New study shows that New Jersey is pretty smart

How smart is New Jersey? Turns out, we are pretty smart.

New Jersey ranks 14th in the country as the smartest state according to a new study conducted by UTS Online, an online university.

Factors in ranking each state took into consideration ten main factors. They are the average IQ, high school graduation rate, college graduation rates, SAT, and ACT scores, NAEP scores, literacy rates and other factors.

I found interesting results of the study for New Jersey. Here in the Garden State, we rank 22nd overall in high school graduation but an impressive 4th in college graduation. We also rank 12th on SAT and ACT scores and 9th in overall IQ.

What hurts our overall ranking is the 28th position that we achieved in literacy and 29th in numeracy. In addition, New Jersey ranks 11th in number of colleges.

A spokesperson for UTS Online stated overall we as a country are falling behind in education. Based on that statement they pointed out that there was a significant drop in graduation rates and test scoring which will affect the workplace and overall country productivity in the near future.

There are many options that face those in high school now that were not available years ago. Teens are becoming influencers, gamers and thriving in other areas that were not available as little as fifteen to twenty years ago. As a result of those options many are foregoing college and exploring other non-educational opportunities.

We are all concerned about the continued and future productivity of our country, and I think we need to be aware of the decreases in education and how we can better those factors.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 weekend host Big Joe Henry. Any opinions expressed are Big Joe’s own.

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