The Ten States Running Out Of Smart People

[texastoast]

There are several states in the U.S. that are losing the eduction race to most of the others. In the past decade, these states have declining math and reading scores, lower numbers of people with bachelor’s degrees, and comparatively fewer residents who hold white collar jobs. Colorado, Michigan, and eight others are losing this competition to states who have residents that are better educated and who have done a better job obtaining higher quality jobs. These failing states have lost ground compared to the national average.

The recent State of the Union address, and almost any sweeping political speech or document that writes or speaks about unemployment and future competition for jobs, impresses the point that a well educated workforce–a smart workforce–has comparative advantages. Regions with better-educated people tend to find it easier to draw and retain businesses. These regions are also likely to be more competitive in contrast to nations around the world like China, which has posted sharp increases in the level of educational attainment among its citizens.

Well-educated people find it easier to obtain and keep jobs. American unemployment figures consistently show that the part of the population with high levels of eduction have lower unemployment. This makes sense: skill equals aptitude in most cases. An employer who has to pick between two potential employees is likely to choose the one who reads best, writes best, and has the highest level of educational attainment. There are exceptions to this when jobs require very specific backgrounds, but across the American workforce, which has tens of millions of workers, any employer would want to have an employee who can show his educational background is stronger than that of fellow applicants.

Here they are. Be sure to read the full article at the link below.

10. Utah
9. Texas
8. Iowa
7. Wyoming
6. Arizona
5. Alaska
4. Idaho
3. Oklahoma
2. Michigan
1. Colorado


Full article

http://247wallst.com/2011/02/07/the-ten-states-running-out-of-smart-people/

[Raster]

1. They'll be forming a new country called Dumfukastan.

[toddwv]

22. I don't understand the list.

How is Colorado #1 when its blurb says:

Colorado’s education outcomes , even now, are quite good. The state has the second highest number of bachelor’s degrees per adult, and the 8th-highest portion of its population with a white-collar job. The state went from 11th in average reading scores to 23rd in seven years. Colorado dropped from 8th to 15th in in the portion of the population with a high school degree. The state also had one of the largest decreases in white collar workers per capita.

Read more: The Ten States Running Out Of Smart People - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2011/02/07/the-ten-states-running-out-of-smart-people/#ixzz1DdVKNAYb

[Raster]

39. I think the kicker about Colorado would be the overall trend:

"...The state went from 11th in average reading scores to 23rd in seven years. Colorado dropped from 8th to 15th in in the portion of the population with a high school degree. The state also had one of the largest decreases in white collar workers per capita."

[MineralMan]

2. Why is Iowa listed twice?

Hmm...

[Codeine]

5. DoubleplusUnsmart nt

[MineralMan]

18. LOL!

[xocet]

44. University of Idaho, Iowa City, Ohio...? n/t

[Stevenmarc]

6. Someone in Colorado wrote the list

[Statistical]

12. LOL. Now that was funny. n/t

[sharp_stick]

16. Perfect Reply n/t

[OhioChick]

26. .....

:rofl:

[BobbyBoring]

14. The author

lives in Iowa?? That's my WAG

[lmarcotty]

28. Because -

because they forgot to list Michigan at all.

[Control-Z]

30. Arizona wrote out the list? n/t

Edit: I just read that someone beat me to it with Colorado.

[texastoast]

32. Fixed

Part of the error had to do with the fact that my state is on the list, part of Dumfuckistan.

:7

[madrchsod]

40. steve king brings down the entire state`s intelligence

[ixion]

3. #2 is Michigan, rather than Iowa.

:)

[BobbyBoring]

17. He's something scarey

Detroit has a population in which 47% is functionally illiterate. Nearly half!

And Emanem or whatever his name is says Detroit is the model of the future American City?

[sufrommich]

4. Are we defining "smart people" as degree holders and

white collar workers now?

[Codeine]

7. DU always does that.

That's not new, it's just sadly typical.

[sufrommich]

11. I know. nt

[truedelphi]

20. Your reply reminds me: I forget the name of the guy, but

He was the head of the mechanical engineering department at Cornell or somewhere similar.

Way back in the late eighties, he made a point of offering up a press release over his displeasure that fewer and fewer people are growing up on farms. he was finding the caliber of applicants to the mechanical engineering department to be less and less qualified.

When a kid grew up on a farm, in the nineteen eighties or before, should a piece of equipment fail, often the kid and one of his parents would puzzle out a solution to fixing the machinery. It was simpler to do that then to drive the equipment into town and then wait around for the replacement parts and the physical labor.

But now that so many kids are growing up in the city, with most of their information coming to them via the TV or Computer Games, valuable reasoning skills are not being entrained. The brain gets wired, but not in the creative yet realistic ways that farm life created decades ago.

[sufrommich]

25. That's an interesting observation. Intelligence should

never be measured by one's ability to get a bachelor's degree or obtain a white collar job. The very fact that it's used as "proof" of the level of intelligent in any particular state is simplistic.

[WCGreen]

31. Yea, George W earned degrees....

[truedelphi]

35. Thinking of his degrees, one has to wonder who his parents

Paid to take his tests.

Or it could be that the neurological insufficiencies he displayed as President had not surfaced when he was younger.

[Blue_In_AK]

9. Yes, exactly my point below.

I think this is a bogus listing, and I'm not just saying that because I'm from "dumb" Alaska.

[CreekDog]

23. the article titled them that way

not the OP.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. I think not having a bachelor's degree

doesn't necessarily translate to "dumb," especially in this day and age when obtaining a bachelor's degree is so extremely expensive. What's so smart about going into decades-long debt with student loans? The same can be said for the comparable "smartness" of white-collar workers as compared to people in the trades.

[Codeine]

15. Exactly. I didn't even graduate from high school

and yet I've made quite a bit of pocket money over the years rewriting papers for my younger employees who are in college. Education does not automatically equal intellect -- or even literacy for that matter! :evilgrin:

[sufrommich]

19. Well, you just have to listen harder to your betters, they know

what's best for you.;-)

[WatsonT]

29. I've pointed this out elsewhere

and been accused of being anti-intellectual.

Sigh

[jeff47]

42. It's just a metric

And like all metrics, it's not 100% accurate. However, there isn't really another good way to try and measure what they're measuring.

[OHdem10]

10. Boy I was really surprised at some of these. At one time Iowa

was a leader.

Could this be the influence Religious Fundamentalism???

[HereSince1628]

21. May it have to do with who gets hired in places like meat packing plants?

When I lived there, people who came to do hard-labor low-pay jobs in the plants in western Iowa often come from circumstances that hadn't provided a lot of opportunity for education. If that's true all over the state it could make an impact on overall state statistics.

I know that has the danger of being a sweeping generalization and I don't mean to besmearch people who work in the packing plants. It's just my observation on the population that worked the plants near where I lived and travelled.

[SharonAnn]

36. I know. Iowa used to be at or near the top of the education lists.

Hard to believe that it's changed.

Or is just that they are losing ground, partly because they were so highly ranked?

[dkofos]

13. I figured texas would be in the top 3.

[texastoast]

34. I can assure you

We are working on it.

[dkofos]

37. Perry is a bit slow

[Lucian]

24. How can Iowa be #8 and #2?

And I didn't know #10, #9, and #7 had smart people.

Huh.

[texastoast]

33. I can't blame autocorrect

But I'll blame the clipboard and interruption.

I fixed it.

[Chimichurri]

27. Idiocracy, here we come!

[Hannah Bell]

38. wtf?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

41. Hmmmm......most of them appear to be solidly "red states"

Except for Iowa, Michigan and, to some extent, Colorado. Coincidence? :eyes:

[Lithos]

43. Lot of Red states

Too many Rethuglicans who think that education is socialist robbery don't realize these same kids they are screwing now are going to be the doctors, lawyers, bill collectors, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and nurses who they are going to have to depend on as they grow old. You would think they would want someone who knows science and can determine if the new corporate medicine has a drug interaction with another one. Or are they thinking their insurance death panel will look after their best interests?

L-

[RegieRocker]

45. Dumbfuckistan covers all 50 states.

[LiberalEsto]

46. But they're gaining Fux News viewers

That should count for something.
:sarcasm: