If New York is so terrible why is it that it's so much more prosperous than the average conservative state and why do conservative states depend on it for money?
Like I said in one of my earlier post, Thomas Sowell talks about that in detail. I feel he accounts it to when people from Europe were moving to the United States, or the colonies at the time.
People who were educated settled in the cities, where they have received continued education for centuries. Exposure to immigrants, best universities in the nation... etc.
People who were less educated moved south and into the wilderness unexplored areas. Even to this day people living in rural areas do not have access to the level of education people in the north do.
Let's be honest, certain groups are lazy. As I mentioned earlier, Sowell talks about how Jews, Germans, Asians... do well regardless of where they go. While the Irish and Scottish are less likely to obtain higher education.
When the factories closed and moved to mexico, china... it left a great number of people who work with their hands unemployed. We can also say there are a great number of people who refuse to relocate to find work. They are happy to live in poverty and work part time jobs than to move even 100 miles away and learn a skill or trade.
Part of it I feel is a lack of culture in the south, along with not valuing higher education. Ask various young people here what they want to do, and the answers may be, "welder, logger... or I do not know."
To directly answer your question:
Lack of drive / laziness.
Lack of culture
Lack of easy access to trade schools / community college.
Lack of value for higher education.
Just lower educated people who either lack the desire to better themselves, or are just lazy.
In 1986 I finished high school and went to work in a welding shop. By 1994 I knew that line of work was not for me, so started going to college at night. I was working a full time job, 40 - 50 hours a week, and going to college three nights a week. I did that for five years. I was taking between 6 - 9 credit hours per semester, typically around 6 hours per semester.
Even working a full time job, I still maintained a 3.6 - 3.7 GPA. Some of the kids fresh out of high school, not even working, were barely able to make a 2.5 GPA.
How do we fix the south? I do not know. Maybe more culture besides losing the civil war and watching sports.
Something we are in serious need of is introducing young people to real life skills, such as welding, auto repair, electrician, plumbing... etc. They get out of high school and have go future. A great number will get pregnant and end upon welfare.
If I wanted to take a college class, I would have to drive close to 75 miles one way. How do you convince a young person they need to drive 75 miles one way for at least 2 years to go to college? Or even get them into the military? It would be almost impossible for a young peson to move near a college, get a part time job, afford rent, food... and pay for college. Their parents are not doing much better as they have low paying jobs and barely getting by.
One of the things I see here that bothers me is people on welfare who could get free college, but do not do so. This is why I favor forced education for people on welfare.
Throwing money at the problem will not fix it. People in rural areas need to change their opinion of higher education and be willing to relocate to find work.
Tired of typing.
