This is interesting Best Schools are Blue States - Worst - Red States

[liberal N proud]

Top five best states for schools:
5. Vermont
4. New Hampshire
3. New Jersey
2. Maryland
1. Massachusetts


Five worst states for schools:
5. Alabama
4. West Virginia
3. New Mexico
2. Louisiana
1. Mississippi


Source:
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/01/14/states-with-the-best-and-worst-schools-2/

Why is that?

[alarimer]

1. Seems pretty obvious to me.

Low funding for education (emphasis on low taxes generally)
Disdain for educators and the system generally
Prefer people to remain ignorant so that they do not exercise their critical thinking skills and realize Republicans are bad for, well, everything.

[liberal N proud]

2. The why was kind of rhetorical

wasn't it?

[JoeyT]

3. That's not exactly shocking, though.

I went to high school in Alabama, and we spent far more on sports than books or computers.

One year the school was trying to figure out how they could possibly pay for books they blew millions on a new stadium. This was a small city school, with less than five hundred kids in the school system from K-12. We hadn't even made the playoffs in a decade. The solution was to make the kids fund raise for books. (While going into massive debt for the stadium, of course)

Even trying that hard we're slipping. We used to fight for Mississippi for 1st, now we're 5th. I guess we're going to just have to have a state-wide book burning, or something.

I'm guessing Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, and Massachusetts don't have a bunch of fundamentalists screaming at them every time they mention the "e" word, or the "s" word, or the "l" word, or the "c-w" words, or the other "s" word, one more "s" word, or the "r" word. (Evolution, sex, labor, civil war, slavery, segregation, racism.) They probably also lack a bunch of right wing dipshits that think laissez-faire should be omitted from history.

Edited to add: Ok, so I'm not just beating on the South, I'm going to add poverty to the list. Poverty plays a big part. The bottom list is some of the poorest states in the country, and what little wealth there is is completely concentrated in the hands of a few.

[cyberswede]

4. *sigh* My state used to be #1...then the Republicans took over.

[AnneD]

5. As someone in education for 25 yrs....

I am not surprised. Here in Texas, they are destroying education. Thank you Rick 'the Dick' Perry.