Thoughts on Roanoke as I prepare to leave. (sales, schools)

[TedH71]

Any job in the social work field even with a degree is typically low paying with very little career progression. I've always known that and avoided that field of work for personal reasons. Yet you still find people graduating from college with Social Work degrees and wondering why it doesn't pay...it never has in the first place.

[Rke Deschutes]

A lot of affluent college students major in social work just to past the time while enjoying college life on Daddys money. They have no intention of helping the poor and disadvantaged, what a joke! Many go on to grad school and get their MBAs in Business
or something and become set up with contacts from Daddys business or partners. Those trust funds are great! My college,
Roanoke College charges over $60k per year on tuition, maybe more. Why in the world would anyone pay these amounts to
settle on a social work career? I think a social work degree is not relevant in todays society. Instead I would concentrate on the
medical field which is the biggest career field in this area.

[TedH71]

I've always considered Social Worker degrees mainly for people who have real issues and are trying to "self repair" themselves but that's just me. Those degrees actually are required if you are to work with children in many capacities. However the degree is pretty much low paying. Always has been.

[Rke Deschutes]

Yes, this is probably true. Some colleges have consolidated social work/sociology into a liberal arts major which also shouldnt
be seen as a degree which will get you much in todays economy. I still believe a liberal arts degree is important from a personal
enrichment angle even an art major degree as long as that person realizes they will need further training in "employable"
fields after graduation.

[Westcoasttrnsplnt]

Masters of SW is an underpaid profession yes, but to say it's not important or useless? Is simply false. Sorry but, as a medical professional, our MSW's are Crucial and improve the lives of so many patients. They are oh so often the ones who help so many patients before discharge. Just an example, would you want an infant discharged home with a mom on crack? No? Ok, me either, thank god our MSW's and RN case managers advocate with the MD's and RN's and NNP's so that wouldn't happen!

[DaveinMtAiry]

Originally Posted by Westcoasttrnsplnt

Masters of SW is an underpaid profession yes, but to say it's not important or useless? Is simply false. Sorry but, as a medical professional, our MSW's are Crucial and improve the lives of so many patients. They are oh so often the ones who help so many patients before discharge. Just an example, would you want an infant discharged home with a mom on crack? No? Ok, me either, thank god our MSW's and RN case managers advocate with the MD's and RN's and NNP's so that wouldn't happen!

Thank you. I am not in social work but if I was I would be pretty offended at some of these comments.

[Watchful]

Originally Posted by DaveinMtAiry

Thank you. I am not in social work but if I was I would be pretty offended at some of these comments.

I take it you were referring to the "further up" comments and not the one you quoted!

[NomadStephanie]

Oh dear. I can't believe this thread is still going! Given that I'm not resurrecting it from the dead, I figured I'd throw in my $0.02 of clarification since my last post here. A few points:

1. Social work. Social work is an important, much needed profession that is actually "recession-proof." It's a diverse field with a lot of interesting sub-paths to pursue. I went into it knowing it was low-paid, and low pay was not why I left. I left because the sacrifices the career requires (aforementioned low pay, stress, long hours, extreme difficulty of career progression) were not balanced by the main reason I went into it--any actual sense of satisfaction or meaning in the work. For me, this was because of how ineffective I experienced the work to be in addressing the problems it is supposed to address.

I came to realize that the problems social work was trying to address will never be addressed on the individual level, but on the social and political level. "The system" in social work doesn't work because the larger system in which it operates actually doesn't want it to work--it doesn't further the profits of the people who run that larger system. I might have left the field, but I have not left behind the concerns that brought me into it, nor have I abandoned the position I started from: solidarity with the working class, the oppressed, and the marginalized.

2. Madison. Madison is the least "snooty" place I've ever lived, including Roanoke. The culture here is built around a love of college sports, beer, and cheese. People rally around some of the least pretentious points of pride imaginable--the proud farming and local food culture, cows (seriously, if you don't like looking at cows, and pictures of cows, and cartoons of cows, don't move here), the natural landscape.

Yes, the population is highly educated here, but no one lords it over anyone else. Madison reflects the Midwestern ethos of valuing hard work over everything else and carrying oneself with friendliness and humility. Unlike the East Coast, people aren't competitive about where anyone got their degree from, or if they got one at all. People with PhDs don't see themselves as different from people who drive cabs or work cash registers--and actually often are the people who drive cabs and work cash registers!

The university is the pumping cultural heart of the city and proudly opens its doors to let anyone who lives here attend any number of the wonderful events it hosts, and doesn't make anyone feel like they're not a part if they're not an alumnus or someone who works there.

I'm actually preparing for yet another move, but not for any negative reason or any dislike of Madison. I'm moving only because I'm supporting my partner in pursuits that take us elsewhere. I won't mind the change of scenery but I'd be happy to stay here too. Madison isn't perfect and I could certainly discuss its faults and downsides, but it is a good place and probably would be for most people, even people whose politics are not liberal (if you like beer, cheese, college football, and/or hunting, you can easily get by without talking politics with anyone... just don't tell anyone you like Scott Walker ) People are proud of their "live and let live" philosophy here.

3. Roanoke. As for Roanoke, hindsight has moderated my perception of it, but only slightly so. It's not a place I'd want to live again, but that doesn't mean it's not a great place to live for many people. It's affordable, easy to navigate, and has lots of amenities and points of interest.

I moved to Roanoke mainly because I wanted to be reasonably closer to my family but didn't actually want to live in Bristol, VA. I picked Roanoke because of the impression it gives off of being somewhat progressive, liberal, and artsy. A big part of my disillusionment with it was the extent to which these aspects of the city that take up so much visible space in the downtown cityscape (the towering presence of the Taubman, all the cute/artsy shops scattered around) and its PR take up such little actual space in the experience of living there.

Or, perhaps, a better way to put it is that the interest in the arts and things that are "different" is very superficial. Roanokers find these things entertaining but for the most part still see them as "fringe" and are deeply conservative in a way that makes Roanoke an unwelcoming environment for those who are not conservative. (And by conservative, I'm not referring so much to whom someone votes for but how people approach life in general, how judgmental they are of others who don't hew to a certain lifestyle, etc.)

Yes, there are people in Roanoke who aren't conservative, and yes, the people who are will (usually) be superficially friendly to you. But with that friendliness comes condescension (the "Bless her heart" syndrome). If you are one of those people who actually are progressive and liberal, and want to actually be able to fully be yourself and still be treated with respect, to not be blocked in your social and professional life for it, and to not be judged, or teased, or excluded, you might not want to live there.

I had no illusions that by moving to Roanoke, I'd be living somewhere as liberal as other places I'd lived, but I didn't think that, living in Roanoke, I'd be reliving the same social experience I had growing up in Bristol--being made to feel unwelcome and like an outsider for not subscribing to the same limited and culturally prescribed belief system of Jesus + authoritarianism + reverence for class stratification. Just like in Bristol, I had to either hide who I really was or constantly be questioned and pressured for what I did or didn't believe. It got to be suffocating and a constant barrier in my social and professional life. It's been a huge relief to leave it behind.

I stick by my main purpose in writing my OP--to relate my experience for those to whom it would be relevant in their consideration of Roanoke as a place to live. It was never to say that Roanoke is an out-and-out awful place where no one should choose to live.

[headnsouth]

Originally Posted by NomadStephanie

If you are one of those people who actually are progressive and liberal, and want to actually be able to fully be yourself and still be treated with respect, to not be blocked in your social and professional life for it, and to not be judged, or teased, or excluded, you might not want to live there.

I am a person who is actually progressive and liberal, and I live in Roanoke while being fully myself. I am treated with respect, and I am not blocked in my social or professional life for it, and I am not judged, teased or excluded for who I am or what I believe (or in my case what I don't believe).

My anecdata cancels yours out, so readers will just have to visit Roanoke themselves to find out for sure!

[NomadStephanie]

What is your profession, headnsouth? As a social worker, I met other people who were liberal, but the vast majority of my coworkers were conservative. When we'd have a political discussion, I'd get treated like the court jester, basically. I'd be invited to air my opinion because other people found it amusing or unusual.