46 percent of adult New Mexicans are "functionally illiterate" (schools, wages)

[trappedinNM]

Originally Posted by mortimer

trappedinNM corrected:

> Originally Posted by Vinegaroon
> > "Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?"

> Perhaps it is rarely asked because it is incorrect grammer.

I'd bet $100 that the original post had the grammar mistakes put there a' purpose.

I hadn't thought of that, but I'll bet you're correct.

[jsc23]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

I meant to offer just two of many possibilities. In other words I offered A and B of A, B, C, D, E, F, G, ... of the many ways that the economy could go. Not a choice of two, but two choices out of many.

I'm not informed in this subject but I'm interested in learning. And I'm motivated because I'm considering relocating to NM for my retirement and would like to know more about the people and the economy. I already know the scenery is beautiful!!!

The choices offered are presumably choices of economic base for NM. This state is not likely ever to develop a large manufacturing economy. Scarce water is one reason, the national trend away from manufacturing coupled with surplus capacity elsewhere is another. Tech industry is already moving to India, Korea and so on....

Some might be surprised to learn NMs top three industries by number employed
1. Health Care and Social Assistance
2. Accommodation and Food Services
3. Educational Services

link http://laser.state.nm.us/lmi/area/ar...1000000&mode=2

In terms of jobs, our economy is based on health care, tourism and education. These three sectors employ roughly 270,000 of NM 822,000 workers, roughly 33% of the workforce.

Two queries:
If 46% of adult New Mexicans lack the basic skills to perform 64% of today's jobs does that mean NM has roughly 750,000 unemployed adults (if 822,000 are employed and 46% of the adults are unemployable)? Or does it mean that 252,000 persons in New Mexico (about 30% of the workforce) are employed in jobs for which they lack the most basic competency. (yeah, yeah... I've dealt with MVD, too)

I ain't denying the importance of literacy, but numeracy is equally important. With the quoted terms so nebulously defined, the statistics given are meaningless. One can say that 90% of adults lack the basic skills to perform the the highest paying 10% of the jobs in this country. This is obviously true since only 10% of the workforce can hold those jobs at any time, they are replaced due to lack of, or loss of, competence to perform those jobs. At any given point in time, only 10% of the workforce will have the necessary competence to perform those jobs.

[Devin Bent]

I get the impression -- mostly just from people talking -- that some number of young women either drop out of school or pay minimal attention to their studies because they are pregnant andor raising a child.

The young men then -- again just from what people say -- either drop out or pay minimal attention because they get a job to help support the young woman and child. Or the young men get the job and the school work suffers so that they can buy a car.

Is there any truth to all this -- or is it just loose talk?

[funkymonkey]

It's hard to improve the education when there is a large group of parents that are unable or unwilling to see the value in it for their children. Perhaps incentives should be aimed at the parents.

[brightdoglover]

I'd like to see an age breakdown of these adults. My guess is that older adults came up in rural areas and some time ago, left school or barely started to work on farms/ranches and had little access to formal education.
Younger adults might suffer more from the common problem of too much electronic input from an early age (from TV to video games) and being in households where the adults, even if functionally literate, do not read for pleasure, information or such. Too much visual "information," not enough written input
Of course, there are also the undiagnosed learning disabilities, but that's true in any group of people.
As for the girls leaving school to have babies, they should have had enough school to be literate, for heaven's sake, so likely if they aren't, it's due to the above-mentioned electronics inputs.
Are non-English households/immigrants part of the stats? After all, the "Spanish" people from New Mexico have been there for hundreds of years, so I doubt that it's a question of literacy in Spanish or English, unlike recent immigrants (who are likely to be poor and not educated where they are from).

[brightdoglover]

I'd like to see an age breakdown of these adults. My guess is that older adults came up in rural areas and some time ago, left school or barely started to work on farms/ranches and had little access to formal education.
Younger adults might suffer more from the common problem of too much electronic input from an early age (from TV to video games) and being in households where the adults, even if functionally literate, do not read for pleasure, information or such. Too much visual "information," not enough written input
Of course, there are also the undiagnosed learning disabilities, but that's true in any group of people.
As for the girls leaving school to have babies, they should have had enough school to be literate, for heaven's sake, so likely if they aren't, it's due to the above-mentioned electronics inputs.
Are non-English households/immigrants part of the stats? After all, the "Spanish" people from New Mexico have been there for hundreds of years, so I doubt that it's a question of literacy in Spanish or English, unlike recent immigrants (who are likely to be poor and not educated where they are from).

[GregW]

Just to take a gratuitous shot at Ohio I would add, floods, tornadoes, winter cold, snow, ice, and summer heat to the reasons I might want to locate my new high tech industry to New Mexico. Another major reason would be all the informal (corruption) taxes imposed by a complex entrenched bureaucracy of zoning and local politicians.

I was reading a book on international industrial and educational development that pointed out that several currently booming countries once had a reputation for illiterate and “lazy” workers when they were primarily agricultural and mining economies. Since they industrialized and their educational systems grew to match the demand for educated people the reputation of their people for being industrious and educated became a world wide standard.

In the US similar things happened in the industrial northeast when industry demanded that workers be able to read, write and cipher. The schooling grew to supply the education required. Now as these old industrial areas are being gutted by foreign competition (from places like the southern US as well as southeast Asia) the schools are going down the same trail. Without a use for the skills the students are just not bothering to do the necessary work. That actually makes some kind of twisted sense. Why learn to be a skilled machinist, for instance, when the demand for this trade is nonexistent in your local community? Makes more sense to learn to be a hospital orderly because there is a demand for these workers as the resident and increasingly impoverished population ages. Unfortunately, for the overall economy hospital services are operational overhead and not a wealth generator.

Now to get back to the future for New Mexico. Which comes first, an educated workforce or the industrial development requiring that workforce? Given the mobility of American labor most industries would initially bring employees with them and not bother to make the contributions (taxes) to the local area to educate the workers. I think it more valuable to encourage industrial development in New Mexico in order to provide the economic incentive, as well as money, to improve the schools of New Mexico. When the kids have a good reason they will do the required work and well paid teachers will be available to show them how.

[Vinegaroon]

Originally Posted by trappedinNM

Perhaps it is rarely asked because it is incorrect grammer.

Perhaps they ask "is our child learning?" or "are our children learning?"

Ahem....that is a direct quote from our current President.

[newmex]

[quote=GregW;3620318]Just to take a gratuitous shot at Ohio I would add, floods, tornadoes, winter cold, snow, ice, and summer heat to the reasons I might want to locate my new high tech industry to New Mexico.

Can't change the weather. Unless you're Al Gore. Texas has similar weather, and they're doing alright. Nice people there. New Mexico needs Texas $$$$. And they know it Texas is clean, high fines posted for littering $1000. They keep it tidy regardless. New Mexico, $300 and there is trash everywhere. Recycling is only a suggestion unless its ABQ or Santa Fe.

Another major reason would be all the informal (corruption) taxes imposed by a complex entrenched bureaucracy of zoning and local politicians.


I lived in NM enough to know it exists there too.
You're preaching to the choir on that, it's real bad in Ohio. The elected do not change anything for the better, they're just self important mouthpieces refining their resumes.

One good tech industry New Mexico could build to maintain expansion. Perfecting desalination plants. Start now, by the time the wells run dry, you're set. You just have to be nice to The Lone Star State so they'll let you pipe it in from the Gulf of Mexico. No need then for the Great Lakes

Ready, set, edit.

[sjbasin]

Originally Posted by Vinegaroon

Ahem....that is a direct quote from our current President.

You don't suppose that folks really did not recognize that quote, do you? I thought everyone was just being polite.