Thank God for Mississippi

[11thEagleFan]

Mississippi’s dramatic fourth-grade reading gains are turning heads. Here's how New Mexico is — and isn't — following suit.

Over the past several years, Mississippi's elementary scores have steadily gone up, while scores in New Mexico seemed to hit a wall. While each state has a unique set of

www.abqjournal.com

 

[Shmuley]

We appear to be fast becoming the tallest midget.

 

[11thEagleFan]

Now that we’re not stupid or racist anymore, I think we’ve finally turned a corner. Wonder what we’ll master next?

 

[MStateDawg]

Wow! A positive article about Mississippi. First time for everything I guess.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

MS: Where 33rd and 37th out of 50 is a win!

 

[AstroDog]

Our state is around 3 million residents. I sure don't want us to become Florida with 22 million. I have relatives who have actually moved from Tampa to Maine just to get away from all the congestion....everywhere in Florida. Now that IS a real transition! I think a good size for Mississippi should cap at around 5 million. I also met 4 new families from California who moved to Nesbit, MS and they absolutely love it.

 

[LOTRGOTDAWGFAN]

Mississippi’s dramatic fourth-grade reading gains are turning heads. Here's how New Mexico is — and isn't — following suit.

Over the past several years, Mississippi's elementary scores have steadily gone up, while scores in New Mexico seemed to hit a wall. While each state has a unique set of

www.abqjournal.com

The progress is getting national attention. States like NY and California are looking into how Mississippi accomplished such a feat, there've been articles in the NY Times and the LA Times as well. A few years ago, people were griping about the state superintendent being the highest paid state superintendent in the country, she got results!!

 

[dickiedawg]

MS: Where 33rd and 37th out of 50 is a win!

That actually feels like a huge win, compared to where we were and where we are in… seemingly every meaningful category.
(Not counting poverty, obesity, teen pregnancy, we’re close to league leaders in all those)

 

[patdog]

MS: Where 33rd and 37th out of 50 is a win!

It's a freaking huge win. Especially considering our economic situation and demographics. Very good news!

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

Our state is around 3 million residents. I sure don't want us to become Florida with 22 million. I have relatives who have actually moved from Tampa to Maine just to get away from all the congestion....everywhere in Florida. Now that IS a real transition! I think a good size for Mississippi should cap at around 5 million. I also met 4 new families from California who moved to Nesbit, MS and they absolutely love it.

Mississippi was one of three states that lost population in the last census. Mississippi is not growing, worse yet, we are losing our best and brightest to places like Nashville.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Mississippi was one of three states that lost population in the last census. Mississippi is not growing, worse yet, we are losing our best and brightest to places like Nashville.

 

[DawgsGoneWild]

Our state is around 3 million residents. I sure don't want us to become Florida with 22 million. I have relatives who have actually moved from Tampa to Maine just to get away from all the congestion....everywhere in Florida. Now that IS a real transition! I think a good size for Mississippi should cap at around 5 million. I also met 4 new families from California who moved to Nesbit, MS and they absolutely love it.

Did you tell them to keep their mouths shut and God Bless Them

 

[11thEagleFan]

Mississippi was one of three states that lost population in the last census. Mississippi is not growing, worse yet, we are losing our best and brightest to places like Nashville.

I thought this was debunked? I seem to remember corrected numbers being released that showed Mississippi gained population, albeit at a low rate.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Mississippi was one of three states that lost population in the last census. Mississippi is not growing, worse yet, we are losing our best and brightest to places like Nashville.

If you have some insight to how the census collects information, you'll understand this may not be quite accurate.

They basically ignore rural areas under a certain amount of population, and apply a net loss. They zero in on urban areas, which is generally smart, nation-wide. But MS doesn't have many of those, but has many more rural areas. Thus it'll show stagnation or a small loss, even if there was small growth.

Now, that said, MS is definitely losing compared to its peers. However, us and every other state out there are losing people to Nashville, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta. That will continue to happen.

Alabama has Huntsville, which keeps them growing. Arkansas has NW area. I don't particularly think Louisiana is doing that well.

So, at the end of the day, MS is going to be leading the growth lists, but eventually a few people will start venturing here. Our goal needs to just be to not suck, rather than trying to beat other states. And newsflash.....this likely will include Jackson being better.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

That actually feels like a huge win, compared to where we were and where we are in… seemingly every meaningful category.
(Not counting poverty, obesity, teen pregnancy, we’re close to league leaders in all those)

We're top 25 in taxation. Poorest state but the highly taxed.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

I thought this was debunked? I seem to remember corrected numbers being released that showed Mississippi gained population, albeit at a low rate.

Correct

 

[OG Goat Holder]

I thought this was debunked? I seem to remember corrected numbers being released that showed Mississippi gained population, albeit at a low rate.

You can't expect @greenbean.sixpack to go beyond surface level, bro.

 

[johnson86-1]

Our state is around 3 million residents. I sure don't want us to become Florida with 22 million. I have relatives who have actually moved from Tampa to Maine just to get away from all the congestion....everywhere in Florida. Now that IS a real transition! I think a good size for Mississippi should cap at around 5 million. I also met 4 new families from California who moved to Nesbit, MS and they absolutely love it.

Not that it's going to be a problem for Mississippi, but we could put easily put another two million people in Mississippi without it feeling crowded at all. You could put $70k just in the city limits of Jackson and only hit the population it had in 1980. Places like Greenville, Indianola, Clarksdale, Greenwood probably all need 5k to 20k to reach their former peak population. Then we have very little dense development in places that are actually growing. How many places in Mississippi even have nice condos to speak of that people live in?

Unfortunately, we don't have to worry about overcrowding regardless b/c we're not likely to grow that much, but if we do become so fortunate, we have plenty of places to put people without it feeling crowded, even without needing to turn a lot of rural land into suburbs or small towns into large towns or small cities.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

Check the official census website, it has not been updated to reflect new numbers. So I'm going with that until we get new numbers.

Mississippi’s Population Declined 0.2%

The Magnolia State’s population declined 0.2% from 2010 to 2020 to 2,961,279.

www.census.gov

 

[AstroDog]

Mississippi was one of three states that lost population in the last census. Mississippi is not growing, worse yet, we are losing our best and brightest to places like Nashville.

Didn't say it was growing. Just stating for the future, if we do grow, I would want no more than 5 million residents. The California folk I know in Desoto Co. sold their roughly 1500/1800 sq. foot homes in Cali for over one million dollars. They then came to Nesbit and bought brand new homes TWICE to THREE times the size for about a half million. Now they have a half million or more in their pockets. Some found work in Memphis, 2 of the others just retired with the money they saved by moving to Mississippi. One of them told me they have called some of their friends back in Cali to move to Mississippi and experience what a conservative state feels like. They all said it feels like freedom!

 

[johnson86-1]

It's a freaking huge win. Especially considering our economic situation and demographics. Very good news!

It's pretty disturbing how we got there though. We're helped a lot by the vast majority of teachers apparently being trained to teach reading in a way that is counterproductive for students. My understanding is that we basically have required teachers to start focusing on phonics again regardless of what they learned in college. Not sure how consistent we are on that because I still had to tell all of my children to still sound words out that they didn't know rather than guessing, even if they are "sight words".

 

[The Cooterpoot]

It's pretty disturbing how we got there though. We're helped a lot by the vast majority of teachers apparently being trained to teach reading in a way that is counterproductive for students. My understanding is that we basically have required teachers to start focusing on phonics again regardless of what they learned in college. Not sure how consistent we are on that because I still had to tell all of my children to still sound words out that they didn't know rather than guessing, even if they are "sight words".

Ohio just announced a move to a similar program.

 

[GloryDawg]

New Mexico faces something every day that Mississippi doesn't. I would imagine their population has a high percentage of people born in another country whose children are not up to grade level. I would also imagine many of them don't speak English.

 

[johnson86-1]

New Mexico faces something every day that Mississippi doesn't. I would imagine their population has a high percentage of people born in another country whose children are not up to grade level. I would also imagine many of them don't speak English.

That's definitely a big difference. If you want to actually grade education systems, you have to account for that. The big example you used to see that I assume is still roughly accurate is that Iowa (eta: it may have been wisconsin?) always showed up above Texas on test score rankings, but white students from Texas out performed white students from Iowa, hispanics from texas outperformed hispanics from Iowa, and african americans from texas outperformed african americans from Texas. But of course Iowa was much whiter, and so the mix made their average scores better. Of course at the end of the day, what matters is how skilled and educated your population is, so you need to improve overall education and skills, but if you don't pay attention to differences like that, it's hard to know if what you are doing is effective or not. But it's hard to use breakdowns like that because some people understandably don't want to use those breakdowns without really knowing what they are a proxy for, but it seems to me that's useful info now even if it's usefulness as a proxy may end up breaking down over time.

 

[Pilgrimdawg]

I am glad to hear about improvements in education but I am not optimistic. 30 years ago Mississippi was a great place to live and raise a family. If the trends continue like they have for the last 30 years in 30 more years we are going to be like a third world country. Good companies will not come here and the ones that are here will be looking to leave. It make me sad to say this, but it is reality. I was born in Mississippi and a life long resident. The changes in the workforce that is available are a big negative but the daily violence that is on the local news every single night is a killer. We live in Columbus and it has gotten to where you keep your head on a swivel everywhere you go. I have told my children that they can probably finish their careers here if they want too, but my grandchildren need to plan to live elsewhere. We own some hunting land in Noxubee County and I was always happy knowing that we could pass that place down from generation to generation so that everyone would always have a place to hunt and fish. Now, it looks like that is probably not a good idea. I know that Columbus has their share of violence but i don’t think that we are that much different for most other towns. Look at Jackson, that’s going to be the rest of us in a few years if not already. When I was a kid I played little league in Propst Park and it was a great place. Eventually my kids played in that same park and I coached for 13 years. It was still a pretty good place although you could see changes taking place that were concerning. My grandchildren started playing there about 4 years ago and it was not really a safe environment. A couple of years ago the local gangs had a shoot out in the park while there several hundred people in the park for little league. We were out of there after that. I work out at the local YMCA and it’s going to be the next domino to fall. Last year my granddaughters 10 year old basketball game turned violent. We ended up with 5 police squads there before the altercation was over. We no longer play basketball at the YMCA. Just off the top of my head in the last couple of years there has been shootings at the Cracker Barrel, in front of Little Doey, Waffle House, a Mexican restaurant, the park, multiple gas stations, and various other places. It’s on the news every single night. Before I retired, I worked at one of he local manufacturing companies. If we wanted to add some people in the plant we would bring in 10 people to interview for every one person that we needed. Most of them couldn’t pass a drug test. Other than being clean they just needed a little basic education. That weeded out a lot of the others. It’s pitiful. So why would a good company want to locate here? I traveled all over the country for years with my job and at that point we were pretty much just like everywhere else. It’s not that way anymore. We are quickly trending in a very bad direction. I know it’s not just us, plenty of other states have similar problems but then there are lots of places that seem to be so much better. Sorry for the long rambling post. I had my rotator cuff fixed yesterday and these pain meds have me tripping. So what’s the answer to our situation? I really don’t know. Way too many kids literally raising themselves on the street. No respect for others or themselves as I see it. Parents need to step up and do their job. That seems to be trending in the wrong direction too. Not trying to start some big long debate about this. It’s just food for thought for others that love Mississippi and want to see it prosper and provide a safe environment for our families. Just took another pain med so I am out for awhile again. Peace in all.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

So why would a good company want to locate here?

I don't know, but they are. Especially in the Golden Triangle.

Way too many kids literally raising themselves on the street. No respect for others or themselves as I see it. Parents need to step up and do their job. That seems to be trending in the wrong direction too.

You're right, it's not going to happen, it's unfixable. Any growth is going to have happen outside of this.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

I am glad to hear about improvements in education

Holy Massive Block of Text, Batman!

 

[dudehead]

I don't know, but they are. Especially in the Golden Triangle.


You're right, it's not going to happen, it's unfixable. Any growth is going to have happen outside of this.

They were bought by MS taxpayers.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

They were bought by MS taxpayers.

They always are, everywhere.

You need to get out more.

 

[johnson86-1]

I am glad to hear about improvements in education but I am not optimistic. 30 years ago Mississippi was a great place to live and raise a family. If the trends continue like they have for the last 30 years in 30 more years we are going to be like a third world country. Good companies will not come here and the ones that are here will be looking to leave. It make me sad to say this, but it is reality. I was born in Mississippi and a life long resident. The changes in the workforce that is available are a big negative but the daily violence that is on the local news every single night is a killer. We live in Columbus and it has gotten to where you keep your head on a swivel everywhere you go. I have told my children that they can probably finish their careers here if they want too, but my grandchildren need to plan to live elsewhere. We own some hunting land in Noxubee County and I was always happy knowing that we could pass that place down from generation to generation so that everyone would always have a place to hunt and fish. Now, it looks like that is probably not a good idea. I know that Columbus has their share of violence but i don’t think that we are that much different for most other towns. Look at Jackson, that’s going to be the rest of us in a few years if not already. When I was a kid I played little league in Propst Park and it was a great place. Eventually my kids played in that same park and I coached for 13 years. It was still a pretty good place although you could see changes taking place that were concerning. My grandchildren started playing there about 4 years ago and it was not really a safe environment. A couple of years ago the local gangs had a shoot out in the park while there several hundred people in the park for little league. We were out of there after that. I work out at the local YMCA and it’s going to be the next domino to fall. Last year my granddaughters 10 year old basketball game turned violent. We ended up with 5 police squads there before the altercation was over. We no longer play basketball at the YMCA. Just off the top of my head in the last couple of years there has been shootings at the Cracker Barrel, in front of Little Doey, Waffle House, a Mexican restaurant, the park, multiple gas stations, and various other places. It’s on the news every single night. Before I retired, I worked at one of he local manufacturing companies. If we wanted to add some people in the plant we would bring in 10 people to interview for every one person that we needed. Most of them couldn’t pass a drug test. Other than being clean they just needed a little basic education. That weeded out a lot of the others. It’s pitiful. So why would a good company want to locate here? I traveled all over the country for years with my job and at that point we were pretty much just like everywhere else. It’s not that way anymore. We are quickly trending in a very bad direction. I know it’s not just us, plenty of other states have similar problems but then there are lots of places that seem to be so much better. Sorry for the long rambling post. I had my rotator cuff fixed yesterday and these pain meds have me tripping. So what’s the answer to our situation? I really don’t know. Way too many kids literally raising themselves on the street. No respect for others or themselves as I see it. Parents need to step up and do their job. That seems to be trending in the wrong direction too. Not trying to start some big long debate about this. It’s just food for thought for others that love Mississippi and want to see it prosper and provide a safe environment for our families. Just took another pain med so I am out for awhile again. Peace in all.

Well, I would just say that it's very hard to know what crime is doing just by how it feels to you personally. Generally crime was broadly getting better until a few years ago. All across the country crime was dropping for two decades while people were complaining about it getting worse. Some of this was probably because of more visibility of crime due to more news ("if it bleeds, it leads") and some of it was probably people confusing changing neighborhood characteristics (some older neighborhoods getting worse as others gentrified) with broad trends, but regardless, you could get a lot of people to confidently claim crime was getting worse while every collected statistic pointed to it dropping precipitously.

That said, Columbus may have been one of those areas that was getting worse despite crime in general dropping. Also, the trend for dropping crime stopped with roughly the George Floyd riots, and it's not clear whether that's a temporary bump or whether the trend is actually reversing. But without some good data on crime in your "area" (meaning something like the micro or metropolitan statistical area depending on where you live, not a particular neighborhood or even city) showing an upward trend for another year or so, I wouldn't abandon hope just yet (save that for MSU sports).

 

[tbaydog]

Our state is around 3 million residents. I sure don't want us to become Florida with 22 million. I have relatives who have actually moved from Tampa to Maine just to get away from all the congestion....everywhere in Florida. Now that IS a real transition! I think a good size for Mississippi should cap at around 5 million. I also met 4 new families from California who moved to Nesbit, MS and they absolutely love it.

But it sure nice to know my state income taxes does not go toward sewage hole!

 

[johnson86-1]

**duplicate

 

[Willow Grove Dawg]

Mississippi’s dramatic fourth-grade reading gains are turning heads. Here's how New Mexico is — and isn't — following suit.

Over the past several years, Mississippi's elementary scores have steadily gone up, while scores in New Mexico seemed to hit a wall. While each state has a unique set of

www.abqjournal.com

***It ain't true unless Adam Gancheau writes an article about it in Mississippi Today***

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

I am glad to hear about improvements in education but I am not optimistic. 30 years ago Mississippi was a great place to live and raise a family. If the trends continue like they have for the last 30 years in 30 more years we are going to be like a third world country. Good companies will not come here and the ones that are here will be looking to leave. It make me sad to say this, but it is reality. I was born in Mississippi and a life long resident. The changes in the workforce that is available are a big negative but the daily violence that is on the local news every single night is a killer. We live in Columbus and it has gotten to where you keep your head on a swivel everywhere you go. I have told my children that they can probably finish their careers here if they want too, but my grandchildren need to plan to live elsewhere. We own some hunting land in Noxubee County and I was always happy knowing that we could pass that place down from generation to generation so that everyone would always have a place to hunt and fish. Now, it looks like that is probably not a good idea. I know that Columbus has their share of violence but i don’t think that we are that much different for most other towns. Look at Jackson, that’s going to be the rest of us in a few years if not already. When I was a kid I played little league in Propst Park and it was a great place. Eventually my kids played in that same park and I coached for 13 years. It was still a pretty good place although you could see changes taking place that were concerning. My grandchildren started playing there about 4 years ago and it was not really a safe environment. A couple of years ago the local gangs had a shoot out in the park while there several hundred people in the park for little league. We were out of there after that. I work out at the local YMCA and it’s going to be the next domino to fall. Last year my granddaughters 10 year old basketball game turned violent. We ended up with 5 police squads there before the altercation was over. We no longer play basketball at the YMCA. Just off the top of my head in the last couple of years there has been shootings at the Cracker Barrel, in front of Little Doey, Waffle House, a Mexican restaurant, the park, multiple gas stations, and various other places. It’s on the news every single night. Before I retired, I worked at one of he local manufacturing companies. If we wanted to add some people in the plant we would bring in 10 people to interview for every one person that we needed. Most of them couldn’t pass a drug test. Other than being clean they just needed a little basic education. That weeded out a lot of the others. It’s pitiful. So why would a good company want to locate here? I traveled all over the country for years with my job and at that point we were pretty much just like everywhere else. It’s not that way anymore. We are quickly trending in a very bad direction. I know it’s not just us, plenty of other states have similar problems but then there are lots of places that seem to be so much better. Sorry for the long rambling post. I had my rotator cuff fixed yesterday and these pain meds have me tripping. So what’s the answer to our situation? I really don’t know. Way too many kids literally raising themselves on the street. No respect for others or themselves as I see it. Parents need to step up and do their job. That seems to be trending in the wrong direction too. Not trying to start some big long debate about this. It’s just food for thought for others that love Mississippi and want to see it prosper and provide a safe environment for our families. Just took another pain med so I am out for awhile again. Peace in all.

Spot on, MS is getting worse, not better and that isn't going to change. Our best and brightest are leaving and the slugs are staying. Over the next 30-50 years the demographics will change to such a point as someone like the current mayor, or maybe even worse, will get elected governor. I tell my kids the same thing, GET OUT! By the time my grandkids get into their prime working years, most of MS will be a third world country. I'll die in the 'Sip and my kids can have a good working career here, but 30 years or so from now this will be a difference place (if current trends continue - and there is no reason to think they won't).

We'll never be a mecca for employers who require highly skilled employees, we need to recruit as many low skill factory type jobs as possible into the state.

 

[Duke Humphrey]

***It ain't true unless Adam Gancheau writes an article about it in Mississippi Today***

Wish I could like this more than once….. MT will come in to tell us how this isn’t true and our kids and teachers suck

 

[11thEagleFan]

To the doomsayers in the thread, I actually think Mississippi overall is headed in the right direction. 5 years ago if you had told me that we would change the flag, that education rankings would greatly improve, and that there would be real traction on repealing the state income tax, I would’ve thought you were dreaming.

A lot of the problems complained of in this thread aren’t specific to Mississippi either, they’re nationwide trends. I moved out of state and married a west coast gal. Every time we visit Mississippi she absolutely loves it. Granted, we spend most of our time in Hattiesburg and on the Coast, but those areas are booming. In addition to those areas, the Jackson suburbs are doing great, the Golden Triangle is doing great, and the Memphis bedroom area is exploding. If we could get Jackson turned around, I would say the overall outlook for the state is very positive.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

To the doomsayers in the thread, I actually think Mississippi overall is headed in the right direction. 5 years ago if you had told me that we would change the flag, that education rankings would greatly improve, and that there would be real traction on repealing the state income tax, I would’ve thought you were dreaming.

A lot of the problems complained of in this thread aren’t specific to Mississippi either, they’re nationwide trends. I moved out of state and married a west coast gal. Every time we visit Mississippi she absolutely loves it. Granted, we spend most of our time in Hattiesburg and on the Coast, but those areas are booming. In addition to those areas, the Jackson suburbs are doing great, the Golden Triangle is doing great, and the Memphis bedroom area is exploding. If we could get Jackson turned around, I would say the overall outlook for the state is very positive.

No question about this, to anyone who can truly see up from down. @greenbean.sixpack is a disgruntled moron who bashes Mississippi on multiple message boards. His kids will probably stick around just to spite him.

 

[dudehead]

They always are, everywhere.

You need to get out more.

I answered the question. And I might add, I've actually worked on those kind of deals going back to the 1980s. They are what they are.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

I answered the question. And I might add, I've actually worked on those kind of deals going back to the 1980s. They are what they are.

Don't act as if you didn't answer it in such a way as to make it look like MS got 17ed in the rear end, differently than anyone else that lands similar projects. You aren't fooling anybody.

 

[L4Dawg]

MS: Where 33rd and 37th out of 50 is a win!

Well, it IS a win. That is a dramatic improvement. You can't reach higher if you can't first get off the bottom.