Thoughts to Ponder

Here are some thoughts that we are pondering at home while I fix dinner:

1. Using data from the Pratt, Kansas page at city-data.com , I calculate that the city of Pratt has a pool of about 110+/-15 unemployed workers for employers to draw from (assuming an overall worker pool of 3,300 and an unemployment rate of 3%). This is a really small pool and it explains why I keep hearing about local businesses being unable to find workers.


2. In a just-published report from Network Kansas--Town Hall Meetings Feedback Report June 2006--several themes were put forward. One that we felt was particularly important was "There needs to be a cultural "attitude adjustment" regarding youth staying and/or coming back to live in rural Kansas." According to the report: "There was consensus across town hall meetings concerning two points. 1: At some point, if the opportunity arises, children will or do consider returning to their hometown to work and live; and 2: Communities should consider ways to recruit workers and entrepreneurs who previously lived in the area because they are more likely to stay once they return." These two points reinforce the idea that small rural towns in general, and Pratt in particular, need to make an effort to recruit our youth to return home. How about a new promotional campaign, “Come home to Pratt, we’ll live the porch light burnin’”


3. In the same report another theme put forward was: "Communities find it difficult to find employees who have the proper technical training and, in some cases, have that good old fashioned work ethic." According to the report: "The discussion regarding work ethic centered on societal issues. There was a sense that there was not a lot that could be done by organizations to stem this problem..." I have heard the "lack of work ethic" idea put forward by several business people here in town, so the perception does exist. I wonder, though, if part of the problem is due to the miniscule available labor pool (see point 1, above.)


4. Again, using data from the Pratt, Kansas page at city-data.com, I calculate that the city would need to build from 700 to 1000 new domiciles between now and 2010 to house the 2,600 new souls that would need to move here to get our population up to 10,000. To get to these numbers would require from 3.85 to 5.49 housing units be built per week. That is a lot of homes or a really big apartment complex.

What do you think?

Tags: rural, town meeting, kansas

Hearth and Home

Last night I had an interesting discussion with the wife about how the trend of outmigration [1] [4] seen in many rural Midwest counties could be reversed by twenty-somethings having quarterlife crises [2][3]. We have come to the conclusion that the phenomenon of the quarterlife crisis may actually be a mechanism for reversing the outmigration trend—a problem fixes a problem. What an interesting thought.

Outmigration
The National Association of Counties Fact Sheet on the New Homestead Act of 2003 describes the outmigration problem facing rural counties in the US [4]:

“Outmigration poses a significant threat to rural counties across the United
States. This problem is particularly acute in the nation’s heartland-from the Dakotas to North Texas, and from the Rocky Mountains to the mouth of the Missouri River-where nearly 70 percent of rural counties on the Great Plains have seen their population shrink by an average of one third.”

“The downward cycle of outmigration is a slow devolutionary process that begins with decreasing job opportunities in rural communities. With dim prospects for work, skilled professionals
and youth flee to prosperous metropolitan areas. Following their departure, birth rates begin to decline to the point where death rates exceed them. With a smaller tax base and fewer customers, government services, civic organizations and businesses begin to contract or shut down. Everyday staples of life, such as churches, schools and businesses are affected. This cycle is complete when public investment decreases and skilled workers and young people are left with few job opportunities.”

Reference [1] details the flow of population in and out of counties throughout the continental United States.

Quarterlife Crisis
From her book “Conquering Your Quarterlife Crisis,” Alexandra Robbins describes the phenomenon of the quarterlife crisis [2]:

“Many of us in our 20s and 30s go through a period that leaves us feeling panicked or directionless. For some of us, the challenges of this time become so overwhelming that we may seriously second-guess our abilities, intensely question our lives, or crush our own self-esteem with our doubts.”

“Throughout our years in school, we had specific people to turn to for help and guidance: teachers, advisers, counselors, coaches, parents. But once we graduate and grapple with real-world issues, we don’t have someone readily available to tell us, “I’ve been there. Here’s how I got through it.” And because of the ever-widening generation gap, our parents’ experiences in many areas aren’t necessarily relevant anymore.”

Today’s twenty-somethings are ill-equipped for life. The scant eighteen years they had living at home is not nearly enough time to prepare for the real world—a world of the internet, virtual reality, 80 hour workweeks, cell phones, identity theft, a war, terror, and most importantly, uncertainty.

Synergy
So, we have towns that are drying up due to the out-flowing of their youth and youth that find that they may have left the nest way too early. The solution seems simple enough: invite the kids back into the nest. There needs to be a concerted effort by small, rural, outmigration-plagued towns to bring back the prodigal youth. This needs to be done both on a family level and a community level.

The returning youth bring with them knowledge, experience and a new set of viewpoints developed during their time elsewhere. Many will bring families which will further refill the population. They will become reestablished in their hometowns which in turn will grow the employee base. Some of these youth will build new businesses and revitalize established ones. The town gains on many levels.

For those who are suffering a quarterlife crisis, the benefits are obvious. Living with the parents will allow them breathing space to pay bills and re-evaluate life. For many there is a feeling of safety associated with being with the family and in familiar surroundings.

Now this won’t work with everyone or in every situation, but the idea deserves consideration. Our daughter lives with us and I think that we, her and us, have all benefited from her return. Families in small towns, and the small towns themselves, need to explore ways to bring back their youth, especially ones suffering from a quarterlife crisis. It may be one of those all too rare win-win situations.

References
1. Johnson, Kenneth, “Demographic Trends in Rural and Small Town America,” Reports on Rural America, Carsey Institute, University of New Hampshire, Volume 1 Number 1, 2006
2. Robbins, Alexandra, “Conquering Your Quarterlife Crisis,” Sample chapter on website.
3. Robbins, Alexandra, “Quarterlife Crisis statistics,” Sample data on website.
4. National Association of Counties, “New Homestead Act of 2003 Fact Sheet”

Tags: rural, outmigration, quarterlife crisis

Matrix Ping Pong

I saw this clip years ago at the height of the Matrix movie craze. It is from a Japanese game show and it shows a number of people manually recreating the Timetrack visual effect that was developed by Digital Air. It is a fine example of life imitating art.



Enjoy

Don't Publish Rubbish!

LuLu.com, brainchild of Bob Young, co-founder of Red Hat, is a book printing site that allows you to upload your work and print it for no up-front fee—you only pay when a book is ordered. I think that this is a great idea and a boon for any would-be author. Just think: no more having to buy and store 2000 copies of your book in the hope of selling them.

The problem with this route, though, is that all of the jobs of the publisher now falls on the author—proofreading, editing, cover art, interior design and typography—and many authors seem to overlook many or all of these important tasks. I can’t begin to count the number of self-published books that I have seen that were filled with typographic errors, grammatical goofs, and headache-inducing typesetting.

It never ceases to amaze me that people will spend years writing a book only to spend days putting it together for printing. I think I will gag if I hear one more author-wannabe saying that the structure isn’t important as long as the story is good. This is either laziness on the part of the author or a genuine lack of understanding of what needs to be done to properly publish a book. If it takes an author two years to write a book, shouldn’t they either take the time to learn the business and prepare their work for publishing, or spend the money to hire people to do it for them? In my book(pun intended!) that is time and money well spent.

Tags: rant, publishing

Victim of Technology-Not!

In the Western Front section of the June 3rd edition of the Hutchinson News, Jim Snyder wrote a piece titled “Victim of technology” where he puts forward the idea that

“The preponderance of the problems we have in the United States are rooted in the fact that we have embraced technology and ignored the old, tried and proven KISS principle - Keep It Simple Stupid - which is the empirical principle that most systems will work best if they are kept simple rather than made complex.”

Complexity and technology are not synonymous. According to the The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, technology, by definition, is

“The application of science, especially to industrial or commercial objectives.”

Science and engineering come up with new facts and ideas about the world around us. Technology takes those ideas and creates physical tools that can be used to perform tasks. Our problems lie with how we use those tools to perform those tasks, not with the tools themselves.

Mr. Snyder goes on:

“Prime examples of all this are our high-tech automobiles that require computers and technicians to isolate and repair problems that in the past those with average mechanical ability could fix with a pair of pliers and some bailing wire.”

I remember fixing cars when I was younger and there were a lot of jobs that required wrenches, screwdrivers, spanners, feeler gauges and timing lights. Even the earliest cars required the use of precision tools to fabricate parts and more specialized tools to assemble and fix them. My point is that technology can be a stick used to pull termites from a hill or a Space Shuttle, both of which can be used and misused.

I have to agree with Mr. Snyder that we have made many things seemingly too complex. As Scotty said in Star Trek III – The Search for Spock: “The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.” The problem, though, lies with the user, not the tools.

Tags: rant, technology

Make Mexico the 51st State

In the Western Front section of the June 3rd edition of The Hutchinson News, John Start asked the question “What are the objections to adopting Mexico as the 51st state of our United States?” I can’t think of any. In fact, my wife and I think that this is the greatest idea since the invention of sliced bread.

Think about how much money we spend yearly on the Border Patrol, fences and enforcement of our immigration policies--$billions. If we made Mexico a state of the Union, we would save that money while incresing our tax base, and we would have one less haven for U.S. criminals to flock to. We could treat Mexico like we treat any other state.

Mexico wins as well: all of the Mexican people would have the freedoms, privileges and responsibilities associated with being a citizen of the U.S. They would have to pay taxes, they would have to be paid minimum wage, they could vote, they can worry about the economy, and worry about jobs. Their schools would have to meet the same standards as ours do today. Mexican factories would have to follow the same safety and ecological requirements that US business do today. Thus all Mexican people, not just those willing to move to the US, would benefits from cleaner air, safer working places and better schools.

Yes, it would be tough to do, and I’m sure there would be some cost up-front, but the long-term benefits would be well worth the trouble. In the long run we would probably actually save money if you look at the time and effort currently being expended on discussing immigration and border issues rather than dealing with other national problems.

After annexing Mexico and making it a state, the next big question would be who is next? Canada? Cuba? I like the idea of Cuba being next. Lots of people from Cuba want to come here to work and make a better life, so why don’t we do it for all Cubans? Make Cuba the 52nd state.

I like it: World peace through U.S. statehood. An idea that is way past due.

Tags: rant, immigration

Reading for Your Mind

Reading for Your Mind’s Health

There is an ongoing discussion as to whether people are reading less today than say 10 years ago. The idea is that aliteracy (being able to read, but choosing not to) in America is on the rise as more and more citizens choose to spend their leisure time doing things other then reading. Just Google “aliteracy” and you will find thousands of sites that discuss the problem.
Today’s blog, though, is not about aliteracy. Instead, it is about the mental side-effects of not reading. According to an article (which my wife found while doing her morning read of the online news sources) on MSN Encarta  about “What Effect Reading Has on Our Minds” by Martha Brockenbrough, “Reading makes you smarter, and the more reading you do, the better.” So, by electing not to read, a person chooses not to benefit from these positive effects of reading.  Thus, by not teaching our students to effectively read we are putting them at a disadvantage when they compete against those who can and do read.

I asked in a previous blog: what basic skills do we need to teach our children? It is obvious that reading and the skills needed to enjoy reading should definitely make the list.

Tags: education, reading