Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011 | 2 a.m.
Confession: I find it hard to be optimistic about the state’s future.
So, my pessimism imbued, when I see phrases such as “Nevada stands at a crossroads,” I think not of Clapton but Clicheville, and I want to take a detour as quickly as possible.
I readily acknowledge this skeptical predisposition as I confronted the 178-page Brookings Institution’s report on Nevada and economic development, an “intense five-month inquiry” that begins at that well-trampled crossroads and trudges over familiar yet annoying ground about unleashing potential, engaging globally and catalyzing growth.
And then I read it.
Beyond some cringe-inducing Pollyannaspeak, this report synthesizes the problems confronting our backward state and produces more startling data than any previous document I have seen. Excuse my brief sojourn in Clicheville, but it truly is a wake-up call.
The report soars above the usual binary thinking our faux leaders have afflicted us with — to tax or to cut — and exposes in a professional, scholarly and thoughtful way what too many have hid from for too long: Nevada has unlimited potential but is hindered by its lack of investment in higher education and lack of performance in lower education.
The study praises changes already put in place by Gov. Brian Sandoval — centralizing the economic development infrastructure in his office and regionalizing the approach that will be directed by his exceptional choice as czar, Steve Hill. Fine.
But the real jewels encased in the report are the stark statistics and unvarnished language in the rhetorical suburbs of Clicheville. To wit:
• “The weaknesses of Nevada’s workforce are closely associated with Nevada’s relatively low — and falling, based on the biennial 2012-2013 budget — levels of spending on higher education compared to peer states … With $558.9 million of state funding for higher education in fiscal year 2010-2011, Nevada provided the lowest amount of public support for higher education among states of a similar size (2-3 million people), and it ranked 35th among all 50 states for its level of state higher education funding on a per-capita basis ($211.44). ”
How low can it go? Nevada spends 0.44 percent of its gross state product on higher education compared with 0.88 percent in Arkansas and 0.96 percent in Mississippi, the study found. Oh to be the Mississippi of the West in this metric.
Message: It is about money, to some extent.
• “To be competitive in a knowledge-based global economy, workers are increasingly required to be skilled in critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, and scientific thinking. In particular, proficiency and education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are important prerequisites to enter many well-paid, high-growth occupations and industries. Increasing the entry of STEM students into higher education requires a solid grounding in STEM concepts and basic STEM skills during the K-12 years. In this respect, Nevada’s challenges in graduating STEM students from its institutions of higher education are directly connected to challenges further up the pipeline. Eighth-grade math scores for higher income students in Nevada are lower than for any other state except Hawaii and Washington, D.C.”
It’s about accountability and reform, some of which has begun in Nevada.
Message: It’s not always about money.
• “The state’s lack of sector diversity is not unrelated to the shortcomings of its current innovation system. Nevada lags other states and the nation on every indicator of innovation and R&D (research and development) activity included in this study. The state’s lagging innovation activity is intertwined with the dominance and the nature of its core industries, which do not typically attain competitive advantage through R&D investments.”
Anyone ever hear about our over-reliance on one industry and our lack of imagination? Don’t get me started on the gaming industry’s passive-aggressive opposition to any economic diversification that might dilute its economic and political clout.
Message: Research and develop, stupid.
There is so much more in the report —
found here — and it is well worth the read.
I was fascinated by the identification of seven sectors to target, including some usual suspects such as “clean energy,” which, of course, is a no-brainer in theory but not in implementation. I also was chagrined — but not surprised — to read how favorably diversification in the North compares with the South, “one of the least economically diverse major metropolitan areas in the country.”
But as impressed as I was at the substantive content, I finished with a depressing sense of déjà vu. We have been here before, lamenting the opportunity undercut by myopia, the bright future darkened by dim bulbs. I wonder if, unlike other much-admired studies of Nevada and its economic challenges, this one, too, will be praised and then shelved. Reading is one thing; doing is another.
Confession: I’ll be optimistic about this state’s future when we stop manufacturing plans and start manufacturing leaders.
Mostly nonsense.
How much you spend on higher educationa as a percentage of gross domestic product is meaningless. On a per capita basis is also less than helpful.
http://www.thewesternwrangler.com/2011/0...
http://www.thewesternwrangler.com/2011/0...
Nevada's higher education spending per pupil is ABOVE AVERAGE:
http://www.deltacostproject.org/resource...
The only thing this report concludes is,
"be like everyone else"
its exactly the type of thinking that got us into this recession to begin with - spend money on big ego projects without regard to actual results... just do what everyone else is doing...
Patrick, once more you post without disclosing that you are employed by NPRI. What is wrong with being like everybody else when it comes to providing a quality education to our citizens, when it come to providing a place where business can move to and find the workers and services needed to be successful?
Spot ON Jon! I share in the cynical view - and it begins with wondering if we will even have enough water in ten years?
As for leadership - NevaDUH lacks dearly - sadly!
Again, Patrick Gibbons fails to properly identify himself as being EMPLOYED by NPRI and proliferating their agenda.
The real problem since its statehood has been and continues to be LEADERSHIP. When there are politicians who accept campaign support from mining and gaming, WHO do you think they are going to favor??? Hopefully this will end as the Old Guard dies out here in Nevada. That is our only hope.
Jon pinned this study and the problem down, "Confession: I'll be optimistic about this state's future when we stop manufacturing plans and start manufacturing leaders."
Nice work, Jon! Hope "they" are listening!
This article is a good read. Thanks.
I think it was Governor Nye, who, as he was inaugurated Governor of this backward state, said something like - "I was born in Ohio, but I shall die in Nevada." He left the driest state in the nation, long before he died in Ohio. Of all the places that should be liberal and progressive in terms of new 'lines of business' and education it's this one.
The history of the state would have the culture of the state bend that way. The rest of the country up until the 1980's always considered Nevada 'liberal'. Divorce, Gambling, Prostitution, the Mob - live and let live.
But our supposed political leaders have been gripped in the thrall of Pay For Play politics for so long, that we can't use the state's natural and cultural resources to escape the blindness of the next fiscal quarter.
As for me - I'll stay here for now, but I'm going to retire in a place that cares more for humans than cash. There is no leadership here. There is only the blind capitulation to the dictates of filthy lucre.
No accountability for politicians. We can't get information from politicians. KDWN radio is now the softball field for failed right wing politicians like Sandoval and Heck. They go there and face shoe stand "journalists" like Heidi Harris and Alan Stock.
Liberloonietoonians like PJG want stupid uneducated people so that will vote for political nut bars like Sharon Angle.
Star,
It would be helpful for everyone if you either A) thought for yourself or B) did your own research.... http://www.npri.org/about/npri-staff
Either way, who employs who is not a valid counter argument.
Patrick,
Why does it say on your blog that you work as the Education Policy Analyst for NPRI? I am assuming that this is your blog.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/178312773...