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Your picture of a butterfly isn't coming up on the "quote" feature, but seeing it sparked an anology apropos to this thread:
If one assists a butterfly when it breaks out of its cocoon, it will be of great harm to the butterfly. It builds strength in its wings thru the struggle of breaking out of its cocoon. Without this struggle, the butterfly will be too weak to survive.
I had the honor and privilege to grow up in a rural area in Georgia. I didn't appreciate this when I was younger, but now a few years down the road, I wouldn't trade my background for the world. My kids are in large suburban schools with MUCH more than I ever had, yet sometimes I feel they are missing some of the advantages of my youth. I was the proverbial big frog in a small pond... was on the debate team, starred in the one act play, on the math team, the science team, the academic team.. all teams where we competed in region and state events just like the athletic teams. I wasn't specialized in any of these areas enough to have made even one of these teams in my kid's large school.
I got enough of an experience here to earn scholarships to a well regarded private university and have since earned my masters. All this growing up with a widowed mother and grandmother in the back woods of Georgia and going to a single A sized high school.
Bloom where you are planted. Faith is essential... in yourself, in the belief that there are people who will be of benefit wherever you are and in the creator that makes no mistakes and has a plan for your life if you seek Him.
Don't under estimate the value that a less than privileged upbringing will give. The struggle of coming out of that cocoon will make you much stronger, but only if you choose to pull your own bootstraps and stop the blame game. When you do start the tug on those straps, you will find that help will come from places you least expect it.
Why do parents continue to raise children in small, rural towns where schools are of bad quality, drug abuse and crime is high, poverty is systemic, and opportunities for advancement are low?
I grew up in small town TN where the schools and universities were of poor quality. Because I grew up in a bad area and went to a bad high school, getting interest from good universities was difficult. Without the proper academic pedigree, getting into graduate school or attracting the interest of a quality employer was difficult, no matter how strong your individual merits are. So the cycle of rural poverty moves on.
My family had job offers in other areas that were more prosperous, but foolishly failed to take them to stay close to their family. Ultimately growing up in a rural ghetto with poor parents shortchanged me of opportunities I would have otherwise had, along with condemning my parents to absolute poverty in old age. We live in an area that is as politically corrupt and nearly as violent as Detroit.
Why do people hold the small town as an ideal for raising children, when most small towns can be shown to be demonstrably inferior in every social metric to major urban areas?
Yes, because it's so much easier to blame your parents for YOU not pulling up your bootstraps and gettinmg the hell out of there on your own.
Why do parents continue to raise children in small, rural towns where schools are of bad quality, drug abuse and crime is high, poverty is systemic, and opportunities for advancement are low?
I grew up in small town TN where the schools and universities were of poor quality. Because I grew up in a bad area and went to a bad high school, getting interest from good universities was difficult. Without the proper academic pedigree, getting into graduate school or attracting the interest of a quality employer was difficult, no matter how strong your individual merits are. So the cycle of rural poverty moves on.
My family had job offers in other areas that were more prosperous, but foolishly failed to take them to stay close to their family. Ultimately growing up in a rural ghetto with poor parents shortchanged me of opportunities I would have otherwise had, along with condemning my parents to absolute poverty in old age. We live in an area that is as politically corrupt and nearly as violent as Detroit.
Why do people hold the small town as an ideal for raising children, when most small towns can be shown to be demonstrably inferior in every social metric to major urban areas?
I just happened to be looking at some older threads in the economic section, and saw this from you:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emigrations
A person I grew up with is 25 and founded his own software development business less than five years ago, started additional companies, and these businesses have grown. He made $600k last year and tweeted that if 80% of his business were gone, he'd still be up 300% from last year. He'll probably make well over a million for himself this year.
Actually, its up to the student, parent, and school for the student to excel, not just the parent or school.
If a college is looking at a student who is pulling through with good grades, I can't see them not letting you in. Plus I'm sure there are private schools nearby that you could attend in high school.
If you are ambitious enough to get what you want, you will, in most cases, get it.
I knew the town we lived in while our kids were young was small, but I didn't realize how small until I saw it in the news today. 3610 people, yet the town was named one of the top 10 places to raise children. I know my own didn't suffer academically, or socially.
Small and rural isn't synonymous with poverty, poor education, or drug infested at all.
I grew up in a small rural type of town that was also considered "prestigious".
Most people there were upper class white collar workers.
The schools sent lots of kids to Ivy League or prestigious colleges.
It was safe with low crime because everyone knew each other and their kid's names. If you did get into trouble, the police didn't even need to apprehend you....they just called your parents.
Drugs have no socio-economic boundaries....rich and poor alike are just as likely to abuse drugs (alcohol is a drug too). I recall doctor and lawyer's wives being Prozac or Valium abusers. And, I recall a conversation with a police chief who told me the poorer neighborhood school had less a drug problem than the affluent school because those kids had more disposable income to buy drugs than the kids who had to scape or steal it.
My wife was on the board of the County Woman's Shelter and when they wanted to do a school program at an "affluent" school they said "no...we don't have those problems here". Lol....who are they kidding? Child abuse, spousal abuse, incest, and child molestation also knows no socioeconomic boundaries and anyone who denies that isn't living in reality.
Why do parents continue to raise children in small, rural towns where schools are of bad quality, drug abuse and crime is high, poverty is systemic, and opportunities for advancement are low?
I grew up in small town TN where the schools and universities were of poor quality. Because I grew up in a bad area and went to a bad high school, getting interest from good universities was difficult. Without the proper academic pedigree, getting into graduate school or attracting the interest of a quality employer was difficult, no matter how strong your individual merits are. So the cycle of rural poverty moves on.
My family had job offers in other areas that were more prosperous, but foolishly failed to take them to stay close to their family. Ultimately growing up in a rural ghetto with poor parents shortchanged me of opportunities I would have otherwise had, along with condemning my parents to absolute poverty in old age. We live in an area that is as politically corrupt and nearly as violent as Detroit.
Why do people hold the small town as an ideal for raising children, when most small towns can be shown to be demonstrably inferior in every social metric to major urban areas?
It sounds like you grew up in a crap-hole and are extrapolating it to all other small towns.
I had the opposite experience.
I would suggest posting up your data re: inferior social metrics and we can go from there rather than slinging about hyperbole and anecdotal information.
Is this thread a round-about way encouraging density by way of "guilting" people into stuffing themselves into overcrowded cities?
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