How Would You Like To Live Here (WV)?

[ThomWV]

I live in the country but work in Morgantown, West Virginia. I suspect that it is the state's third or fourth largest city. Pretty good sized place, nice town. The town has a newspaper and it is owned by a man who ran for Governor about 20 years ago. He is a Republican.

Today's paper, front page, above the fold, about one third of the page, had an article that proclaimed that the state's people were too dumb to get today's jobs. I just glanced at it but as far as I read what he said was that 75 or 80% of the people lacked the education to be able to take or hold employment in today's job market. I'm paraphrasing but think about it for a moment. What does that say about this state and why in hell is not every candidate for every office in the state just raising holy hell about an educational systems that has left a state full of pure ignorance?

Amazing, simply amazing

[Sandpiper]

1. West Virginia

Is also 49th out of the 50 states in per capita income.

Poor education and low wages always seem to go hand in hand.

[LiberalVoice]

2. The scary thing is...

If you looked at the average rate of ignorance in any state for any demographic the numbers would be consistently over 90%.

[DebJ]

3. Solid red state (51% Bush, 39% Kerry), and no education....

the dumbing down of America builds Republican support.

[doc03]

7. WV is 2-1 registered Democrat

[DebJ]

8. that's really sad then that there are block solid red.

My parents retired in WVa, and my mother is so upset about everyone being Bushies its' raising her blood pressure. Especially the families at her church...Bush is so un-Christian to her it makes her ill.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/index.html

[doc03]

10. I live just across the Ohio river in Ohio. There is kind of a mindset

locally that the state has voted Democrat nationally and locally
and just what has it got them. WV is number 49 or 50 in everything
good and number 1 or 2 in everything bad. The problem in WV and eastern Ohio is there are no jobs and most of the young people leave the area today. This has been the case for decades, back in the 60's you got out of high school you went in the mill or mines or you went on to college and moved away from the area. Of course today those jobs are few and far between so you stay here and work for $8 an hour or move away. The eastern Ohio counties are also about 2 to 1 registered Democrat.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. WV does not have the country's worst educational system

that dubious honor goes to MS/or AR, which are usually on the bottom of the list. AR is reforming its education system yet again, but until they stop the practice of nepotism (hiring school board member's relatives and friends at the exclusion of other qualified individuals) and the mania for teaching to tests, I don't see how the educational system can be reformed.

WV is a lovely state, however. I know some West Virginians, and I'd call them anything but stupid.

[Petrichor]

5. Obviously a man of conscience

He's a newspaper editor who sees a problem and reports on it. What's the problem with that?

Go to almost any small town in America -- the half dozen most prosperous families send their kids to good schools, and the kids either return to run the family business or move to NY, LA, SF etc. while the rest of the community is left wondering "whaaa happened?"

The guy who wrote the editorial obviously wants to reverse that trend.

[spinbaby]

6. Hey, a fellow Mountaineer!

Okay, so I live in PA now, but I graduated from WVU and my kids were born in WV. We left because there were no jobs to be had down there. I suspect that the reason the education level is so generally low in WV isn't because no one gets educated, it's because everyone with an education moves out to get a job.

On edit: slight punctuation problem.

[DebJ]

9. good point. In my mother's area, the 'good job' is working

at the poultry processing plant. A few years ago, they were paying the wonderful wage of $6 an hour. But that's better than the wages the immigrant apple-pickers get! Or you can be a waitress in a diner, which beats working at McD's.

[MountainLaurel]

20. Ding, ding, ding

We have a winner.

A couple years ago, the Charleston Gazette did a series on native Mounties who had moved out of the state because of the job market for people with training or college degrees.

I'm one of them. My undergrad degree is in journalism. At the time, average salary for a starting reporter was about $14-18K, and that was for a job in one of the more metro areas. Non-faculty staff in the library at WVU were making about $18K, with years of experience. I just couldn't see making a career there.

Of my friends and folks I graduated with, I can think of only a few who remained in the state, and almost all of them live in the Eastern Panhandle and commute to the DC area.

In addition to the lack of jobs beyond the chicken plants and Wal-Mart, I wonder if subtle and overt prejudices against those who have went to get "book-larnin'" also has something to do with it. Any thoughts?

[Petrichor]

21. What ever happened to the "death of distance?"

Gee, ya know, I thought it didn't matter where a product was produced anymore. Guess I was mistaken. Obviously you can't set up a software company or one of them new fangled jobs in WV or other hard hit States. Must be something in the water or the air...

It could also be that the children of privilege who fled their hometowns secretly hated their backgrounds. Better to re-invent oneself as a character in Sex and the City and learn who Helmut Lang is than claim a place where people discard washing machines and Pontiacs on their front lawn.

[MountainLaurel]

22. There are some software companies

And other high-tech firms, mainly courtesy of Bob Byrd, but there aren't many. A lot of companies don't want to relocate to places like WV because of the education system, lack of a fiber-optic backbone, transportation issues, etc.

As for people leaving to live Sex in the City lives, dream on. Most of these folks are working in glamorous urban areas like Columbus and Charlotte. Oooh la la. And most would return to WV in a heartbeat if they could be paid a living wage.

[amazona]

11. don't know the people but it's a beautiful state

Why is it that newspapers are so often owned by **** heads?

As a visitor to your state, I have seen nothing but the beauty and the history but I know there are issues.

But, you know, the insults toward the ordinary average person go on everywhere. Here in Louisiana, we're always told that we're an honorary banana republic! And education is now funded by the lottery, so heaven forbid that we teach the kids any math or statistics or they won't grow up to be good little lottery ticket buyers.

[doc03]

12. I think most if not all the papers in WV are owned by the same

Repug family. The biggest thing in jobs in this area over the last several years are a few hundred at the Cabela's store that opened near Wheeling last month, they pay $8 to $8.50 an hour with benefits

[Petrichor]

13. What would you prefer...

that the papers tell you that everything is fine in the great state of West Virginia?

This is a crisis facing many states as the educated, skilled and ambitious leave for greener pastures rather than try to build something in their home state.

[MrSandman]

14. I'd love to...

At least in the Greenbrier Valley.

[linazelle]

15. Like to live there? I was born there and I love WV.

I was born in Bluefield but raised in Chicago. I spent summers with my grandparents who are buried there. My best memories are of West Virginia. You are lucky to still live in such a beautiful place.

[Petrichor]

16. A very sincere question...

"I was born in Bluefield but raised in Chicago. I spent summers with my grandparents who are buried there. My best memories are of West Virginia. You are lucky to still live in such a beautiful place."


Then why don't you move back? Chance are very good that the cost of living in WV is significantly less than whatever metropolis you currently live in? A small town in WV is probably a whole lot safer as well. And, as you said, the scenery is beautiful.

Could it be lack of jobs and/or opportunity? Lack of...whatever?

[linazelle]

18. I want to stay with my family...I'm settled where I am

Although I love WV and wish I could go back for a visit, I've spent more years away than I have there.

And yes, it is tough to make a living there. The orignal post was correct. There are few jobs that pay a living wage. Most of the kids I grew up with as I spent summers there all left for larger cities when they grew up. The reason I left when I did was because my parents couldn't find work there.

[Petrichor]

19. And people wonder why the nation is polarized?

Who do they believe live in the "Blue States?" New York, California, Chicago, San Francisco are filled with the children and grandchildren of store owners from Indiana, mine owners from WV, car dealership owners from Georgia. And the well-to-do from every Red State in the Union.

They aren't the best and the brightest, not by a long shot, but those who had some singular opportunities growing up.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

17. I live here.

Living in Morgantown even as I write this. Nothing the Dominion Post prints surprises me anymore.

Its not that we aren't smart enough, its just that the people hiring don't want to have to shell out the bucks to hire the most qualified for the job. Hence most skilled locals leaving. Its terribly sad.

[KoKo]

23. Hey WVinians don't feel bad.. I just went to a Political Meeting here in

Research Triangle, NC (home of the big jobs in Bio-Tech and Tech) and our County Commissioners were having a Meet the Voter night.

Guess what! With all the laid off pharmaceutical manufacturers and high tech workers here they were pushing a bond issue to build a new Community College to attract Businesses to NC because our workers aren't educated or skilled enough.

It was all I could do to keep from shouting out! What skills do you need to be re-trained for to work at Pizza Hut or Mickey D's...My hubby was ready to clamp his hand over my mouth.

Can you believe? It was insulting...so I have sympathy. It's part of the Bush meme that Americans are skilled enough to get jobs and need to be re-trained to let the Corporations who are "outsourcing" get a pass.

There isn't work for Bio/Pharma Manufacturing or High Tech Computer folks...so build a Community College? Re-train for what? These are folks with college degrees and in some cases Masters and there's alot of Ph.D's looking for jobs because of Mergers and Downsizing...

What are they smoking and drinking...? Bush stuff..crammed down our throats to intimidate folks and make them go get re-educated for jobs that don't exist. :nuke:

[Petrichor]

24. The old jobs ain't coming back

The alternative to a community college is, what?

Those out-sourced jobs ain't coming back. Never. They are the same as the heavy industry jobs in the North East and the garment jobs in the South.

For a look at the future google the Rand Corporation study on Labor and Population.

[Bossy Monkey]

25. I think I can top that; Jim DeMint

running for Hollings' seat (currently a Republican congressman), is running tv spots claiming that outsourcing is caused by the tax code. All we need to do is abolish the IRS and it will all go away. That crazy Iris Tenenbaum is causing outsourcing by supporting the IRS. I guess I have to add the Dave Barry phrase: "I am not making this up."

[Petrichor]

26. A variation on the...

...line that outsourcing is caused by gov't regulation and trail lawyers. If that were true, then Mexico wouldn't be losing its jobs to China. Certain kinds of jobs follow cheap labor. They always have and always will...

[ThomWV]

27. The Point Was Missed By All

I am not complaining about the news paper.

I am not complaining about the low paying jobs in the state.

I am not complaining about jobs moving overseas.

What I am complaining about is an educational system that leaves its citizens uneducated. That was the point of the article. That the people of West Virginia DO NOT HAVE THE EDUCATION NECESSARY TO GET A JOB, any job. I didn't say a word about high-tech, I didn't say a word about manufacturing, none of that. My complaint is that in this state we have an educational system that a child can be immersed in for 12 years and come out without enough basic skills to put a bolt though a hold on an assembly line (if there was one left) or fill out a simple form. Have you ever looked at a job application filled out by a High School graduate in this country? It is not an embarrassment, its is a disgrace.