I don't believe the south has the corner on stupidity.
Random Thoughts Post-Washington
- Thread starter BiochemPSU
- Start date
No, but they are the leader in the clubhouse......
I think we’re beyond “it’s the South so not that surprising.”
You may think that.....but it may not be too far from the truth......see embedded list of IQ and compare the states to each other and compare the states to the national average.....
| New Hampshire | 103.2 |
|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 103.1 |
| Minnesota | 102.9 |
| Vermont | 102.2 |
| North Dakota | 101.7 |
| Wyoming | 101.7 |
| Utah | 101.5 |
| Washington | 101.5 |
| Connecticut | 101.2 |
| Nebraska | 101.2 |
| Virginia | 101.2 |
| Wisconsin | 101.2 |
| Colorado | 101.1 |
| Iowa | 101.1 |
| Montana | 101.1 |
| New Jersey | 101.0 |
| Maine | 100.9 |
| South Dakota | 100.7 |
| Indiana | 100.6 |
| Idaho | 100.5 |
| Kansas | 100.5 |
| Oregon | 100.3 |
| Pennsylvania | 100.2 |
| Maryland | 100.0 |
| Ohio | 100.0 |
| Michigan | 99.6 |
| Missouri | 99.5 |
| North Carolina | 99.5 |
| Alaska | 99.4 |
| Illinois | 99.4 |
| Rhode Island | 99.4 |
| Hawaii | 99.2 |
| Florida | 98.8 |
| Kentucky | 98.8 |
| Delaware | 98.7 |
| New York | 98.4 |
| Arizona | 98.3 |
| Tennessee | 98.3 |
| Oklahoma | 98.2 |
| Georgia | 98.1 |
| South Carolina | 97.8 |
| Texas | 97.4 |
| West Virginia | 97.2 |
| Arkansas | 97.1 |
| California | 97.1 |
| Nevada | 96.6 |
| Alabama | 96.4 |
| Mississippi | 95.8 |
| Louisiana | 95.2 |
| New Mexico | 95.0 |
| United States | 99.6 |
That much is unclear. It's like a chicken/egg situation. Are you stupid because you are from Ohio or stupid because you chose to live there.
It's not about whether I feel good or not (and I do). It's just the perspective is not as provincial as you may think. There is some substance to it.
Well....we may be dumb, but we have better weather, cheaper gas, lower taxes and more affordable housing than our northern brethern. So I suppose we are just lucky.
Yes you do have better weather. But you didn't do anything to earn it. it's just geographical luck. The same geographical luck that makes you the target of hurricanes each year.Well....we may be dumb, but we have better weather, cheaper gas, lower taxes and more affordable housing than our northern brethern. So I suppose we are just lucky.
You have cheaper gas relative to some. But not all. Your taxes are lower and that is large part because you take more money from the federal government than any other group of states: ($12-$16 billion per year). Quite honestly if you didn't have your hand out to the federal government you would not be said to sustain yourselves.
And your low taxes equates to poor schools and hence poor IQ. (see how it all ties together)?
Specifically, Federal aid fluctuates from year to year. But much of the Ferderal Government money is appropriated to the military presence in Georgia. And of course for hurricanes. BTW...in 2022 Pennsylvania received an estimated $40 billion in Federal Aid while Georgia received $20.5 Billion.
On the subject of schools, which school district do you reside in? The schools here in Alpharetta are amongst the best in the country. SATS are very high snd unlike many districts in Pennsylvania, all students take the SATS.
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BTW......yes we are lucky the weather is great here in Georgia. But it wasn't luck that brought me here. It was by choice. See how that ties together?
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Ok you moved by choice - but the fact that the weather was there is due to geographical luck. You still didn't do anything to create the weather. And you still have to deal with hurricanes more so than other areas of the country - I will assume you did not move there for the excessive wind currents.
46 of 50 states take more money than they send to the Federsl government. Historically southern states have always taken more money than they sent to the federal government. Northern states have not always taken more than they gave. The four states that consistently give more money are all in the north.
You may live in a good school system but overall the school systems in the south are much worse than the rest of the country. It's not really anything that can be debated.
i lived in the south as a kid not too from the school district you mentioned. (mid 70s). It was not very good. It's improved primarily because the Atlanta area has grown in the last 50 years in large part because northerners moved there and demanded good public education. You are just reaping the rewards of that.
And getting back to the premise of what started this little tete a tete- the IQ of the southern states are still lower than the rest of the country.
The whole Federal dollars thing is a big red herring, because there are so many ways to look at that data...raw dollars, as a percentage of state budget, per capita. And depending on which way you choose to look at it paints a very different picture depending on, well....
Not one of the top five on a per capita basis are in the South.
Plus, a military base in sparsely populated state is going to have a lot bigger impact than in a densely populated one. Are we supposed to somehow "look down" on a state for that?
Florida actually ranks last in per capita government dollars. Georgia is also pretty low by that measure. Pennsylvania gets more Federal funding per person than Alabama or Mississippi do. PA gets a higher percentage of its state revenue than Georgia does.(2021 numbers, as you mentioned they are prone to change regularly).
Lies, damn lies and statistics....you can arrange the numbers to get the results you want. Do you want to make the red states or the blue states look bad?
IQ scores are just one measure of cognitive ability and do not fully capture an individual's potential or intelligence, nor do they reflect the rich diversity of skills, talents, and intelligences present in any population. Would you assign someone an important job who demonstrates good common sense over someone with a higher IQ but lacks common sense?
They was very text book answer
But ok
The numbers are the numbers and DO reflect the overall intelligence level of the region-and the numbers also reflect the combination of academic opportunities which result in opportunities for success.
By the way how much longer do you want to do this? i have to get back to work so i can make money to send down to you so you can enjoy the weather.
So if you want to keep going i may not be able to respond right away.
For sure.....you are definitely working for me....I'm retired. Anyone, just a little bit of advice from an old guy. An elitist view of the world not very cool. You're better than that my friend.