this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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Data Is Beautiful

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A place to share and discuss data visualizations. #dataviz


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[–] chemical_cutthroat 87 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Remember, just because the money is spent, it doesn't mean it is spent well. I'm sure a lot of the US dollars are fed into sports programs and other spending, and not directly towards efforts that would benefit the most students or workers.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, also salaries are wildly different between these countries. This is a really not apples to apples

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 months ago (1 children)

This is PPP (purchasing power parity), so that gap should be corrected at least partially

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Nah, that spins average income. US teachers are paid so low it's like victimization.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You're right, teacher salaries are lower in the US than many of these countries.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Montana starting teacher salaries are on par almost with Luxembourg teens working the first day of their first job. One of these needs a 4yr degree and the trust to work with developing minds; can you spot which one?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

I'd wager that most school districts in the US have significantly more money spent on transportation than in other countries as well

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

For example, Austria is notorious for producing desastrous results in any metric (standardized tests, teen Analphabeten...) in relation to its spending on education.

[–] ZILtoid1991 3 points 5 months ago

The Hungarian numbers are inflated by religious schools, secular schools only would be in the very end, also we're forcing very old and inefficient teaching methods on our teachers, so old people can jizz their pants seeing kids not having free time to play outside (which they also complain about of course), and we also have a massive corruption problem (renovations, etc., cost way more they should because we need to make the prime minister's childhood friends billionaires).

[–] takeheart 39 points 5 months ago (4 children)

I'd much rather look a simple sorted table or a bar chart.

For me the country outlines don't add anything of value and they aren't too scale either with arbitrary rotations mixed in. Spending is on a strictly one dimensional scale yet the graphic implies some concentric (2-dimensional) pattern.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I agree. Standard bars are boring, and it's not bad to liven them up, but there are a lot of different ideas layered one over another with a little connection to data representation or increasing readability (also heatmaps with strict color gradations, false grouping, distance from center breaks at the bottom level mixing different colors). But nailing visuals without trying things out is impossible. OP got feedback they can put to use in the future.

Critically checking the graph after each step could've make it easier even for them. Had it become better in some way with X? If no, let's scrap it and try something different.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Just to make things clear, this post is not OC, I did not create the infographic

[–] radicalautonomy 1 points 5 months ago

But it sorta looks like a human brain if you squint.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

aren't too scale

They're very scale, but not too scale. Good point.

[–] merthyr1831 31 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Gotta give it up for the UK and US proving how institutionally corrupt their public services are!

[–] CompostMaterial 5 points 5 months ago

I think with the US, it comes down to that number being an average and how big the spread is between states. North East and West Pacific states spend WAY more than South Eastern, but it averages out to something seemingly reasonable.

[–] UnfortunateShort 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The US spends more on public education than multiple states where it's basically free for everyone. Now take a moment and appreciate how badly you are ripped off.

[–] Jimmyeatsausage 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Just like healthcare...there are very few cases where replacing a societal motivation with a profit motivation results in better service or lower costs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

very few

Well, okay. Zero is very few.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Most private education in the US is nonprofit. The for profit institutions are generally not well thought of.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Oh good, another thing Americans spend more than almost anyone else on and get worse results.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

USA is huge and education is largely decentralized. Results are ALL over the place.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

USA would probably be better if it were like 4-10 different countries....well, some of it at least.

New England Cascadia California Breadbasket States of America Gilead

[–] AncientFutureNow 4 points 5 months ago

I'd like to see the America stat divided up further to represent red vs blue states educational spending.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Finland is way lower than I expected and they apparently have the best primary and secondary education systems outside of the East Asian countries

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Part of that is because private education there is not a thing. So some of the funds that would go to for-profit education at the expense of public schools instead goes into taxes to more efficiently fund education.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

As it should be. More accessible, cheaper through consolidation, people make more and pay more taxes, and repeat.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

It also prevents use of education to enforce class divisions.

[–] candybrie 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Primary to tertiary? Does that mean it includes what college students through grad school spend themselves? Because that would shift perception of this a lot.

Edit: The original data does include public funding and private funding:

Every year, governments, private companies, students and their families make decisions about the financial resources invested in education.

They do break it out, but I can't tell if the graphic is using the total or just the public funding.

So this graphic might just be: Americans spend a stupid amount on college.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Israel's outline is sketchy to say the least...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I'm from Hungary, can comfirm, ~~it's shit here~~ it could be better.

[–] aggelalex 2 points 5 months ago

LMAO Greece isn't even there

[–] systemglitch 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Canadian average is about 1 or 2 thousand less than that from the last info I could find a few weeks ago

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Was that info also with purchase power parity? Might explain the difference

[–] workerONE 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Why is it in thousands of $? Should be measured in % of GDP

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

The % of GDP is available in the link in the post body

[–] [email protected] -2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, data can be beautiful - but is ugly if presented misleadingly. Only very little can be concluded from this 'graph' (without sources btw), but it is presented as if the inner west are the great core of enlightenment, spiraling out to the 'dumber' nations. The level of knowledge excellence is obviously related to the amount of dollu spent - which is nonsense. My equally valid opinion is that Western liberal/Capitalist education is exceedingly inefficient, and only optimized for wage-slavery. Notice how all the super 'edumecated' citizens from the west have been so easily propagandized to think that Russia is the bad guy. ..China is the bad guy ..socialism is bad ..communism evil ..Capitalism GREAT! We are the best!! ..and so on and so on with similar infantile propaganda from the Capitalist elite. The average intellects in these 'educated' western nations is Embarrassing, and misinformation from constant propaganda doesn't help much i'm afraid..

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

without sources btw

The source is the OECD report, mentioned in the article linked in the body of the post: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/education-at-a-glance-2023_e13bef63-en;jsessionid=Nwj9hwVlYhHg_5CpjLm00wyws3HlwUqKzRpJLk2T.ip-10-240-5-115

In this article, we’re going to delve into some of the data from the OECD’s report.