OECD numbers suggest about 8 in 10 of these kids will graduate high school. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

New data out this week paint a less-then-flattering portrait of the U.S. education system. The  Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development notes that while a large proportion of adults have college degrees, degree attainment is rising much faster in other developed countries.

The U.S. is lagging in what the OECD calls "educational mobility:" the share of adults who've attained a higher education level than their parents. As the New York Times writes, "Barely 30 percent of American adults have achieved a higher level of education than their parents did. Only Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic do worse. In Finland more than 50 percent of adults are more educated than their parents."

Perhaps more vexing, the U.S. is a laggard when it comes to high school education too. Despite a per-pupil secondary education spending level that's roughly a third higher than the OECD average, in 2012 our high school graduation rate of 78.7 percent ranked us 22 out of 29 countries the OECD surveyed - well behind the Czech Republic, and just a hair ahead of China.


It's tempting to imagine just how different our society might be if we could boost high school graduation rates by nearly 20 percent, putting them in line with our western European counterparts. But beyond that, it is worth noting that our graduation rate has improved considerably in recent years - in 2000, for instance, only 72 percent of high school freshman made it out with a degree.

One final note - a study out this week points to a significant link between teen marijuana use and decreased likelihood of high school graduation. This has raised some concerns that the relaxation of marijuana laws in U.S. states might lead to lower graduation rates and poorer outcomes for teens overall.

But the Netherlands has employed a tolerant marijuana policy for decades now, and the OECD figures show that high school graduation rates there are among the highest of countries surveyed. While many factors play into educational outcomes at the country level, this does suggest that liberal cannabis policies haven't created a Dutch educational crisis.