Posted on 07/06/2024 5:00:51 AM PDT by karpov
Only about 900,000 persons claim permanent residence in South Dakota, yet its 28 colleges and universities rank it third best in the nation for universities per capita, and its 50,000+ students make its higher-ed student-to-population ratio 5.76 percent, higher than North Carolina’s, Ohio’s, Pennsylvania’s, Texas’s, and Wisconsin’s, among other reputed higher-education meccas. Small as it is, if South Dakota applies lessons from its own history to the current crises in higher education, it could become an even more important force.
If you think that South Dakota is just a Great Plains version of Saudi Arabia, read a book (preferably my 2015 Little Business on the Prairie), or at least realize that North Dakota is the oil giant. Almost no fossil fuels have been found beneath South Dakota, which gets its energy from hydroelectric dams along the Missouri River, seemingly ceaseless prairie winds, and the sun, directly and via its vast cornfields.
The state’s Black Hills once abounded in gold, but those days are gone. For decades, the state government burnished its coffers by offering alternatives to other states’ strict regulatory policies in areas such as corporate charters, divorces, dynasty trusts, vehicle licensing, and, most infamously, credit cards. “You gotta do whatcha gotta do” could be the state motto, except only recent transplants fleeing New Jersey talk like that there.
Much of South Dakota’s economic juice comes from tourism: Americans fishing its “great lakes” in the winter, spring, and early fall; touring Mount Rushmore, Deadwood, Sturgis, and the rest of the Black Hills region served by the state’s western metropole, Rapid City, in the summer; hunting pheasant and waterfowl in the fall; and gambling year-round. Whenever the roads are open, the state’s eastern metropole, Sioux Falls, also attracts a prodigious retail trade from northwestern Iowa and southwestern Minnesota.
(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...
“If your primary concern is to make yourself more valuable to employers by learning how to think, not what to think, then come here.”
“almost two in five students hail from outside of South Dakota, because it typically offers the lowest total cost (tuition, fees, and room and board) of all the public universities in” the western Midwest.
“with little overlap. They include the liberal-arts flagship (University of South Dakota or USD, with degrees in journalism, law, medicine, and the like near Yankton), the agricultural and biological sciences university (South Dakota State aka SDSU in Brookings), cybersecurity (Dakota State in Madison), and engineering and mining (South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City). Black Hills State (BHS in Spearfish) and Northern State (NSU in Aberdeen) provide business, medical, teaching, and more general credentials to students in the state’s vast western and northern expanses, respectively.”
Community colleges offer training in:
“areas like agriculture (e.g., veterinarian technician), business (e.g., bookkeeping), construction (e.g., welding), engineering (e.g., surveying), healthcare (e.g., medical lab technician), and transportation technology (e.g., collision repair)”
“Only about 900,000 persons claim permanent residence in South Dakota”
Many people find the above statement laughable, in that SD is sparsely populated, in particular jackasses from large blue cities such as NYC, LA, SF etc. It has even more laughable characteristics such as numerous cities of a 1,000 or less.
Myself, being from ND that worked at a major USAF base, listened to young airmen laughing at ND for having practically no one living there.
In times like we have today, this is all good. Who wants those big city democrat leaches in their area anyway? Having a little to no population is a good think in times of crisis, which the rat party has been manufacturing ever since the obama years.
We visit SD often, and it is a good place. Lately SD & ND are being infiltrated by refugees from blue states like Kalifornia. I don’t like it as they bring their values with them.
“Myself, being from ND that worked at a major USAF base, listened to young airmen laughing at ND for having practically no one living there.”
You just explained, “Why not Minot!”
I lived in Rapid City SD for three years when I served at Ellsworth. I enjoyed the small town environment. Coming from New York City it was actually a breath of fresh air.
Given that a single borough of NYC (Brooklyn) has 2.5x the population of the entire state of South Dakota, I see no harm in city slickers marveling over the difference.
Last I knew about 3% to 4% of SD’s population is foreign born.
In a state with a small population, that’s a lot.
Don’t believe me, talk to folks in Iceland.
My husband and I spent a week this summer in the Black Hills. Definitely worth the time and effort. Beautiful!
‘You just explained, “Why not Minot!” ‘
You guessed it, it was Minot AFB. My favorite story about a big city person at Minot AFB complaining was that of a young black girl. I was in a Minot AFB cafeteria and sat beside this girl. I asked how she liked the area.
Her reply was amazing as she felt unsafe. I asked why, she said there were no sirens all the time. I was shocked. The sounds of sirens meant safety to her as a cop car was rescuing someone, fire truck putting out a fire or ambulance saving a life.
I never questioned her any deeper than that. I suspect she came from some hell hole like Chicago with a high crime rate and the sound of a siren was quite refreshing.
“...she said there were no sirens all the time.”
In the better weather, there seems to be always the sounds of motorcycles around Rapid City......
We did a road trip last year and spent some time in SD. We had some car trouble that I thought might be a big issue. I called a friend of a friend to ask for a honest mechanic in Rapid City.
It turned out to be an amazingly minor problem. He could have tipped me off. Instead the total cost was $20.
We’re rigging a truck for overlanding and will be driving from
Maryland to Washington this fall to get the rooftop tent. I’m looking forward to the Black Hills again.
If you are bringing your bikes, I recommend the Mickelson Trail. It is 100 miles long.
My Father-in-law is from a little town north of Minot called Glenburn.
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