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SC has always been stubborn and ornery...and a thorn in several President's backsides. It is one of the reasons Im happy to say Im from SC, though I was born in NC and could claim either. South Carolina is the fighter of the two...and always will be.
I love feisty people and there is nothing wrong with SC being stubborn and fighting to be different.....but at what price? When something is broken people should have common sense enough to see that it is broken and take action to fix it. If being stubborn were serving SC well I would say if it is not broke then don't fix it. The problem is that SC love affair with being ornery is keeping the state and it's residents in a state of poverty.
Maybe it is just me but I don't understand why anybody would want to accept failure when it is possible to succeed at greatness......never lived around people who so easily accept defeat until I lived in SC! I'm just sayin
As far as the two states' cities' psyches are concerned (since this is Citydata.org), I think Charlotte loves Charlotte, Raleigh loves Raleigh, Charleston loves Charleston, Greenville loves Greenville and Columbia loves South Carolina.
Sounds like liberal propaganda. The writer failed to provide information regarding the high unemployment rate in NC (11.1%), caused by continual job losses. Furthermore, while the Myrtle Beach area may not be seeing new jobs added to help slow the bleeding, there have been a steady stream of new job announcements in other parts of SC (Upstate, Midlands, Lowcountry). These were completely ignored by the writer when he/she wrote about new job announcements in NC.
We need to look at places around the country where government has grown too large and is struggling or completely failing to accomplish what was promised. The government should not become our caretaker beyond basic national security, in my opinion.
Also look at Rhode Island where public school teachers are among the highest paid in the country www.whatcheer.net/ripr/ripr11.pdf
where there are only two high schools (Barrington and East Greenwich)with decent test scores where the majority of kids achieve grade level reading and math in 11th grade and where the majority of schools can't even manage to get half of the class to this level and in some cases it is as little as 6%. http://www.greatschools.org/cgi-bin/...all=1&from=tab
Also note the state average standardized test scores for SC are far better than they are in Rhode Island. For Math the state average in SC is:85% ; for RI it is: 27% For Reading and Writing/Language Arts in SC it is:88% in RI it is: 69% for reading 42% for writing.
Even West Ashley High School in Charleston that gets a parental score of only 4 on a scale of one to ten far outshines the average Rhode Island public high school education based on their test scores of 85% in English and 75% in Math. http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/...1440#from..Tab
The bottom line is you don't always get what you pay for. South Carolinians are getting a FAR better return on their tax dollar investment than they realize when it comes to public school education here.
Emily, high taxes never guarantee success. Long-term inadequate funding, on the other hand, sooner or later results in failure, lack of growth and loss of opportunity. There's no question there are pockets of academic excellence within SC. Unfortunately, those who promote SC's education system always seem to cherry-pick the same schools, without looking at the big picture. The "Corridor of Shame (http://sic.sc.gov/sicvideoresources/viewcorridorofshame.htm - broken link)" has become a cliche' within discussions of SC schools. Very few are willing to take the time to see the full presentation, and yet, it is a graphic demonstration of what education is like on a daily basis in much of SC outside the more affluent districts.
I always get a kick out of my fellow citizens who proclaim SC's independence from the "huge, overbloated Feds", and yet rely daily on federal funding for much of our own responsibilities. For at least the past decade, SC tax cuts have underfunded things as basic as unemployment insurance. Even now, we are moving forward with drastic reductions in corporate taxes, while looking for DC to provide funding (that evil Stimulus money) to keep teachers employed.
Quote:
South Carolinians are getting a FAR better return on their tax dollar investment than they realize when it comes to public school education here...
If you would amend that to say "Some South Carolinians", I would agree with you, but only because the lack of our personal investment is being compensated by funding from that evil Big Brother.
I'm from NJ and my husband and I are retiring to South Carolina--Part of it is the cost--but we really like the people there. We would both like to volunteer and try to contribute to our new community. SC is a really great state.
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