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Thanks for the update,I have been in Texas for last ten years, so out of the loop somewhat. I had a nagging suspicion that they had tightened it up some but wasn't sure. When inaugurated it was full tuition for a 3.0.... Victim of its own success I guess.
I grew up in a small-ish town in NE Ohio in a depressed area. My town was about 5,000 people, but our little city had one of the best school systems in the area. I had a fine education there, but I moved out when I was 18 and went to college out of state, then went to grad school, and from there moved on. When I was in HS, I worked 30 hours a week, and saved as much as I could.
I also had some savings bonds my gradparents gave me from when I was a kid. All togther, I had just under $5,000, and after college, I just moved to where I wanted to go to grad school. No way was I going back to my home town. Many of my classmates did, but it was not for me. After grad school, I moved to Washingotn, Dc with very, very, little money. I got a cheap apartment ( it was total crap place, but it was clean ish and dry and CHEAP!), signed up with a temp company to start working, ended up getting offered a job with one of my temp assignments, and the rest is history.
You just have to be willing to make the leap. you are the only thing holding you back.
I'm surprised to see all the hate. Sure, you will find the occasional extremely talented person anywhere, but one outlier doesn't indicate a trend. There are also mostly rural states like Iowa and Minnesota that are doing better than Mississippi or Alabama, but I would wager that most rural areas do not have the education systems and strong culture of IA and MN. I've lived in IA and the difference between IA and most of rural America is substantial.
Go look at any common measure of well-being: household income, lifespan, child mortality, crime, whatever. Almost all of the worst states are very rural southern or southwestern states. Virginia, for instance, fares well due to the DC burbs, but most of rural Virginia is as backward as Mississippi. Drugs are everywhere, poverty is escalated, crime is high. I'm surprised that people don't think growing up in rural America is a tremendous problem in this day and age where the economy has shifted to the point that rural areas are not economically competitive.
I'm surprised to see all the hate. Sure, you will find the occasional extremely talented person anywhere, but one outlier doesn't indicate a trend. There are also mostly rural states like Iowa and Minnesota that are doing better than Mississippi or Alabama, but I would wager that most rural areas do not have the education systems and strong culture of IA and MN. I've lived in IA and the difference between IA and most of rural America is substantial.
Go look at any common measure of well-being: household income, lifespan, child mortality, crime, whatever. Almost all of the worst states are very rural southern or southwestern states. Virginia, for instance, fares well due to the DC burbs, but most of rural Virginia is as backward as Mississippi. Drugs are everywhere, poverty is escalated, crime is high. I'm surprised that people don't think growing up in rural America is a tremendous problem in this day and age where the economy has shifted to the point that rural areas are not economically competitive.
Do you wear backward glasses or something?
Big city schools are infamously bad, riddled with drugs, full of poor kids, and crime is through the roof!
Because I grew up in a bad area and went to a bad high school, getting interest from good universities was difficult.
I think that's poppycock. How were your grades? Did you play sports or join clubs in high school? What about activities outside of school? What about church? Good universities want diversity and that includes poor kids from the sticks, not just rich kids from the suburbs and poor inner-city youths.
I'm surprised to see all the hate. Sure, you will find the occasional extremely talented person anywhere, but one outlier doesn't indicate a trend. There are also mostly rural states like Iowa and Minnesota that are doing better than Mississippi or Alabama, but I would wager that most rural areas do not have the education systems and strong culture of IA and MN. I've lived in IA and the difference between IA and most of rural America is substantial.
Go look at any common measure of well-being: household income, lifespan, child mortality, crime, whatever. Almost all of the worst states are very rural southern or southwestern states. Virginia, for instance, fares well due to the DC burbs, but most of rural Virginia is as backward as Mississippi. Drugs are everywhere, poverty is escalated, crime is high. I'm surprised that people don't think growing up in rural America is a tremendous problem in this day and age where the economy has shifted to the point that rural areas are not economically competitive.
You have it ass backwards. Blame yourself for not being where you want to be. Don't blame parents or small towns.
I'm not from Brentwood, and because I earn so little ($25k after a bachelors, seven certifications and three years experience), it's difficult to leave. I am not fortunate enough to live in an area that is commutable for interviews to a prosperous area like Brentwood. The point of this thread is that where a person is born and raised largely determines where they end up in an economy that is inflexible. Parents who raise their children in bad areas just destroy they child's future prospects
Really I was raised by two alcoholics in a lower middle class household. There are ways to better yourself. It was hard but I'm light years better off then my ignorant parents. One size does not fit all. You just have to want it bad enough to overcome the obstacles. Too many people are content in their misery and want to hang on to the stigma of being raised in ignorance. It's their comfort zone. I still own the property I was raised in. It's now one of the nicest house on the block instead of the worst. It's also made us well over 100k in positive cash flow over the 20 years it's been rented. Anybody can do what we did, you just have to want it bad enough.
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?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emigrations
I'm not from Brentwood, and because I earn so little ($25k after a bachelors, seven certifications and three years experience), it's difficult to leave. I am not fortunate enough to live in an area that is commutable for interviews to a prosperous area like Brentwood. The point of this thread is that where a person is born and raised largely determines where they end up in an economy that is inflexible. Parents who raise their children in bad areas just destroy they child's future prospects
The only truth in anything you've whined about. Is that kids who are raised in a poverty-stricken areas tend to be at a disadvantage. Trust me, had you been raised in a real ghetto in a real city, you would have been far more disadvantaged.
Secondly, I think you grossly exaggerate your disadvantage. The truth is, going to college simply isn't difficult. Trust me. You don't even need to have graduated high school to get into college. You don't even need a GED to get into college. Though you will probably have to start at a junior college before transferring to a graduate college(which makes more sense anyway, because of cost differences).
Thirdly, you can move anywhere you want basically anytime you want. It is easier if you have a car, there have been plenty of important people who have lived out of a car at some point in their life. Just drive to where ever you want to go, and look for a job. If you have no income, apply for benefits, go to a church, soup kitchen, food pantry, whatever. It is only temporary while you find work.
Problem solved. You're welcome.
No, the real complaint most kids have isn't really that they were raised in a small town or big city. Had you been raised in a big city, you would still be complaining. The real problem is that, most children who are basically unprepared for the real world once they become an adult. Tend to resent their parents for "not doing a good enough job", in preparing them.
These people are sort of your "what-if" people. Where they say "What if I had been raised in a different environment, had different friends, or even different parents. My life would be so much better than it is today."
First, its impossible to even know if your life would have been better. Be careful when you quantify quality of life with money. Having lots of money is not the same as being happy. There are plenty of people with tons of money who are miserable. Millionaires and billionaires kill themselves just like everyone else.
Trust me, I've already gone through all of this in my mid 20's. Blaming my parents for all of my problems.
But the truth is, you know who you want to be, and you have the power to become that person. The time for feeling sorry for yourself is over. The only person holding you back, is you.
Get in your car and take a trip. Stay for a while, live in your car, really get out and see what its like in other places. Don't just look at the world with rose-colored glasses. Where the grass is always greener somewhere else. You'll realize that things probably aren't the way you think they are.
I left my state of Oklahoma, and moved to Florida because I thought it would be great. I hated practically every second of it. I don't even hold all that fond of memories of the beach. I moved to Georgia, and I actually did hate every second of it. All I kept thinking about was, I like Oklahoma more. And Oklahoma is cheaper, and has far better job prospects. Better traffic. And less obnoxious people who think they are better than everyone else.
I advise you to never go to Florida. Its nothing but old people(mostly from NYC it seems), Cubans/Haitians, tourists, and white trash. Unless you have lots of money and can afford a nice boat and a place near the beach. Its just a hot, humid, high-crime, high-cost craphole. With horrible traffic, massive bugs, tons of mosquitoes, and bums everywhere. True story.
Last edited by Redshadowz; 09-26-2013 at 03:53 PM..
Every location, rural or urban; every child, well to do or poor; all is different from another. Both have pros and cons, advantages and challenges. Some challenges are not debilitating, they actually are wonderful life lessons.
All three of my children were raised in a small town. My two boys, graduating class was no more than 70 students. The school, so-so, not the best, but not the worst and for sure no gangs and that sort of violence or threat.
My younger son went into the Coast Guard. At his first station, his commander said that my son's scores are the best he's seen in 22 years. 1st year Sailors don't usually get to go to the 'popular' stations. Not until year 2 or even 3. But my son did in his first year. He's gotten every first pick he's put in for.
His brother remains in the small town and is doing very well with his own business. And he was the 'trouble child'.
Thus such blanketing of the 'facts' does not apply.
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