for 1985: There virtually was no difference differ-ence in the proportion of men and women aged 25 to 29 who were high school graduates (86 percent). The gap between the sexes in college graduation had narrowed to 23 percent of men and 21 percent of women aged 25 to 29. Among the total population aged 25 and over, 23 percent of men but only 16 percent per-cent of women were college graduates. gradu-ates. The proportion who were White high school graduates 25 to 29 years old was 87 percent compared com-pared with 81 percent for Blacks. Among the total population aged 25 and over, the proportions were 76 percent for Whites and 60 percent for Blacks. Whites 25 and over were twice as likely as Blacks to have completed college, 20 percent compared with 1 1 percent. Among young adults (25 to 29 years old), the proportions were 23 percent of Whites and 12 percent of Blacks. The proportion of adults who were high school graduates was highest in the West (80 percent) and lowest in the South 69 percent). per-cent). The proportion of adults who were college graduates ranged from 24 percent in the West to 18 percent in the South and Midwest. But among young adults, the proportion prop-ortion was 27 percent in the Northeast North-east compared with an average of 21 percent in the other regions. The report provides tables on years of school completed by persons per-sons 15 years old and over by age, sex, race, Spanish origin, type of residence, region of residence, occupation, marital status, and education of spouse. Summary data cover the 15 largest states and metropolitan areas. As in all surveys, the data in this report are subject to sampling variability and response errors. |