Posted on 06/07/2014 4:38:46 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- When writing an article ranking the "smartest" and "dumbest" states in the Union it is important to explain your methodology. This list is based on the level of education a certain percentage of the residents of each state achieves.
According to information compiled by the website infoplease.com, as of 2010 men with a BA make 60% more than their counterparts with a high school diploma -- $40,000 to $64,000 -- while women with BA's make 56.6% more than their counterparts with a lower level of education -- $30,000 to $47,000.
And the gulf is widening. Twenty years ago male college graduates only made 47.5% more than high school grads while female BA holders made 53% more.
For this reason there is some correlation between states with higher percentages of people with Bachelor's and advanced degrees also having fewer people living below the poverty line.
One would think that states with more colleges and universities per capita might do better on this list but that is not necessarily the case. Vermont -- number 8 on the smartest list -- has the most schools per capita with 1 university per 36,545.3 residents, while New Jersey -- number 6 on the smartest list -- has the second lowest number of schools per capita with 1 university per 526,764.8 residents.
Average SAT scores also do not accurately reflect the level of education as certain states with higher average SAT scores have a smaller percentage of students taking the test. North Dakotan students for example had an average SAT score of 1799 in 2013, good for second in the country. However, the state only had a 2% participation rate.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestreet.com ...
They will throw WV in your face. All I can think of is that they have a lot of lead in their environment.
The author seems slightly biased for a black man.
Most the states he listed as smartest don’t have many blacks. Maybe he’s trying to tell us something?
Wow. Not too kind to people below the Mason-Dixon. But don’t let it get you down. You still have William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor and all that.
Years ago there was a study saying North Dakotans were best at math and science and Montanans second. Sure blasted that old “dumb North Dakotan” stereotype we had when I was a kid. Apparently Montanans had that reputation in the other 56 states. When I first came to WA and people would mention it I used to ask if that’s why there were so many Montanans working at Boeing and Microsoft.
Seriously, you can’t underestimate the brain drain phenomenon.
Now I’m going to check out the drunkest states.
Education is important but it doesn’t make one more important than anyone else. The northeast people I’ve met understand freedom and what makes America great the least. Some good people there but way too many weenies.
Do you happen to know those states offhand? I already mentioned MT and ND in another post.
I paid about 30k total to finish my 4yr degree and have worked with many who paid 40k a year for theirs. Yet we made the same money. Now I have my own company and they work for me.
Whose smarter?
Operating heavy equipment in North Dakota is smarter than teaching generative grammar at Penn.
Dutifully “learning” or being indoctrinated into what Marxists thinks you should know does NOT make you “smart”.
Offhand: Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, Missouri, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Wyoming, Kansas. Not necessarily in that order.
But we need to tell who or what( usually what nowadays) initially screens resumes and applications that.
This touches on another thread a few days ago about resumes.
I was told that a lot of employers out here do like Montanans because they have a reputation for a good worth ethic.
Dumbest or smartest?
Altruism?
Isn’t it obvious? dumbest.
Yes, and YOU ARE AMERICA. Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our economy. Small businesses (499 employees or less) create 65% of all net new jobs in the US. And yet, for the first time in American history, more companies died than were created. [Brookings Institution, May 5, 2014] That is a prescription for disaster. Obamacare, taxes, and regulations are killing small businesses. Any Republican that fails to take on this issue can go to hell—and probably will.
Thanks.
Just checking.
In their minds? Possible. You know how anxious they are to show everyone down south 'how they do it up north'...
Vladimir Lenin was an intellectual who fantasized about Marxist revolution while sipping Viennese coffee near the Opera House. We know how that turned out. Pol Pot had a similar affinity for coffee—learning his ideological extremism from the French café intelligentsia on the Champs Elyssee.
Professional thinkers should never be given power. They are imprisoned in their own thinking.
The study measures how much more money is dedicated to “higher education” and median income. There seems to be a disconnect between happiness and a need to keep pinheads employed stuffing little brains full of mush. Culture, population demographics and freedom of lifestyle all fail to get into the measurement.
Not much of a study unless you accept their premise.
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