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I don't think the shift from small farms to Big Agribiz is accidental. Big Brother doesn't like tiny outposts of more self-sufficient people that resist being herded into the pen, either.
Stop complaining that there aren't any vegan grocery stores.
Lmao, yea. No kidding. As to the post you quoted. "What is someone with education doing in a rural area?" ummm, Well, why not? I much prefer a rural lifestyle to an urban one. Granted, I'm not "educated" in the university sense, but even if I were I would still prefer the ranch to the urban cluster. I'm not unintelligent, and I'm well read. I have a bit of exposure to the world, and not just N America. My "education" has come via actual experience and not a classroom overseen by some dogmatic professor.
The different peoples and cultures I've learned about came from actually interacting with those people and cultures. Not from a computer terminal on a campus with that professor telling me what it is I'm looking at and hearing. "Education" is such a subjective term. So many people just disassociate living a rural life with it, and I don't understand why.
Living a rural lifestyle does not make one unintelligent or uneducated. I've found such knowledge and wisdom in remote very rural places as cannot be found in a city. So why does being "educated" imply one must be drawn to an urban lifestyle?
From first hand experience, most of the rural areas that seem to be prosperous, to me, are in New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and some towns in the Sierra Nevada's in California. I live in New Mexico, and when it comes to rural towns here, this state is literally dying before my eyes. I cannot think of one prosperous rural town in the state I live in now, with the possible exception of Ruidoso and Cloudcroft. Similarly, when I lived in Missouri, I can think of several rural areas, particularly in the southern portion of the state, but pretty much throughout, that are clearly on the decline.
There are exceptions, of course. I have been to Eureka Springs Arkansas. Beautiful rural town. Same with Galena Illinois. However, I would rate these as exceptions, rather than the rule.
Jobs for the post-secondary educated in my rural hometown area:
- certified staff positions in the schools
-most medical staff in hospital/clinics, dentists, optometrists, mental health providers
-most clergy
-attorneys/legal services
-newspaper staff (mostly)
Not many.
In a handful of rural areas, a nuclear power plant can be found, and that provides a lot of good jobs to people with degrees (and to people with crafts specialty training, such as welders, pipe-fitters, electricians, etc.)
These plants are being shut down in greater numbers than they are being built in, right now.
In oil country, there are all sorts of jobs, hard jobs but with good to excellent pay, but, that's only where there is oil. And lately that's sort of in a slump too.
What can I say, these two tricks worked well for me, back in the day.
But, yeah, out in the country, just in general, there are not that many jobs that pay much, require training or a degree. Although the old traditional professions, doctor, lawyer, etc. are as you note in demand everywhere.
I moved away from my little town four years ago and it was partially on the skids but still a good place to live. Good schools, steady work, stable place but with a lingering drug problem on the fringe of society. Young educated people tended to move away. Last week I had visitors from there and got an ear full of horror stories. The high school almost lost accreditation, graduation rate tanked, gangs fighting, drugs getting worse, the prized historic district is boarded up, and Sears and Kmart pulled out as did Barnes and Noble. Things are spiraling downward. This is a mostly white rural town of about 35,000. That a place can decline that fast is amazing to me. These are mostly local problems with local solutions but it's easier to let it slide.
I moved away from my little town four years ago and it was partially on the skids but still a good place to live. Good schools, steady work, stable place but with a lingering drug problem on the fringe of society. Young educated people tended to move away. Last week I had visitors from there and got an ear full of horror stories. The high school almost lost accreditation, graduation rate tanked, gangs fighting, drugs getting worse, the prized historic district is boarded up, and Sears and Kmart pulled out as did Barnes and Noble. Things are spiraling downward. This is a mostly white rural town of about 35,000. That a place can decline that fast is amazing to me. These are mostly local problems with local solutions but it's easier to let it slide.
Not for nothing, but when talking about "rural America," you will definitely run into people who are not going to consider 35K to be especially rural, or even particularly small town.
In a handful of rural areas, a nuclear power plant can be found, and that provides a lot of good jobs to people with degrees (and to people with crafts specialty training, such as welders, pipe-fitters, electricians, etc.)
These plants are being shut down in greater numbers than they are being built in, right now.
In oil country, there are all sorts of jobs, hard jobs but with good to excellent pay, but, that's only where there is oil. And lately that's sort of in a slump too.
What can I say, these two tricks worked well for me, back in the day.
But, yeah, out in the country, just in general, there are not that many jobs that pay much, require training or a degree. Although the old traditional professions, doctor, lawyer, etc. are as you note in demand everywhere.
Yes, my state has six nuclear power plants, and they are all semi-remotely located. Only one has closed, since the '90s. They do not provide employment to my hometown area, however, as the closest is too distant to be realistically commutable. The closest had a high school in our athletic conference, and they always had the best and most updated equipment, facilities, and such at their schools, courtesy of the economic boost from being home to a huge nuke plant.
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