The 10 dumbest states in America

[BayBuck]

So a bachelor's degree = intelligence? And New Jersey is the 5th smartest state in the US?

Speaking of correlations between degrees and blue states, might it be surmised that there really is a liberal bias in American higher education?

And when it comes to household incomes and cost of living in these "smart" and "dumb" states, which is the chicken and which the egg?

FWIW that site also has ARK-KY-WV as the 2-3-4th "least drunk" states, so you know what they say about stats.

 

[NJ-Buckeye]

Consider that Jersey is huge in both Financial Services and the pharma industries... and both of those sectors are going to be loaded with degrees and especially advanced degrees. My town is dominated by pharma... and it is not unusual for both parents (asians) to have their PhD... I was actually expecting Jersey to be in the top 3..

I was coaching 7th grade rec basketball years back.. and my star forward missed a game because he was taking the SAT... he took PSAT year before

 

[buckeyebri]

Actually, Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail explained why Indiana has always been something of an odd man out among Great Lakes states. All of the Great Lakes states, except Indiana, were settled and homesteaded by an East>West migration from the Northeast. Indiana was settled and homesteaded predominately from the deep South, particularly Georgia and S. Carolina. It's amazing how over a century and a half later that influence is still so pronounced.

I wondered why all of the folks around here talked like a bunch of hickish rednecks...

 

[Jagdaddy]

Consider that Jersey is huge in both Financial Services and the pharma industries... and both of those sectors are going to be loaded with degrees and especially advanced degrees. My town is dominated by pharma... and it is not unusual for both parents (asians) to have their PhD... I was actually expecting Jersey to be in the top 3..

I was coaching 7th grade rec basketball years back.. and my star forward missed a game because he was taking the SAT... he took PSAT year before

Lots of food scientists too.

 

[Jagdaddy]

Here's my oversimplification of things: Everything is on a bell curve and there's lots of "smart" and "dumb" everywhere. The larger problem is one of nearly universal narcissistic and/or oblivious bias whereby we tend to think that those who are "like us" are "smart" and those who aren't are "dumb". This natural tendency is exacerbated by having a political system run by two parties and an informational system run by mass media, bloggers, talking heads . . . that actively promote, and in the short-term profit from, rather than discourage, this kind of bias.

We're all "dumb" in one way or another (E.g., I've got three degrees but no natural intuition whatsoever for assembling things that need to be assembled like floor lamps, gas grills . . .: Fortunately, my smart side recognizes this weakness and can generally assemble stuff by using full "mise en place" with all parts, reading the directions twice before I start, and checking them often as I go along. It probably takes me 2-3 times as long to get the job done as it does for someone who can open the box, look at the parts, and know what to do, but c'est la vie.) Most of us are also probably "smart" in some way too. I believe that we'd all be better off (and I'll concede that this is my bias because I'm naturally introspective and fairly unemotional) if folks spent a bit more time figuring out what their natural strengths and weaknesses (or "smart" and "dumb" areas are), focusing on maximizing the former and making reasonable accommodations for the latter, and considering that others' "smart" and "dumb" areas aren't the same as their own.

"Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity" and never attribute to stupidity what can be attributed to circumstantial or experiential differences.

 

[buckeyegrad]

The larger problem is one of nearly universal narcissistic and/or oblivious bias whereby we tend to think that those who are "like us" are "smart" and those who aren't are "dumb". This natural tendency is exacerbated by having a political system run by two parties and an informational system run by mass media, bloggers, talking heads . . . that actively promote, and in the short-term profit from, rather than discourage, this kind of bias.

Agree with everything you have said. But what makes it worse, especially when politics comes into play, is that there is a very strong tendency to de-humanize those with different views than our own. Rather than engaging in a productive conversation, the practice is to call the other side "dumb" or "backwards", and therefore not worthy of engagement.