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You cant blame the kids;it's the fault of the parents but it's hard to criticize them for it.
the parents are likely so busy making ends meet or working odd hours that they don't have time to be involved in their children's education.
this is what starts this awful cycle...but then again if the parents don't (or can't) care there is not much that the schools can do...the students produced will be deficient.
back to my original point: education is not highly valued--for whatever reason--in the state.
Most of the NV problem is statistical. The population of Nevada is highly urban...third to NY and CA. Basically 88% of the population lives in the two urban counties of Clark and Washoe. 72% lives in Clark County alone. That huge urban percentage combined with County wide school systems forms most of the basis for the "dumb" Nevada. Actually Nevada is not "dumb"...it is simply highly urban.
The money spent on education is low. That however is a problem throughout the SW. There is little deviation to the neighboring states. The SW has never favored Education to the level of the east coast.
And CCSD is no place near as bad if simply compared to the other large school systems. It will in fact easily outscore a number of them such as LA, DC, NYC and Chicago.
As I have pointed out numerous times the CCSD problem can be cured anytime we wish by simply breaking up the school district into 3 or 4 parts. At least two of them will rank very well and one will be a disaster. But it solves the problem of a perceived bad school system at close to no cost. It would likely make the overall education achievement worse if anything...but we could feel good about it.
UNLV is simply a large commuter school. It could easily be changed into an adequate University by simply changing the funding balance between it and Reno. First step is move the Medical School. Other similar to follow.
I am not convinced that Las Vegas should, or could diversify well. Nothing wrong with some new industry but I would not see trying to build the sort of place that a Silicon Valley entrepreneur would go for. We have a very nice "steel mill". Clean and well paying. We have a second industry in taking care of the retired and old that goes well with our first. I would suggest pushing harder on these then trying to attract brain trust types.
i am not saying a good chef is not immensely talented or the front desk manager at the Cosmo (the suits as some call them) is not smart. But their jobs don't require higher level education or above average cognitive ability.
Many of my coworkers hold advanced degrees. And it is RARE to find a cook at my level who speaks less than three languages. English/Spanish/French and English/Spanish/Chinese are the two most common. I know cooks who speak seven languages. Furthermore, many of us once held "real" jobs (by whatever standard you hold as "real") and quit the rat race so we could cook.
But I actually agree with you that Las Vegas is not a particularly smart city. The reason for that is that Las Vegas is the sort of place where someone can make six figures a year parking cars at the Bellagio. A crane operator can also make six figures. So we draw from workforce pool of the entire country -- all the people who think parking cars for the rest of their lives sounds like a good gig.
And a word of advice, Bro. You come off like a kid who types with a thesaurus in one hand.
^
Everyplace has those jobs. Come to NYC with it's unions. I had relatives in high end catering. Banquet waiters were making six figure (and this is like 20 years ago, and they still probably are.) And we won't even talk about construction (and our building boom is still going.)
On the flip side, the people running multibillion dollar, six thousend employee casino/hotels probably aren't just holding a high school diploma.
^ Everyplace has those jobs. Come to NYC with it's unions. I had relatives in high end catering. Banquet waiters were making six figure (and this is like 20 years ago, and they still probably are.) And we won't even talk about construction (and our building boom is still going.)
On the flip side, the people running multibillion dollar, six thousend employee casino/hotels probably aren't just holding a high school diploma.
Not EVERYPLACE has those jobs. A handful of metro areas have these jobs. And Las Vegas has the lowest overall cost of living out of the handful of cities where a waiter can realistically make six figures. I make roughly three times what I would in Florida, and the cost of living is less than half.
I still don't like living here. But I cannot complain about the numbers.
Most of the NV problem is statistical. The population of Nevada is highly urban...third to NY and CA. Basically 88% of the population lives in the two urban counties of Clark and Washoe. 72% lives in Clark County alone. That huge urban percentage combined with County wide school systems forms most of the basis for the "dumb" Nevada. Actually Nevada is not "dumb"...it is simply highly urban.
The money spent on education is low. That however is a problem throughout the SW. There is little deviation to the neighboring states. The SW has never favored Education to the level of the east coast.
And CCSD is no place near as bad if simply compared to the other large school systems. It will in fact easily outscore a number of them such as LA, DC, NYC and Chicago.
As I have pointed out numerous times the CCSD problem can be cured anytime we wish by simply breaking up the school district into 3 or 4 parts. At least two of them will rank very well and one will be a disaster. But it solves the problem of a perceived bad school system at close to no cost. It would likely make the overall education achievement worse if anything...but we could feel good about it.
UNLV is simply a large commuter school. It could easily be changed into an adequate University by simply changing the funding balance between it and Reno. First step is move the Medical School. Other similar to follow.
I am not convinced that Las Vegas should, or could diversify well. Nothing wrong with some new industry but I would not see trying to build the sort of place that a Silicon Valley entrepreneur would go for. We have a very nice "steel mill". Clean and well paying. We have a second industry in taking care of the retired and old that goes well with our first. I would suggest pushing harder on these then trying to attract brain trust types.
The problem is not statistical or urban. Your points are non-sequitar. You are comparing huge urban enclaves NY and LA, to the small/medium urban city of LV. A more apt comparison would be to compare the LV metro area (1.9m) to a similar sized metro area (Austin [1.7m], Charlotte [1.7], Orlando (2.1))
You then wish to cherry pick and gerrymander certain enclaves within LV (removing for low performers) and compare them writ large to huge urban areas like Los Angeles and New York.
Will you also allow for equitable gerrymandering?...say you toss out Naked City and I omit the schools in Spanish Harlem
there is nothing, nada, nothing equivalent to the Bronx School of Science (public) in NY in Las Vegas.
But this is not a valid comparison.
I agree that Vegas is should not try to diversify. It's not its shctick to do so. Vegas is a blue collar service orientated city based upon vice and lacks the capital, inclination, and ability to be anything else.
It has found its niche and should not stray from it.
Many of my coworkers hold advanced degrees. And it is RARE to find a cook at my level who speaks less than three languages. English/Spanish/French and English/Spanish/Chinese are the two most common. I know cooks who speak seven languages. Furthermore, many of us once held "real" jobs (by whatever standard you hold as "real") and quit the rat race so we could cook.
But I actually agree with you that Las Vegas is not a particularly smart city. The reason for that is that Las Vegas is the sort of place where someone can make six figures a year parking cars at the Bellagio. A crane operator can also make six figures. So we draw from workforce pool of the entire country -- all the people who think parking cars for the rest of their lives sounds like a good gig.
And a word of advice, Bro. You come off like a kid who types with a thesaurus in one hand.
I am not trying to be patronizing to you sir. But as I wrote previously, I don't think you or most people understand the distinctions between the intellectual caliber and pedigree of top notch white collar professionals and the professionals who wear nice suits and name tags that say "floor manager" at MGM Grand.
They are a completely different breed...although I suspect one or two of these types may work in LV for a casino.
Look at the bios of the attorneys of the best firms in Vegas and compare that to a good firm in DC or LA. Or the bios of the execs of the tech firms in silicon valley or austin and compare them with something comparable in Vegas.
Compare the bios of the senior management at the largest Casino in the state with the bios of say a hedge fund in Chicago.
I am not saying that people who work in the kitchen that speak Espanol are not smart or whatever. I think some strippers have off the chat emotional IQ.
Telling people they are dumb is always a hard prospect. i remember being in Afghanistan and this dude who lived in mud hut said he was "very modern and liberal" in dari. he believed this and to attempt to convince him otherwise was futile.
if I posted a chart that asserted that the IQs of Nevadans were among the lowest quintile in the US what would you retort?....it's really not in the lowest quintile (44/50), large numbers of immigrants who don't speak english, mean is a more accurate depiction, yea, yea, yea, but it's still 44/50...
if I posted a chart that asserted that the IQs of Nevadans were among the lowest quintile in the US what would you retort?....it's really not in the lowest quintile (44/50), large numbers of immigrants who don't speak english, mean is a more accurate depiction, yea, yea, yea, but it's still 44/50...
You do realize the severe limitations of standardized IQ tests in gauging anything other than the test taking ability of the individual being tested?
IQ tests are little more than a barometer for the self aggrandizing to feel intellectually superior to those around them. There are so many other factors to consider. Let's say you have a group of individuals all with IQ's over 150 - but not one of them has any motivation to do anything. Or the personal or motivational skills to entice anyone around them to get anything done.
Here's a great example of a bunch of geniuses of impeccable "intellectual caliber" and "breeding" getting together and working on a common goal: Long Term Capital Management
They managed to cause the greatest economic meltdown in the history of this country.
I was born and raised in the 3rd ranking state in the link you posted. I've taken every standardized test out there and scored much, much higher than the average listed for VT. When I crossed the border and became a resident of Las Vegas last year did my "IQ" suddenly take a huge hit? The more time you spend taking these tests and the more time you spend around the over educated idiots who covet these test scored the more you realize how little they really mean.
As for the numbers listed in the link you posted who were the individuals tested? How many individuals were tested? How was the sampling of individuals tested assembled? Perhaps I missed it but I did not see sources posted anywhere on the website. Without sources the data is meaningless. Even with sources the data can be skewed to portray just about any outcome one wishes to portray.
if I posted a chart that asserted that the IQs of Nevadans were among the lowest quintile in the US what would you retort?....it's really not in the lowest quintile (44/50), large numbers of immigrants who don't speak english, mean is a more accurate depiction, yea, yea, yea, but it's still 44/50...
I don't buy into IQ tests at all. They measure pattern recognition, mostly. And even a high IQ is no guarantee of success in life. Google "William James Sidis" as a good example. Frankly, if IQ was a measure of anything truly important, Mensa wouldn't be such a do-nothing group.
The problem is not statistical or urban. Your points are non-sequitar. You are comparing huge urban enclaves NY and LA, to the small/medium urban city of LV. A more apt comparison would be to compare the LV metro area (1.9m) to a similar sized metro area (Austin [1.7m], Charlotte [1.7], Orlando (2.1))
You then wish to cherry pick and gerrymander certain enclaves within LV (removing for low performers) and compare them writ large to huge urban areas like Los Angeles and New York.
Will you also allow for equitable gerrymandering?...say you toss out Naked City and I omit the schools in Spanish Harlem
there is nothing, nada, nothing equivalent to the Bronx School of Science (public) in NY in Las Vegas.
But this is not a valid comparison.
I agree that Vegas is should not try to diversify. It's not its shctick to do so. Vegas is a blue collar service orientated city based upon vice and lacks the capital, inclination, and ability to be anything else.
It has found its niche and should not stray from it.
You know not of what you speak.
The next two school districts larger than CCSD are Chicago IL and Miami - Dade County FL. The next two smaller are Broward County FL and Houston, TX . Austin is less than 1/3rd the size. Charlotte less than 1/2.
And that is where the problem lies. A large immigrant population adds to it. But that does not make the good schools bad. It simply leads to terrible bad schools. As a large district it does OK. I have run it against the big FL districts and it does fine. It does badly if run against the schools of the San Francisco Peninsula or of good New England. But again they avoid the big districts with their obvious problems.
And it is that comparison of a large and urban school district versus other states that makes Nevada look bad. If you compare city to city it does much better.
And as I said if you simply divide it into four districts....three around the periphery and one in the middle you would end up with two very strong districts, one adequate and one disaster.
Bronx High School of Science is irrelevant. The decision not to have a high end school pulling from the whole district is one that was clearly made. It divides the bright kids among many different schools. I can argue about whether it was right or not but it is a clear decision. And note that the Bronx Science is bad for its students unless they can get into the top 5% or so. There is a well established bias against Stuyvesant and Science students in many high end colleges.
The Vegas industry is tourism and that includes vice among a mess of other things. As far as I know vice is a significant economic factor in virtually all cities. Over the last years Vegas has likely invested more capital per capita into its endeavors than anywhere else...certainly of cities of similar size.
We do agree however it should stick to what it does well. To aspire to growth is reasonable but it should not stray toward the high tech area...just not a rational place for it to go.
My point has been made. More words will not enrich the situation.
My point has not not been refuted: As a whole, LVs do not value education, they are among the least educated in the US, they score very bad on standardized test scores designed to reflect intelligence, and there is very little high end professional work in the region.
Las Vegas has many positive--or at least appealing--qualities and is a one-of-a-kind place to have fun.
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