I also had a similar experience. (53 people in my HS graduating class, with a high school population of approximately 200.) While I have no reason to believe that the school wasn't trying their best, the fact is that the school just didn't have the same academic opportunities as other schools.
My parents made it clear that I was going to go to college, because neither of them did. They gave me every opportunity they could. We went to museums. They sent me geek camp so I could be around other college bound kids. Had me take classes at the local junior college over the summer. We weren't poor, but these opportunities certainly weren't cheap.
What strikes me looking back at my high school graduating class is how few of them left. How few went to college. Of my friends at my high school, maybe only 2 moved away, and I don't even know how many went to college. Maybe six. It's really sad. 20 years later, and find them still working as a cashier at Walmart. I just did not expect that. I honestly expected everyone would scatter. They just didn't.
Conversely, the friends I made at geek camp (which were also all similar rural kids) all went to college, and scattered across the country. They also all have good jobs with advanced degrees.
Parents are probably the biggest factor in deciding a child's success. And quite frankly, all too often rural parents simply don't value education. It's all the same sterotypes we've heard. "Big cities are scary." "You'll turn into a muckity muck." "College is for brainwashing." Even as simple as, "You shouldn't leave all of us."
I often flip back to a feature in the local paper about graduating kids[0], and what strikes me more than anything is about how everyone in the article is down on education and leaving. Even one of the students that went to college intentionally aims low, and then even lower.
I've been there, and I just don't have a lot of sympathy for these people. It's a self-destructive culture.
It shouldn't surprise you that you "find them still working as a cashier at Walmart". This isn't even a rural/urban issue.
Urban environments are full of people who work retail and never move out of the city. It's the same thing! You'll find plenty of self-destructive culture in our urban environments. If anything, the retail workers are doing better than typical. They at least legally earn a living, which is respectable if not impressive.
It’s a difference in kind. Its not that some stayed, it’s that so very few left, especially when it was obvious 25 years ago that there was no economic base. Even moving 1 hour away to a major city was too much for them.
With the exception of one, even the ones I thought for sure would move didn’t. That’s what makes me shake my head. I just took it for granted their parents gave them a similar talk about having to move away like my mom gave me.
They could move to the city and work retail. Even if that gets them a higher minimum wage, they would still be worse off due to the cost of living. They would also be in an unfamiliar environment without their friends, adding stress and reducing safety.
It was obvious 25 years ago that Detroit had no economic base, at least relative to the population. Lots of people are still there.
I also had a similar experience. (53 people in my HS graduating class, with a high school population of approximately 200.) While I have no reason to believe that the school wasn't trying their best, the fact is that the school just didn't have the same academic opportunities as other schools.
My parents made it clear that I was going to go to college, because neither of them did. They gave me every opportunity they could. We went to museums. They sent me geek camp so I could be around other college bound kids. Had me take classes at the local junior college over the summer. We weren't poor, but these opportunities certainly weren't cheap.
What strikes me looking back at my high school graduating class is how few of them left. How few went to college. Of my friends at my high school, maybe only 2 moved away, and I don't even know how many went to college. Maybe six. It's really sad. 20 years later, and find them still working as a cashier at Walmart. I just did not expect that. I honestly expected everyone would scatter. They just didn't.
Conversely, the friends I made at geek camp (which were also all similar rural kids) all went to college, and scattered across the country. They also all have good jobs with advanced degrees.
Parents are probably the biggest factor in deciding a child's success. And quite frankly, all too often rural parents simply don't value education. It's all the same sterotypes we've heard. "Big cities are scary." "You'll turn into a muckity muck." "College is for brainwashing." Even as simple as, "You shouldn't leave all of us."
I often flip back to a feature in the local paper about graduating kids[0], and what strikes me more than anything is about how everyone in the article is down on education and leaving. Even one of the students that went to college intentionally aims low, and then even lower.
I've been there, and I just don't have a lot of sympathy for these people. It's a self-destructive culture.
[0] http://thesouthern.com/news/local/rural-brain-drain/