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ABQs main problem is that it's immersed in a culture that does not value education the way it should. Look at its astounding rates for school dropouts, teenage pregnancy, and gang violence....especially murder. All symptomatic of a culture that places more emphasis on "gettin your props" than hitting the books, and a bad omen for the next generation of graduates.
Yes, it means that this city will never lack for a night crew at Taco Bell, but its very disappointing and bodes ill for the cities future prospects. The current positive trend in high-tech and high-wage employment (Eclipse aircraft, Intel, etc.) aren't going to stick around forever if they can't hire enough well-educated and intelligent employees to meet their needs. Frankly, ABQ isn't attractive enough in and of itself to justify moving here for its mediocre job market so the quality of the local grads has got to move up if we want those good jobs to stay.
Hispanic leaders are going to have to do a better job of emphasizing education and academic achievement. Its going to take concrete action towards improving graduation rates and academic scores and not just the usual sincere-sounding words.
Yeah, it figures. Just about the age when I'm not interested in going to bars anymore, they make them non-smoking. God knows how much gunk I inhaled in my barfly days. If I had a nickle for every dollar I pissed away on beer when I was in the military, I could go out and buy a Lexus for cash.
Statistically, with 800k people, ABQ should match the average for the nation as-a-whole. The fact that it is above average in number of degree holders says that it is relatively intelligent. You will find many, many people without college degrees (and many without HS diplomas) everywhere in the country. It's all about where you live. I have this conversation with my fiance' regularly because I've lived in several places and she has only lived in Ann Arbor, MI (where we are planning to move away from in the next year!). In Ann Arbor, about 70% of the population has a bachelor's degree or higher. The national average is that about 25% has a bachelor's degree or higher. My fiance' was almost aghast to learn of this statistic because she just assumed "most people" have a bachelor's degree at the very least.
My point is this... the vast majority of people in the U.S. have a high school diploma or less. If you're sitting above-average, you're doing quite well. And what part of the city you live in likely makes a big difference in your perception of education-level as well.
Amen to that. An advanced degree does not certify that you are posessed of any real-life experience either. In fact, there often seems to be an inverse correlation between distinguished academic credentials and common sense.
In the parks near my neighborhood its not unusual to strike up a conversation with another parent at the playground and find out that they're a physician or a nuclear physicist or something unexpected like that. Its a nice change from the obese, tattooed, 30-something grandmothers that make up the other half of ABQs child-rearing population. One facet of this cities "celebrated" diversity is that if you pick the very next park down the street you're likely to be pushing junior on the swing next to a teenage mom with a court-ordered ankle bracelet and fresh gang tats. Living "la vida loca" I guess.
Hey, hey, HEY rotorhead! Don't be dissin' the tats! LOL! First it's if you're not degreed, your intelligence level is lower than most (ElphinKnight) and now it's tattoos! I have several (tasteful) tattoos, and know many many professionals (with degrees!) that possess tattoos. What's on your skin does not equate to your intelligence any more than degrees! Exceptions to the rule would be gang tats, of course (which I'm sure that's what you were referring to) - I'll give you that. Again, I do NOT have a degree, but my IQ is over 140. Yes, that is according to IQ tests, but I do consider myself intelligent in a learning and retention capacity. I may not know much about quantum physics, but I'll bet if you give me a day, I might be able to have a brief conversation with you on the subject! I have common sense to boot - imagine that! (Even though some might say I lack common sense just HAVING the tattoos! Hey, I'm an artist. To me, it's an expression of my creativity. I accept the fact that some individuals have their own opinions on tattoos and that's ok. I only implore that you not be narrow-minded about it.) Ok. I'll get off that soapbox and on another one now:
Parts of the city: Some of us - even degreed individuals - may not be lucky enough, especially in Albuquerque where wages leave a lot to be desired, to live in neighborhoods where your next door neighbor is a physicist! I think in every city you'll find diverse sects of cultures, and unfortunately, it does seem to follow the dollar. I know people that cringe when I tell them what "area" of the city I live in, but when they get up the nerve to come to my home (sans bullet proof vest), they are pleasantly surprised about the quaintness of the surroundings and how quiet my street is. I've lived in this area of the city with the bad reputation for over 5 years now, and have never experienced any problems at all, and I live alone. Albuquerque is very "spotty" in my observations. You might have a nice quiet, neat little street, and the very next block is rife with gang activity and dilapidated homes. Doesn't make for good resale values, for sure. Exceptions would be the newer areas of Albuquerque in the far northeast heights and foothills areas. There are some areas on the west side that are being built, but those areas are SO far from the city and across the Rio Grande, which anyone who has lived here any period of time knows that getting across that river can be a task at certain times of the day! I believe another factor that might force people to live in a bit lower income neighborhoods is marital status. Being single can be quite expensive (I can vouch for that) if you have a job that pays middle of the road (I'm planning on changing that real soon - anyone need any graphics or design work done? LOL!) and it's just better not to try to live beyond your means in my opinion.
ElphinKnight - Although it does make a difference what area of the city you live in as far as the level of intelligence you're exposed to, it also makes a difference as far as the career and field you work in. If you deal with the public on a regular basis, I feel you truly have a concrete opinion of the general population of the city - wouldn't you agree? The people I deal with are mostly small business owners, and the remainder are very diverse, from the 35 year old tattooed grandmothers to the wife of the president of a major corporation wanting invitations to their daughter's wedding. I see 'em all!
rotorhead: I totally agree with you on the educational level comments. It's very unfortunate that our schools are substandard. I still say some of the problem is the attitude towards learning. A teacher can only do so much for unreceptive students, and those that just don't have the learning capacity. I believe much of the problem is apathy.
norm: AMEN!!! LOL!
finmqa1: I did not take what you said as an insult. I think we were just making two different points. I'm still of the opinion that the reason for the concentration of degreed people is because of the technical industry here in this city, and most of them (not all) are not FROM here.
Here's a scenario (this is a true story): A person wants an 11x17 vertical poster with 20 spaces to write individual's names on. 1" round stickers to be placed next to each space across the horizontal of the poster. Upset because the job cannot be done on 11x17 and does not understand why. You do the math. Now, do you consider that a lack of INTELLIGENCE or COMMON SENSE? Just looking for opinions. Maybe I'm being oversensitive.
Good thing it's a Saturday. Hope I wasn't too windy. LOL!
Its unfortunate about the housing prices here, the house we're living in now (bought two years ago) cost over twice what our last ABQ house did five years prior to that, and its definately not twice as nice. I blame greedy realtors and out of state real-estate investors mainly, but everyone with a home-equity loan is along for this ride. It would be more or less immaterial if not for ABQs legendary "income gap", where the salaries here never seem to catch up with the rising price of homes. If there were more jobs on the west side it would help....but there are going to be traffic problems over the bridges for as long as anyones currently forseeing.
As far as the tattoos go, to each his own... but... keep in mind that fashions and perceptions change but your tats don't. It's WAY more expensive and painful to get them removed than applied, and all colors are not created equal as far as the laser is concerned. Black ink comes off in just one or two excruciating visits, other colors (especially green) can take a half-dozen or more burns and believe me, it ain't cheap. Sometimes those exceptionally creative and fantastically cool images indelibly inked on your skin can get to be a liability in ten or twenty years, maybe far sooner. As far as the gang tats go, the less said the better. Hope the other guys like them in prison.
Am not sure why schools here overall are looked upon as substandard.
Less money spent per student than the national average? Yes, but money and student performance have little to do with each other. Compare Washington DC and Montana. The former spends among the most per student and has among the lowest test scores. The latter, the reverse.
If your child has to compete for the teacher's attention with 30 other students, half who don't speak English and half who don't behave, then this is where the problem lies. But you can run into this problem in North Carolina, Colorado, California, and a good number of other states. It's more a neighborhood and school issue than a state one.
In Albuquerque, at least, it is far easier to send your child to an out-of-neighborhood school than in many other metro areas.
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Figgers....
One facet of this cities "celebrated" diversity is that if you pick the very next park down the street you're likely to be pushing junior on the swing next to a teenage mom with a court-ordered ankle bracelet and fresh gang tats. Living "la vida loca" I guess.
Exceptions would be the newer areas of Albuquerque in the far northeast heights and foothills areas. There are some areas on the west side that are being built, but those areas are SO far from the city and across the Rio Grande, which anyone who has lived here any period of time knows that getting across that river can be a task at certain times of the day! I believe another factor that might force people to live in a bit lower income neighborhoods is marital status. Being single can be quite expensive (I can vouch for that) if you have a job that pays middle of the road (I'm planning on changing that real soon - anyone need any graphics or design work done? LOL!) and it's just better not to try to live beyond your means in my opinion.
