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I can't agree with them exactly. I grew up in Columbia until about 20 years of age. That town has one of the highest MD's per population ratios in the nation. Plus everyone who is not an MD is a Ph.D. Very education town. But the drug use when I was there was off the charts.
I like many got into drugs, I started smoking pot in 6th grade at Fairview Elementary. A classmate named Todd turned me onto it. He was like a missionary for marijuana, getting many people to get high the first time. The funny thing was 2 of my teachers at Fairview (Mr.Hacker and Mrs.Kenemore) pulled him aside and warned him not to hang around me. They had no idea he was and would be the downfall of many people into drugs.
Both of my brothers did alot of drugs growing up there. One is an MD now and the other a lawyer. I am an MD too. We all did lots of drugs. My brothers arrests helped them to quit, I just decided to quit on my own my junior year of high school.
There are many MD's in that town I grew up with who were major stoners (Pot, LSD, shrooms, cocaine etc). Many of them work for MU. One was my moms medical doctor until just recently, when she switched doctors.
Plus I do not consider it a friendly town. I It was not a supportive place to grow up. Ex. When I was in 3rd grade at Fairview grade school and my brothers were getting arrested, and my homelife sucked in a major way (some home violence and abuse) - the teachers were very mean (Mansfield, Kenemore, Hacker) and their thinking was never "What can we do to help troubled students?". It was fairly inevitable that I progress into a trouble maker myself.
Hacker later became a principle at some other grade school. As a punishment in 5th grade (he was my 5th grade teacher), he made me and a student sit facing each other and kick each other non-stop for 5 minutes. I just cannot imagine a teacher getting away with that nowadays.
WHen I was in 9th grade a kid brought a gun to West Junior High school to shoot me (Gene Atkinson was the principle). A fellow student, a basketball teammate of mine, warned me he was going to shoot me. Apparently the police and the school were tipped off and he was stopped before anything crazy happened. But at no point did anybody say anything to me, or my parents. It was just treated like nothing happened. Considering Columbine etc today, it was just a very lackadaisical way of handling something like a potential shooting.
The schools just lack any real concern for students - again this was quite some time ago, so maybe there has been some progress. But my experience is the schools have no interest in and no ability to help students in troubled homes, no way of reaching out to students who face violence at school, no way of coping with drug use.
The drug use is crazy in that town. LSD could be found in large sheets when I was in 7th grade. Coke was everywhere. One prominent attorney was telling me about staying up all night doing lines of coke, and then hearing the birds chirping in the morning, then going straight into the court room. He told me that he later went through AA and got himself sober. In high school I knew guys dealing ounces of coke and kilos of pot. Having 3 colleges in town fuels the drug use.
The town has a pseudo-sophistication due to all the college degrees floating around, and everyone sporting the title of doctor this or doctor that. But its not very progressive. As a result you see alot of poor doctorates, who probably could not pass a drug urine test. I doubt in the years since I left there it has risen much out of the heavy drug smog that chokes the kids lives. I hope the schools have developed some sort of system for dealing with troubled youth, youth exposed to violence, and the drug issue. Hopefully they have hired some more enlightened teachers than the old gaurd I knew (Ms.Kenemore, Mr.Hacker,Mr.Farmer, Mr.Atkinson,Ms.Mansfield).
I go back to see my parents once a year. Other than that I would not visit the town I don't think. All the druggies I knew growing up there certainly weren't friends. I am lucky I survived that town long enough to get out and have a chance at life.
Oxox, I think you're younger than me, but I could have almost written this post. I went to the same school, and did not have a happy childhood. Columbia is a nice town, but I rarely visit, and I've never been to a high school reunion. I always thought it was just me, but your post makes me wonder.
When I was in high school there was a terrible shooting related to drugs. Some people, I don't know if they were ever caught, but they went into a house and lined up all the people who were there on the floor and shot them all. There were maybe 10-12 in all, and a couple of those shot were in high school. Part of the problem is that it's such a crossroads. It's halfway between KC and StL and Hwy 63 runs thru it too. For those not from columbia, I should point out that Fairview is where all the profs kids go--it's not a ghetto school. I would not raise kids there--on the surface it seems to be a wholesome place, but from a couple of insiders, it's really not. Thanks for posting this--it's actually made me feel better about a lot of things.
I've mentioned before on this forum that I was shocked by the drug use I was privy to in Columbia's high schools. I was in college at Mizzou and from working met many Hickman and Rockbridge students and became friends with a lot of them. At the time I had done my fair share of drugs, but nothing like these kids. And they weren't "bad" kids or troublemakers... these were honors students and they were doing drugs I'd never even heard of!
This list could also be titled; Income averages of U.S. college towns.
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Plus everyone who is not an MD is a Ph.D. Very education town. But the drug use when I was there was off the charts.
Slow down. A small percentage of residents are doctors. A higher percentage than most cities because of the hospitals that dominate the city. The majority of Doctors in Columbia do not grow up in Columbia.
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Both of my brothers did alot of drugs growing up there. One is an MD now and the other a lawyer. I am an MD too. We all did lots of drugs.
I would almost bet the lives of my children that you are not a doctor. You have the composition skills of a seventh grader.
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...I like many got into drugs, I started smoking pot in 6th grade at Fairview Elementary. A classmate named Todd turned me onto it... WHen I was in 9th grade a kid brought a gun to West Junior High school to shoot me ... Both of my brothers did alot of drugs ...he drug use is crazy in that town. LSD could be found in large sheets when I was in 7th grade. ...In high school I knew guys dealing ounces of coke and kilos of pot...
I went to school in the 70's and it was like that. We all have to face things like that and make decisions. Sounds like you made some bad ones. For the record, I did also. Good thing about a long life, though. You get lots of second chances if you choose to take them.
You sound like a victim of bad parenting more than anything else. It happens. Shake it off, and remember those lessons when it comes to dealing with your own kids.
Lowest earning cities would be for two reasons. Number one, it's a college town. The students are included in those averages. It's no secret that college students don't generally have a lot of money.
Secondly, compare the cost of living in Columbia to that of other cities in that top 100. It's also one of the cheapest places to live. The wages companies pay out generally are adjusted to cost of living in the communities they are located in. A cop in Los Angeles probably makes 3 times what one in Columbia does. It's also probably 5 times more expensive to live there. One has to look at statistics like those you presented logically and try to take into account a lot of factors that might influence them.
The drug usage you're speaking of is also something very common to any college town.
The drugs in CoMo's middle and high schools have little, if anything, to do with the college campuses. It's another beast entirely.
I didn't live in Columbia and study it long enough to know why CoMo's kids do so many drugs, but I think it's a fact that all long-time residents can see from a mile away.
I can't agree with them exactly. I grew up in Columbia until about 20 years of age. That town has one of the highest MD's per population ratios in the nation. Plus everyone who is not an MD is a Ph.D. Very education town. But the drug use when I was there was off the charts.
I like many got into drugs, I started smoking pot in 6th grade at Fairview Elementary. A classmate named Todd turned me onto it. He was like a missionary for marijuana, getting many people to get high the first time. The funny thing was 2 of my teachers at Fairview (Mr.Hacker and Mrs.Kenemore) pulled him aside and warned him not to hang around me. They had no idea he was and would be the downfall of many people into drugs.
Both of my brothers did alot of drugs growing up there. One is an MD now and the other a lawyer. I am an MD too. We all did lots of drugs. My brothers arrests helped them to quit, I just decided to quit on my own my junior year of high school.
There are many MD's in that town I grew up with who were major stoners (Pot, LSD, shrooms, cocaine etc). Many of them work for MU. One was my moms medical doctor until just recently, when she switched doctors.
Plus I do not consider it a friendly town. I It was not a supportive place to grow up. Ex. When I was in 3rd grade at Fairview grade school and my brothers were getting arrested, and my homelife sucked in a major way (some home violence and abuse) - the teachers were very mean (Mansfield, Kenemore, Hacker) and their thinking was never "What can we do to help troubled students?". It was fairly inevitable that I progress into a trouble maker myself.
Hacker later became a principle at some other grade school. As a punishment in 5th grade (he was my 5th grade teacher), he made me and a student sit facing each other and kick each other non-stop for 5 minutes. I just cannot imagine a teacher getting away with that nowadays.
WHen I was in 9th grade a kid brought a gun to West Junior High school to shoot me (Gene Atkinson was the principle). A fellow student, a basketball teammate of mine, warned me he was going to shoot me. Apparently the police and the school were tipped off and he was stopped before anything crazy happened. But at no point did anybody say anything to me, or my parents. It was just treated like nothing happened. Considering Columbine etc today, it was just a very lackadaisical way of handling something like a potential shooting.
The schools just lack any real concern for students - again this was quite some time ago, so maybe there has been some progress. But my experience is the schools have no interest in and no ability to help students in troubled homes, no way of reaching out to students who face violence at school, no way of coping with drug use.
The drug use is crazy in that town. LSD could be found in large sheets when I was in 7th grade. Coke was everywhere. One prominent attorney was telling me about staying up all night doing lines of coke, and then hearing the birds chirping in the morning, then going straight into the court room. He told me that he later went through AA and got himself sober. In high school I knew guys dealing ounces of coke and kilos of pot. Having 3 colleges in town fuels the drug use.
The town has a pseudo-sophistication due to all the college degrees floating around, and everyone sporting the title of doctor this or doctor that. But its not very progressive. As a result you see alot of poor doctorates, who probably could not pass a drug urine test. I doubt in the years since I left there it has risen much out of the heavy drug smog that chokes the kids lives. I hope the schools have developed some sort of system for dealing with troubled youth, youth exposed to violence, and the drug issue. Hopefully they have hired some more enlightened teachers than the old gaurd I knew (Ms.Kenemore, Mr.Hacker,Mr.Farmer, Mr.Atkinson,Ms.Mansfield).
I go back to see my parents once a year. Other than that I would not visit the town I don't think. All the druggies I knew growing up there certainly weren't friends. I am lucky I survived that town long enough to get out and have a chance at life.
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I have never lived there but my son does and I have visited many times. Not only are the people stupid or druggies the law enforcement there is a joke especially in the Ozarks. I would never want to live there hell I hate that my son is there and wish he would come home and get away from the idiots!!!
Columbia has excellent schools and is well above state/national averages in graduation rates and caliber of students that come out of those schools.
It's hard to tell when the original poster went to school...sounds like the mid 70s to the early 80s. I mean, I kind of hate to tell him this (along with, apparently some others). It's like bursting some sort of bubble. But drugs can be found pretty much anywhere. If you don't think so, you weren't looking. With regard to falling into that trap...I grew up in that time period and I did my share of stupid things. But I found it was a lot less constructive (and realistic) to blame a place for the by products of bad decision making or any sort of parenting/family situation that is out of your (or geography's) control. That's just shifting the blame.
About those stories of massively stoned doctors/lawyers/high ranking professionals...I heard them too. In another state. In my teen years. Again, I think those sorts of things are perceived as cool by people in a certain age bracket. It's not a geographical issue.
I do some volunteer work in Columbia. So I guess I see some of the "bad" people. Maybe it's just that I've seen people are truly ruined or lived in far more difficult places, but...I'm just not seeing Columbia as some sort of crime hotbed. I guess if you're from a much smaller city, it can seem a little frightening. But, all in all, Columbia is below pretty much every national average in crime. Statistics bear this out clearly
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed
I've seen/heard/read people complain about some sort of major rise in crime in Columbia. There were some comments on a thread here a few months ago. It was based on an article that said that violent crimes had gone up by 50% in the last decade. It was a faulty analysis for two reasons
--The population has gone up about 25% since 1997
--2007 was a bad year--an outlier--for crime
The fact is that the number of violent crimes in Columbia since 2003 has looked like this:
2003--422
2004--429
2005--478
2006--460
2007--617
2008--272 (through September...down 40% from last year)
These numbers are from the state (use the MO SAC - Data and Statistics - Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Statistical Query (http://www.mshp.dps.mo.gov/MSHPWeb/SAC/data_and_statistics_ucr_query%20-%20backup.html - broken link) to get numbers). So far, 2008 is the lowest year for crime in a long, long time. Personally, I think there was a statistical error and a couple of months at the beginning of 2008 were counted into 2007. But the fact is that crime is not bad in Columbia and is not getting appreciably worse. People have a tendency to take a bad personal experience and misread statistics and end up with a faulty conclusion.
Which does not mean it's a faulty conclusion for you, Oxox. And I'm sure that kids today have all sorts of drugs you never saw or heard of aragx and that you also saw some bad things stepka. But it's not just unfair to generalize an entire city/school system/local population because of personal beliefs and some unfortunate experiences and/or lifestyle choices, it's not an accurate depiction of the city as a whole. Columbia often points--with deserved pride--to the quality of its schools, the comfort level its inhabitants feel, and the national magazines and newspapers that talk about its quality of life, festivals, and other attributes. When you don't agree with that or don't experience those things, it's fine...but it doesn't change the overall facts or invalidate the experience for the majority. Every city has its problems. Columbia is not different. But I take special exception to Oxox's comments, which really have more to do with bad decision making and unfortunate family life than anything else. Oh, and to ridgegrl, who apparently lives in the Ozarks area of Columbia.
Last edited by Yac; 12-18-2008 at 08:28 AM..
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