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Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,462,489 times
Reputation: 12187
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater
A new update shows that a Kentucky county has the lowest total percentage of the population with a four year degree of any county in the US.
Clinton County: High School Graduates % of population age 25+ 57.5%
Bachelor's Degree or Higher, % of population age 25+ 3.7%
I used to live in a rural county that bordered Clinton... it's a generational issue. CC has an older population that grew up when you could provide your family a car, yard, and 4 bedroom house without a high school degree. I had uncles without one who made good money at factories in Cincinnati in the 1950s. You also don't need any degree to know how to farm or live off the land.
That said, I grantee the graduation rate for their high school is 90% or better. The problem for rural Kentucky isn't bad schools or uneducated youth, it's the best students who go to college not returning home but staying in Lexington, Louisville, or out of state. I know lots of highly educated people making tons of money how are from rural Kentucky, they just don't live there anymore.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,462,489 times
Reputation: 12187
Quote:
Originally Posted by Visvaldis
Obesity should not be a problem for the afterlife that many Kentuckians desire. Heaven's entrance is a gate instead of a door, so most Kentuckians should be able to fit through it.
In early Christian writings (but things left out of the Bible) being obese and refusing to instead share your extra with the poor was considered as bad a sin as theft or adultery. Even in the Bible gluttony is considered a sin. Unfortunately American Christian has been high jacked by right wing nuts who think only rich White Americans will be in heaven.
Well for one thing Mr. Kentucky hater....Kentucky (and Georgia) have the smallest size counties (land area) in America, therefore making the populations smaller due to smaller size counties therefore effecting goofy statistics....
And Clinton county still has over 10,000 residents with population growth... That tells me quite a bit.
Last edited by GraniteStater; 04-19-2012 at 04:34 PM..
I used to live in a rural county that bordered Clinton... it's a generational issue. CC has an older population that grew up when you could provide your family a car, yard, and 4 bedroom house without a high school degree. I had uncles without one who made good money at factories in Cincinnati in the 1950s. You also don't need any degree to know how to farm or live off the land.
That said, I grantee the graduation rate for their high school is 90% or better. The problem for rural Kentucky isn't bad schools or uneducated youth, it's the best students who go to college not returning home but staying in Lexington, Louisville, or out of state. I know lots of highly educated people making tons of money how are from rural Kentucky, they just don't live there anymore.
If that were the case than the area must lose an astronomically high percentage of younger people who don't return, yet retain all of those that live off the land? Since I have driven through the area and stopped at many numerous towns in the Cumberland region I would guess the area has a substantial dependency and drug problems, unfortauntely..
Rural Kentucky must be quite a bit different than rural Missouri because even the most severe brain drain counties in Missouri have 70-80% of the population that has a high school diploma.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,462,489 times
Reputation: 12187
Back to the original question... I think the "biggest" (no pun intended) issue with obesity in the rural South/ Midwest is the cityfication of country people. Used to people in those rural areas got lots of exercise living off the land in form of farming and hunting. My 78 year old aunt was telling me a story of how her grandparents would walk down from their home on the summit of Black Mountain (el. 4000 ft) down to the valley where Lynch KY (el 1500 ft) is today to bring a home cooked meal. The rest of the time they traversed up and down the mountains to find herbs. They lived that lifestyle into their 70s.
Today most people just sit on the couch all day and watch cable tv. ALL DAY. They occasionally get off their butt for 10 yards to get in their car and drive to Wal Mart to buy more processed food. It's sad that people come from all over the Lower 48 states to hike and camp in Kentucky and then most of the natives are too out of shape to enjoy the natural wonders in their own communities.
The easiest? Cut back on overall intake, cut back on processed foods (however convenient they may be) and get some focused exercise.
Genes will have something to do with it no doubt, but I don't think too many people's genes account for true obesity. Big-boned, yea sure. Your grandaddy was big, your daddy was big, you might just be big. But not obese.
Tinker with the three things I mentioned and I could guarantee you'll be fitter. The first two are pretty obvious. We eat much more than what is necessary. We eat pizza, fried foods, cheese, and "white foods" in copious amounts. Lastly, we think walking the steps at work is enough exercise. We don't understand that just a tiny bit of muscle development can spur on metabolism and that burning an extra 100 calories a day could means pounds of weight off our...backs.
How do we get the message out? Obviously schools are going to be key. Reaching adults is harder, but we need to find ways to do it. Maybe through what the kids bring home from school? Even if the kids want to be fit, their parents are mostly the ones making decisions on what they eat. Inviting the parents to schools for a free dinner and short presentation might be a good way to inform them?
A generally sedentary lifestyle isn't that bad if you take a small portion of time each day to dedicate to fitness. 30 minutes or an hour of exercise followed by a couple hours of TV or gaming is better than just "being outside."
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