Yesterday Netherlands knocked out Uruguay and became the first team to advance to the World Cup 2010 finals, making a lot of fans happy. It's the first time Holland will see championship turf since 1978, and Ghana (and the rest of Africa cheering for them by default) was undoubtedly glad to see Uruguay lose after one of their men swatted what would have been?a goal and a sure win for the Black Stars.
Today is a European showdown: Spain and Germany go head to head to determine who will face Netherlands on Sunday for the final. You may be thinking that an education comparison of only European countries isn't as interesting as one between countries from around the globe ? we agree. We wanted to see Brazil and Argentina represented not just because we like their futbol teams, but because they provide useful edu-diversity. There are still quite a few differences between the European nations worth paying attention to.
We turn our comparison to Iker Casillas of Spain and Philipp Lahm of Germany to compare what their educational lives(on average) looked like, given their countries of origin.
Captain: Iker Casillas
Hometown: Mostoles, Spain
Population: 196,524*
Based on the average education statistics for his country, Casillas:
- Was 93% likely to be enrolled in secondary school (less likely than girls of the same age)
- Was 71% likely to be enrolled in higher education
- Had an average school life expectancy of 16.4 years
- Would have a had a starting teacher salary of $29,644 if had became a primary school teacher instead of professional footballer
- Attended school for an average of 180 days per year
- Had numerous school options since he grew up close to Madrid, as opposed to rural cities in Spain where school choice doesn't exist**
- Would have had immediate access to any one of nine universities that are in the top 500 in the world***
Captain: Philipp Lahm?
Hometown: Munich, Germany
Population: 1,249,176
Based on the average education statistics for his country, Lahm:
- Was 97.1%likely to be enrolled in secondary school
- Would have had a starting teacher salary of $45,538 if he became a primary school teacher instead of a professional footballer
- Would have attended primary school with (on average) a 13:1 student ? teacher ratio
- Attended school for an average of 188-208 days per year
- Would have a variety of universities to choose from as Munich is home to ten universities ****
- Likely received a solid education in science and math; 15-year-olds in Germany scored higher on the science literacy portion of PISA than any European nation except Netherlands, while Germany's math scores rank above many European countries*****
For more analysis of the Cup games, see Ohio Gadfly's take on the education lives of Netherlands' and Uruguay's captains,?analysis of the final eight teams,?as well as our extended analysis of education stats on the final 16 nations by the?Ohio Education Gadfly.
Cheers!
-Bianca Speranza and Jamie Davies O'Leary