Minnesota is on a list of the 10 most educated states in the country. So is my home state of Washington.
10. New Jersey
9. Washington
8. Minnesota
7. New Hampshire
6. Virginia
5. Colorado
4. Vermont
3. Connecticut
2. Maryland
1. Massachusetts
I had to look up a few other states I’ve lived in. Utah ranks surprisingly high, at #11 — we’re going to have to credit Salt Lake City for bringing up their score, which is a really nice city to live in, despite the weird religion, and is home to a great university that the state actually takes considerable pride in. Pennsylvania is surprisingly low, at #30. It’s surprising because Philadelphia is in the heart of a region rich in universities, with a long academic tradition. I guess the benighted middle of the state is dragging their average down.
There is some bad news for Minnesota lurking in the details: we have one of the worst gaps in educational attainment by race. I suspect that’s a consequence of welcoming many immigrants — Hmong, Somali, and Central American — and then failing to do right by them.
I am surprised to see Wisconsin at 19. I would venture to guess it has been dropping and will continue to drop. We live near the border of MN and we are seeing teachers leave for the greener pastures of MN. Teachers can make thousands more by adding a short commute to their day. Now if our local referendum doesn’t pass we will be laying off teachers here.
That’s why we call it Wississippi.
I grew up in PA. Once you get out of the cities and suburbs it is actually similar to WV and OH. There are a lot of libertarian types also.
There was an article the other day about some assemblyman (Democrat, no less!) in Mississippi who introduced a bill that would require teachers to read the 10 commandments in their class every day. Mississippi’s ranking on the most educated states list: dead last. #50. The kids may be dumb as dirt but at least they won’t covet their neighbor’s stuff.
Also note: none of the top 10 states went for Trump in the last election. 8 of the 10 bottom states did.
And of course Wisconsin is wallowing right down there with Minnesota in the racial education gap rankings, which is shamefully unsurprising.
We call PA, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with Alabama in between. What is odd and counter-intuitive about that is the large Amish and Mennonite population in the central and southeastern parts of the state. Perhaps they’re not pushing education on their kids? They’re really good farmers and makers. Our kitchen cabinets were all made by an Amish cabinet maker.
Indiana’s about what I expected, except… quality of education is actually pretty decent. It’s just no one wants to. It’s mostly farms here?? Farms and coal??
Although… Texas, while a little lower on the education attainment rank, is slightly higher on the quality of education, so like, I don’t know.
No, unless I messed up the link, the reference seems to be Black to White. https://wallethub.com/edu/most-educated-states/31075/#cinda-klickna
https://wallethub.com/edu/most-educated-states/31075/#cinda-klickna
What is odd and counter-intuitive about that is the large Amish and Mennonite population in the central and southeastern parts of the state.
As far as I am aware Old Order Mennonites are not particularly oriented towards formal education, at least here in Canada. I suspect the Amish are the same.
Good farming—at least as practiced by Old Order Mennonites—and high-quality craftsmanship are not particularly dependent on formal in-school instruction.
Other Mormon sects seem to vary, I was in grad school with one Mormon and a friend of mine with a Ph.D comes from a Mormon family.
Of course(?) my state is #1 !! With colleges like Hahvahd and the Tute, we gotta keep the kids capable of entry. Hooray
Florida is the best educated of the deep south. Yeeehawww!!!!
jrkrideau @7: Yeah, I suspect that a huge part of the issue is the stark levels of residential segregation, under which a huge proportion of African-American Minnesotans live in a very small number of Twin Cities-metro neighborhoods that (surprise!) have the poorest and most troubled schools in the state. There are historical reasons for this, of course, including exclusionary zoning, racial covenants in real-estate deeds, redlining by real-estate professionals and the U.S. Federal Housing Authority (a national problem that was especially intense in certain Northern cities), and the demolition of large Black-dominated neighborhoods to facilitate the construction of Interstates 94 and 35 in the Twin Cities.
As a result, the “achievement gap” between Black and white students in metro schools has been, and remains, a perennial problem.
@ 1 Rieux
I don’t know much about US segregation patterns and associated problems but this seems likely.
As a result, the “achievement gap” between Black and white students in metro schools has been, and remains, a perennial problem.
Let me see about this. Take a child from an impoverished environment, sent child to impoverished school system; expect great outcomes, blame students. Sounds a lot like First Nations education in Canada (well, more or less absent the attempted cultural genocide on our part).
@ 11 Rieux
I was, recently, reading an article (link lost) about the Japanese educational system that seems oriented towards maximizing success. The educational admin seems to be at a regional level with, IIRC, a good bit of national input.
At least in theory, areas with poverty get the best teachers assigned and there is an effort to give those areas the best physical facilities.
Careful, PZ, as I understand it considering it better to be educated than not is
.
….okay, why the fuck won’t the gumby quotes work any more?
<q>close to gumby</q>