Toyota Reveals Limits of Great Southern Jobs Scam
Please note: The graduation statistics below are not accurate. Whether that is because of state reporting or the fault of the author of the report is unknown. I have found a website that reports that states do not report accurate graduation statistics….they in fact fudge them. Here is a link to more information from the Education Trust. How States Play the Numbers
Southern states have been known to pay out huge amounts of money to corporations to lure them to their state. North Carolina gave Dell $280 million in tax breaks and incentives. But, maybe these states should be investing money in educating their populace. How embarrassing that Toyota found workers in Alabama to be so uneducated, (some even illiterate) that it just wasn’t cost effective to train employees in spite of huge monetary incentives from the state.
THIS is why Obama is pushing for funds for education. The United States cannot be a leader in anything if it’s citizenship is uneducated. As a southerner I have witnessed first hand the poor education system in areas of VA and lack of incentive for people to go to college.
Percent of People Who Have Completed High School (Including Equivalency) (most recent) by state
The list at the above link includes the District of Columbia. Guess which state is at the bottom of the list? Mississippi. Here are states ranking 45 – 51:
#45 Arkansas: 80.2 %
#46 Louisiana: 79.9 %
#47 Alabama: 79.5 %
#48 West Virginia: 79.4 %
#49 Texas: 78.7 %
#50 Kentucky: 77.6 %
#51 Mississippi: 77.3 %
That’s atrocious. What is it about the south that education is not valued as highly as it is in other parts of the country? But the country as a whole isn’t doing all that well. The national graduation rate is 68 percent, with nearly one-third of all public high school students failing to graduate.¹ I don’t even know what to say about that statistic – I find it incomprehensible.
Last month, Toyota made a decision that didn’t get a lot of press, but sent ripples of concern through state houses across the South.
The Japanese auto giant announced that it was going to bypass offers of hundreds of millions of dollars in “recruitment incentives” (corporate subsidies) from several Southern states, and would instead set up shop in Ontario, Canada, which was offering much fewer give-aways.
The decision to head north was an embarassment for Southern states eagerly competing to lure Toyota, on several levels. Not only did they lose a trophy job-creator for their state. But the reason Toyota gave for the move was especially damning:
[snip]
He said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained – and often illiterate – workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use “pictorials” to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.
March 21st, 2009 at 4:16 am
I went to source for graduation rates. I had always heard Alaska was ranked poorly. That chart shows it at top of list?
Another online source says:
67.60% of all students graduate from Alaska’s high schools
http://www.realizethedream.org/reports/states/alaska.html
Interesting article though. Yet, it’s the Sourthern States that are refusing the stimulous money. And, Alaska is also refusing the money earmarked for Education specifically.
Sage Reply:
March 21st, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Thanks for that link. I had trouble finding a good chart with the information I was seeking and I unfortunately accepted the information I found. I should have checked when it seemed odd to me that Alaska would be number one.
March 21st, 2009 at 5:59 am
Show-Watcher beat me to the point…these are the states refusing stimulus money. As a southerner (SC), this makes me a little sad.
Sage Reply:
March 21st, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Yes it is the southern states for the most part rejecting the education money.
March 21st, 2009 at 8:58 am
It’s also not just the fact of if they did or did not graduate. It’s the quality. Right now our kids are taught to take a test. Critical thinking is on the back burner. My daughter is a special ed teacher working with cognitively disabled high school kids. This allows her some elbow room in how the kids are taught and able to adjust according to their needs and abilities. Some of those kids read better and faster with understanding than some of the so called normal population. As one of her kids told their local reporters, they learn at different speeds and in different ways. Kids are not created from cookie cutters.
Allowing some flexability to adjust methods good teachers need to work with kids. This is why the chartered and montessori schools are sucessful. They focus on the talents and abilities of the student and don’t cut them off when something holds their interest because it’s mandatory to move on to the next subject block. All is covered but they don’t stand in the way of self discovery when it happens.
Wizcon Reply:
March 21st, 2009 at 11:43 am
This is uncanny. Ocver 2 hrs ago I wrote the above and just found this.
http://encarta.degreesandtraining.com/articles.jsp?article=featured_do_grades_matter>1=27001
March 21st, 2009 at 9:52 am
as a side ntoe, i always have thought that the states should do the incentives like ROTC does: you get 4 years free, but then need to stay here for another four years at full power
something like that
Wizcon Reply:
March 21st, 2009 at 11:46 am
They have something like that for teachers…or did. loans forgiven for committment to teach in that state for x number of years. Years ago Austarilia had a shortage of teachers and actively recruited with incentives like paying off loans for a committment and paying the cost of moving. One of my college freinds took advantage of this and is still there 35 yrs later.
barga Reply:
March 21st, 2009 at 5:00 pm
they are doing it for state workers in ohio, am planning on signing up for that