Is Fort Wayne still the dumbest city in America? (Elkhart: salon, violent crime)

[gfriday]

Fort Wayne was just voted the most sexually satisfied! Fat, dumb and happy, that's us.

[3rivers]

I've never been fond of anyone who tries to stereotype a whole group of people. Fort Wayne is as diverse as any other city.

When I was living in California, people would always give me an opinion of what they thought of someone from Indiana. It seems that the majority of them felt that everyone who lived in Indiana was a hard worker. They also mentioned our "common sense". I pointed out that not everyone in Indiana was a hardworker, and certainly many people lacked common sense in our area also.

I think there is a difference between "dumb" and "educated". Some of the smartest people I know never went to college and worked at jobs that didn't showcase their intelligence. My father was a postman who quit school in the 10th grade, like many of his generation. He was also the most intelligent person that I've ever known. If someone didn't know him, they might look at his life and consider him "dumb." I don't think he would have minded because he was a pretty happy guy.

Anyway, the article might appeal to some, but hopefully most of us know better.

[Vision-Quest]

Originally Posted by elmplove

We live in Tucson AZ.(city of over a million)

Tuscon doesnt have a million people (if thats what your saying). Tuscon isn't even close to the top ten cities list for population. It has under 600,000.

[Vision-Quest]

Originally Posted by 3rivers

I've never been fond of anyone who tries to stereotype a whole group of people. Fort Wayne is as diverse as any other city.

When I was living in California, people would always give me an opinion of what they thought of someone from Indiana. It seems that the majority of them felt that everyone who lived in Indiana was a hard worker. They also mentioned our "common sense". I pointed out that not everyone in Indiana was a hardworker, and certainly many people lacked common sense in our area also.

I think there is a difference between "dumb" and "educated". Some of the smartest people I know never went to college and worked at jobs that didn't showcase their intelligence. My father was a postman who quit school in the 10th grade, like many of his generation. He was also the most intelligent person that I've ever known. If someone didn't know him, they might look at his life and consider him "dumb." I don't think he would have minded because he was a pretty happy guy.

Anyway, the article might appeal to some, but hopefully most of us know better.

That's a good point rivers. You don't need a college degree to be smart, (although it would help) You can be naturally smart, just as well as you can be naturally talented. Like Speed, you can't control how fast you can run at full speed, it's a natural ability if you know what i mean. Some people have mental illnesses and they can't help that either, and some people have "calculator brains" if that makes sence.

[fabumom07]

Check out the Ft Wayne Potheads post, it is related to this question.

[Skeletoil]

Too generic too answer. Ft Waynes bigger than your mind, good atheletes, musicians, resturants, bars and good people to mention a few. Come visit us, it's all good...

[shannonM]

Originally Posted by gfriday

fort wayne was just voted the most sexually satisfied! Fat, dumb and happy, that's us.

lol!!!

[belovenow]

Originally Posted by Ronzou

You know why this was brought out? Because it was said that many of the people getting high end degrees move out of this area. You think if I had an engineering degree I'd stay here? No way! I'd move out west to work for AMD, INTEL, or one of the many other computer part manufacturers. I'd say that people that always believe what they read are the dumbest people in America. But I could be wrong, I mean it WAS USA Today, what do I know? I mean it's not like the media NEVER makes things up to get readers riled up because many are tired of Iraq and government articles.

My wife and I have 5 college degrees (high-end/graduate degrees if you will), our friends in Ft Wayne have MBA's, JD's and MD's as well (the complete irony is that the most financially well off of my Fort Wayne friends have no college education or just an undergraduate degree!).

I think the truth is that there are few cities of very significant size in Indiana.. Fort Wayne and Indianapolis happen to be the ones talked about often. With that in mind, Fort Wayne's public school system is thus scrutinized closely and unfortunately students at some of the city schools test very poorly. Of course you go out to the suburbs and you have extremely high test results, but no one highlights those things.

Our public educational system (across the US; not just Fort Wayne's) needs a major overhaul in general. I've posted this idea before, but I do believe that teachers need to be incented very differently, tenure doesn't make sense k-12, and overall the best and brightest should be the ones teaching our young. Is this unrealistic to hope for? I don't think so. It's just like everything else, it'll take leadership, money, and time to make the necessary changes.

[Avengerfire]

What hogwash. The OP is a troll.

[goldscott]

I just received a Master's degree and moved here from Chicago. I feel it's a huge step in the opposite direction, but (a) it's difficult to find work in these economic times (less so for electrical & computer engineers) and (b) I got a job here doing exactly what I want to be doing.