Thank God for Mississippi
- Thread starter 11thEagleFan
- Start date
Absolutely. I haven’t been to Tupelo in about 8-9 years, but last time I was there I was very impressed. I understand it’s grown more. Bottom line is that Mississippi is a great place to live if you prefer small cities, large towns, small towns, or rural living. But many young professionals want to live in a large city. I really hope we can get Jackson back to where it needs to be.
Heaven forbid you actually try to change it though. As long as the same people are voted in year after year in Jackson itself nothing will ever change. Leadership to change things in a locality, big or small, has to start IN THAT LOCALITY. It can't be imposed from above if the local people oppose it or are not involved and invested.
I worked there in the late 80's and you could see they were planning the correct ways with good leaders from all parts of town and let everyone get a voice in the plans they were making. This really showed up in their education system and helped make the town more lucrative to companies locating there. The small towns in the area looked like they followed suit. From what I've heard that area around Tupelo is a pretty good place to be and the still have a good education system in place.
We are looking to move to eastern Texas to escape the huge increased cost of living here. Since we have had the population explosion around the Austin the increases in local sales taxes and prices are killing us. Folks back in Mississippi have asked me why I don't move back there. I like to visit a lot but more than a few days I have to come back to Texas.
We moved back home to Mississippi after living in Texas for 12 years in 2000. My children were in the Midway ISD (a suburb of Waco) which was one of the most highly-rated school districts in Texas. Both of my children struggled in one of the smallest school districts in Mississippi after we moved back here. They struggled in English, math and science. My wife and I were both shocked, because we assumed that they would excel in Mississippi public schools. As it turned out that was far from reality. They actually benefitted here in Mississippi from smaller class sizes, and the teachers actually gave them more one-on-one instruction than they ever had in Texas-as it turned out, that was a blessing. Texas and other states love to “toot their own horns” about their great elementary, middle school and high school educational systems, but our experience definitely paints a different picture from what Texas wanted us to believe. Texas loves to brag about their zero state income taxes, no sales taxes on groceries, pharmaceutical drugs, etc., but they don’t talk about their property taxes. The property taxes go to the local schools (the same schools that they love to brag about) are 10x what we pay in Mississippi. We had a $200,000 home in a suburb of Waco (Hewitt, TX) with property taxes of over $3,500/year and built a $250,000 house in rural Mississippi with property taxes of approximately $700/year and our kids got a hell of a lot better education in Mississippi in the meantime. The proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes. People believe whatever they want to believe, and that’s fine. To each his own. I just know from first-hand experience that you cannot believe whatever the census-takers tell you. They make the statistics look however they want to make them look. Both of my kids ended up with academic scholarships-but it wasn’t because of anything that happened to them in Texas. It was in spite of that, from our experience. They got those scholarships because they sweated blood in those classrooms in Mississippi-because they were far behind due to their education in Texas. As a result of our personal experience, you better not believe even 25% of what the “educational experts” tell you. We seriously considered placing our kids in private schools when we relocated here in 2000, but after talking to friends and family we quickly realized that most parents in our area choose private schools due to opportunities to excel in sports/extracurricular activities, which means dick compared to actually learning. The first mission of school should be to provide the absolute best to be had academically. That was our first priority as parents, and we put our children in one of the smallest public schools in Mississippi because of that. We have no regrets from doing that.
Ours went to one of the smallest public schools in Mississippi as well. He excelled there. He had essentially a full ride at MSU (stacked scholarships), and did a post-grad degree at one of the very best universities in the world. My take on education is that you get out of it what you put into it. You CAN excel ANYWHERE, if you seriously WANT to and you put in the work. Our kid worked his tail off at MSU. It paid off big time.
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My parents graduated H.S. in Greenwood back in the late 50's far better educated than millions of others today across the country. Like many of my friends in Greenwood in the 70's, we already knew our ABC's and had 1st grade reading down before entering the 1st grade due to parental involvement. And like my parents, I too left H.S. far better educated than millions more today across the country. LBJ's "Great" Society destroyed traditional family parenting so state and local governments are now having to spend extra on teaching programs that were once not needed which is another example of how the road to Hell is sometimes paved with good intentions. As far as 5th Grade thru H.S.? Paying attention in class, taking notes, reading the required material and studying for tests don't require extra tax dollars.
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No, a win is being at the top. This is like scoring a TD vs AL l, but still losing 35-7. Beats 45-0.
You are just FLAT OUT WRONG on this. It's your mentality that has kept Mississippi public education on the bottom for so long. "If it isn't at the top NOW, then abandon it". You have to start somewhere. Getting THAT far off the bottom when we have been THE bottom forever is a huge achievement. I say keep on track and see if it carries over to the higher grades. If it does, then that really would be a stunning achievement. It would also provide a base for reaching even higher.
To add to what i said earlier, if you love Mississippi like I do, then you smile when you see your State making progress, not scoff at it.
I'm one of those folks, worked in Biloxi for 5 years after school before I moved to Nashville. Got an offer I couldn't refuse. The main driver is that the good ol' boy network is all too alive and well in MS and there's no room for career advancement in my field with any serious upside. Even tried to partner with my old firm for a project at TSUN and they turned us down.
Say that to say, the experience I got being a pawn gave me an opportunity to flourish in the 615 and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Hard work pays off, it just didn't allow for it in MS.
I can’t speak for other towns,but in Columbus if you want your children to get a good education and be prepared for college you better send them to private schools
That is pretty consistent across the Hwy 82 corridor though. Bennie Thompson’s District drags Dorn the rest of Mississippi much more than a Columbus or West Point though. I guess some will say poverty drives poor education opportunities in Thompson’s District. I say there is only one reason Bennie Thompson keeps gettting elected.