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Nevada JobConnect on Maryland Parkway in Las Vegas. A new report finds that economic recovery in Las Vegas is hampered by a lack of educated workers and reliance on industries most vulnerable to the recession.
Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011 | 9:01 p.m.
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Las Vegas’ attempt to turn the corner on the recession has been made more difficult by a lack of educated workers coupled with reliance on industries most vulnerable to the recession.
That’s what can be drawn from a report issued by the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. Brookings found that cities with the lowest unemployment rates tended to be those that have enough educated workers to fill available jobs along with industries that are either growing or more resistant to recession.
The report, co-authored by Brookings senior research analyst Jonathan Rothwell and think tank fellow and Research Director Alan Berube, grouped the nation’s 100 largest metro areas into four categories based on jobs and education data from December 2007 through December 2009. The Washington/Arlington/Alexandria metro area emerged on top with the healthiest mix of educated workers and industries most resilient to the recession. Other cities lower on the list either have a well-educated workforce and vulnerable industries or resilient businesses but less-educated workers.
Then there is Las Vegas, which tied for 84th and was mired in the bottom tier, along with cities such as Los Angeles; Riverside, Calif.; Phoenix; Detroit; Houston; and Dallas that have too few educated workers and too many vulnerable employers.
“These metro areas are not well positioned to recover unless national demand for what their industries produce rebounds significantly, and they may have to diversify into faster growing industries like health care, professional services and clean energy,” the authors wrote. “Moreover, regardless of national industry demand, above-average unemployment rates will tend to persist until they can either boost educational attainment or stimulate greater employer demand for less educated workers.”
Brookings reported that in 2007, 27 percent of Las Vegas’ workforce was concentrated in two “extremely fragile” industries: hotel accommodation and construction. Both industries were pummeled by the recession, leaving Las Vegas with double-digit unemployment and record foreclosure rates.
Of the nation’s top metros, only Riverside, Modesto and Stockton, Calif., had greater increases in their unemployment rate than Las Vegas from pre-recession lows through May. As of July, unemployment in Las Vegas was 14 percent, compared with 9.1 percent nationally.
The think tank ranked Las Vegas 55th in its ability to fill jobs with workers who possess the requisite education, an average score that Rothwell attributed to the fact that most jobs in the resort and construction industries don’t require advanced degrees. What dragged Las Vegas down in the study was the ability — or inability — of its key industries to create jobs. Those industries not only lost jobs during the recession but lost a higher percentage of them than was true nationally. The city ranked 94th in that category.
Brookings calculated that Las Vegas lost 38,140 construction jobs from the beginning of the recession in December 2007 through 2009. Building construction jobs fell 41 percent in Las Vegas versus 30.6 percent nationally; heavy construction and civil engineering jobs dropped by 35 percent locally compared with 17.6 percent nationwide, and jobs for specialty trade contractors declined by 36 percent versus 28.5 percent nationally.
The think tank also found that Las Vegas lost 17,000 resort industry jobs for a 9 percent decline, compared with a 5.8 percent drop nationwide.
“Las Vegas is a fascinating place because, before the recession, it enjoyed low unemployment and rapid job growth despite having a fairly less educated population,” Rothwell said. “But with the recession, it saw a sudden drop in demand for construction and tourism, which created a crisis in the metro area.”
Although not optimistic that Las Vegas will see its bad times reversed anytime soon, Rothwell said the metro area could try to offer more economic incentives, such as property tax breaks, to lure new businesses. He also recommended that the tourism industry step up advertising overseas to attract customers while the U.S. economy stalls. And he said the state should explore job training programs such as one in Louisiana, where the state pays to train a worker as long as a company guarantees a job for that individual.
Some economic problems are out of Las Vegas’ control, said Jeremy Aguero, a principal of the economic analysis firm Applied Analysis. He cited construction as an example because it relies on factors such as population growth and increasing demand for commercial buildings because of expansion of sales and manufacturing.
But Aguero said that in the push for economic diversification, Las Vegas shouldn’t ignore the tourism industry, which has shown that it can diversify on its own. The Ultimate Fighting Championship, a sport based in Las Vegas that has enjoyed enormous growth in recent years, is an example of how tourism can expand its reach, he said.
Aguero also stressed the need to support education as a way to strengthen the valley’s economy.
“There is no question that our education system in Southern Nevada is failing because of high dropout rates and low test scores,” Aguero said. “Southern Nevada students are falling behind, which will make them less marketable and means there will be fewer entrepreneurs.”
Part 1
Let's get real about where the problem with "lack of education" starts: In the Clark County School District.
I'm now dealing with women aged 25 to 31 who are unemployed and who don't have high school diplomas. All of them are fairly intelligent, and were formerly employees of "call centers" which several years ago were touted as diversification of Las Vegas' employment base. All of the women worked for call centers which are now closed.
The not-unique story each of them tells is that when they were in high school here in Las Vegas and Henderson, and they had family problems like parental suicide, parental drunkenness, parental nervous break down, the Clark County School District provided them no compassion, no slack, no help at all. Instead the Clark County School District simply expelled them for missing too many days of school, uniformly because these women (then girls) were dealing with their families' problems.
Then, there's the "lost boy" who lives in the garage of a distant relative. I met him in 2006, when he told me he was expelled from Canarelli Middle School in 2005 for missing too many days of school. His explanation was that he had to work a job in the evening to earn his living expenses because both of his parents have bugged out. He lived far away from the school bus stop, and when he would oversleep due to exhaustion there was no public bus service and it was way too far to walk to school. The CCSD didn't even bother to look for this kid, even though by my calculation he was expelled from Canarelli when he was 13 or 14 years old. (I called Canarelli's Principal about him, was shuffled off to an Assistant Principal, and she just blew me off.) We saw the lost boy at Smith's recently. He's now about 20 years old, unemployed, still living in the garage, still doesn't have any way to get around because there's no bus service in the far southwest of the valley. Realistically, he too has no hope of getting a job.
Then there's Sierra Vista High School. Count the number of black young men entering as Freshmen and count the number of black young men graduating: Less than 40%. It sure looks like CCSD doesn't care about that statistic.
What did that article say the other day? That 9% of our community college students actually graduate? Sure, some go off to UNLV or UNR. So what's that get the totals up to? I doubt it's 20%. The problem is the Clark County School District, which is besieged with students who have no motivation from their minimum wage parents, new ESL arrivals from wherever, and pregnant mothers and missing fathers. Wonder what their actual graduation rates are, too. Welcome to the armpit of the West.
I don't think there's an answer. Just more of the samo-samo.
Part 2
The Clark County School District has been failing its students for 14 years, based on what the 31 year olds tell me. Maybe they've been failing their students even longer.
Instead of addressing the problems of its students, the Clark County School District just turns a blind eye, and then to make it even worse, institutes a diploma requirement that students pass Algebra 1 and Algebra 2, which is an elitist requirement totally unrelated to preparing high school students for the work force in the jobs Las Vegas presents.
I remember getting something like an 94% or 96% on my high school Algebra 2 exam. What did I do with Algebra 2 after high school? Nothing. How much money did I make after high school? Far more than the jackals employed by the CCSD running the executive policy making offices and the math curriculum...proving the point that elitism on CCSD's part does not insure success but it does insure failure.
So what, exactly, is the point of the Algebra 2 requirement, other than to establish an elitist public school system which dumps out as many high school students as it possibly can, before their graduations? The obvious goal is to cut the number of high school students, in order to maximize available funds and minimize the percentage of students who cannot pass the high school exit exams. If these students just disappear, like the lost boy living in the garage, the Clark County School District looks like it is doing its job.
The Clark County School District is an abject failure in successfully completing the education of a huge percentage of the students. The Brookings Institution has obviously figured that out.
Count the number of students in 5th grade this year. Count the number of students in 12th grade this year. You'll get an idea of how many students the clever bureaucrats at the CCSD make disappear. The problem, of course, is that the "disappeared" students end up unsuccessfully trying to enter the work force, or end up on food stamps or end up in Nevada's jails. Oh well, not CCSD's problem. That attitude on the part of CCSD is one of Clark County's principal problems as an employment center.
No matter how good the new Superintendent's intentions, he's just one man struggling against an entrenched, lazy, indifferent machine. I'm sure he'll bail out in less than 4 years like all the others.
This is nothing new. I didn't need the Brookings institute to tell me this.
Same for the dolts telling me hiring will come back. I'll tell you the facts:
Companies have discovered a very ingenious way to increase profits. Use less employees who are given more responsibility, more hours, less pay, less benefits. They don't quit or leave for fear of not finding something else nor do they jump ship for another company and become "low man on the totem pole" if layoffs happen.
Companies will NOT be hiring the 20 million out of work. No ifs ands or buts. They will grow their businesses thru new technology, automation, further cuts in expenses and overseas employment at a fraction of the cost. They might also look for mergers or acquisitions. Hiring will not happen. Bernancke said 2 years that we would see hiring towards the end of 2009. I see no one holds him accountable to that dreadful prediction
CynicalObserver. I'm sure there are many that fall thru the education "cracks" as you cited. There are multiple times more dropping out who don't care about their education, their parents don't care or they simply don't try. Until the young kids and their parents get it thru their thick heads that the only way out of poverty is thru education, this cycle will continue. I'm sure a lot of kids miss school because of valid reasons but I'll guarantee there are thousands skipping "because they feel like it".
The mindset about education in this city is really sickening. FINISH HIGH SCHOOL, GO TO COLLEGE, GO TO TRADE SCHOOL. Do something to get yourself out of the dead end cycle of minimum wage employment. It comes from within and from the parents. If those 2 are missing, the CCSD is not going to be successful. I don't care how much money you throw at the system.
We are a Republican state...they do not care about the people. Diversification is a liberal word and they hate that. Nothing in this state is getting done because Las Vegas has become damn near an old west lawless environment. The 'powers that be' here, are like a bunch of retards are walking around with a stupid grin burnt into their fake plastic faces while they dole out special interest money, award lucrative contracts to family members and give the casinos anything they want. You know, Las Vegas!
The Clark County School District isn't the problem: it is a symptom of the problem. When parents and students start to care, educational rankings will go up. But not until then.
Separately, just waiting for the "Forget about diversification, get Vegas back to being Vegas" knuckle-draggers to show up. We're now seeing and living in the decay that *those* buffoons brought us.
Education does not just happen in schools. It begins at home -- solid family values, during pregnancy, at birth, the home environment. It is supported by the community and society. At five years old, when a child formally goes to school, the foundation must be there with all the necessary supports from both the family and society for schools to be successful. Any and all decisions should be predicated by "Is it good for the child?" and nothing else. These are the ideal conditions.
This is not the case in Las Vegas -- in fact most anywhere. I have been in this district for over twenty five years fighting the demons that bedevil children, but the fight is getting harder and harder each year. Conducting home visits have become scary; calling the home over and over with nary a call back have become an exercise of futility; letters don't even get answered; leaving a note on doors were a waste of time. We try to make the children's lives as easier as we can at school. We provide breakfast, a shoulder to cry on, a help with homework, and emotional support as much as our own meager resource can provide -- in addition to teaching. What more can a teacher do?
Unless everyone shoulders his share of the burden, the status quo is not going to change.
We need everyone's help.
I'm tired of people blaming the school district and teachers for racism and poverty.
It is not the school districts job to solve these centuries old crimes. America needs to really invest in eliminating discrimination and disenfranchisement if it wants to make a significant change. More and more people in America are becoming working poor or worse not working at all. I hardly think this is because schools have failed America. I would even suggest it would be much, much, much worse if public schools were dead.
To expect ANY teacher to make a real difference when faced with the laundry lists of societal problems that can influence a person's ability to learn - is asinine. I love my job. I love my students. I get to know them and I teach them to read. But every year I see more and more people getting more and more poor. The economy and lack of jobs created by our governor is affecting student learning. Families cannot eat.
To spew in a blog about how it's the district's fault that a group is unemployed because of lack of education? Where are the parents? Where is the community? Did the GOP care when they kept Nevada's education system funded at dead last for more than a decade? Where were you when that person started to fail, did you give them a hand up?
I would love to have the power to save everyone I meet. I try, sometimes too much. But I'm not Jesus. I don't walk on water. I cannot keep bigots from degrading children and their families. I cannot feed all the poor kids I know and their families. I cannot buy shoes and clothes for all the kids I know that need them. Our families are not having their basic needs met so they are failing school. And it's not surprising.
Where are the jobs the GOP promised to put Nevadans back to work? Where is Nevada's gold going . . . it's selling at record prices?
There are corporations and businesses and think tanks out there that are PAID full time to write in blogs like this about how terrible teachers and schools are, but I ask you this, what would our communities look like if there were no more public schools. Do we really need to read propaganda that has stemmed from ALEC and NPRI telling our communities that schools are evil and teachers are all criminals that steal money from tax payers? This hate against schools and teachers has got to stop.
We get it - you want to kill our public schools. But society's problems would be much, much, much worse than they currently are if only people who could afford school - went to school. If people can read, they can do it because of a public school and a teacher like me. Schools do still make an enormous difference. They can't do it all. You might need to take some initiative and help out yourself if you notice a concern. There are thousands that need help right now.
I'm tired of the hate. Someone needs to start saying something nice about teachers.
Here are the necessary steps in my view to improve Las Vegas:
1) Break up the dysfunctional CCSD into much smaller independent K-12 school districts (perhaps 10-15 districts) for local control and accountability. There's no reason for Mesquite to be in the same district as Laughlin.
2) All of the Las Vegas Valley needs to be within a city (either LV, NLV, Henderson, or incorporation of new cities) with more local city control and a weaker Clark County Government. Having over half of Las Vegas Valley being unincorporated leads to neglect and blight.
3) Economic diversity will happen once there are more higher education opportunities in Las Vegas. And that means reaching out to advocating the building of more private universities which can supplement the public higher education system. Perhaps a new Catholic University (similar to an University of San Diego), or a new BYU Campus, or a branch of the University of Southern Californa (USC) in Las Vegas.
4) And this goes without saying, Nevada needs an Arizona/Alabama/Georgia Style anti-illegal immigrant bill to enforce our current immigration laws and allow U.S. Citizens and legal immigrants the right to work, plus remove the incentives and government handouts given to illegals over the needs of Americans.
5) Better zoning to include more walkable communities and park space to help neighborhoods in Las Vegas have more curb appeal would be great. Plus there are more colors available than boring beige and brown for new homes...just sayin'
The districs' latest consultant announced CCSD could save a lot of money by unemploying the bus drivers and custodians and outsourcing the jobs, How many people will be unemployed through this cost saving measure?
CCSD can "outsource" the jobs to agencies who hire minimum wage employees who receive no health insurance benefits. Great idea!
Let's hire through agencies who work the bottom line. How many pedophiles and criminals will be working in our schools? How many workers with criminal records will slip though the vetting process? Outsourcing agencies aren't exactly hiring the educated to do the work, are they??
Another recommendation based on the lack of care for our students.
Las Vegas has the least educated work force because it NEEDS the least educated workforce.
High school diplomas aren't the golden key to an educated workforce. COLLEGE educated workers are the key.
Oh, yeah, we GUTTED the universities in this state over the past few years. We GUTTED the public education system in the last few years.
Yet we blame the district and the teachers when we refuse to provide the money to fund adequate education.
Let's talk about racism and poverty. Who are these unemployed, uneducated citizens?
Blacks and those of Hispanic descent.
Those who have filled the casino worforces on the buffet lines, cleaning rooms, gardening..
The state of Nevada is one of the worst funded all around.
We refuse to care for our most vulnerable, we refuse to fund our schools at decent levels, we refuse to make the investments needed and the cattle call here in Las Vegas?
Blame everyone and take no responsibility at the voting booth.
The state of Nevada believes in nothing more than the almighty dollar, the profit statement.
At some point the profit disappears when most people's purchasing power disappears.
Crime rises, cowboy police roam the streets and the strip becomes unsafe.
We are killing the goldon goose by squeezing those who care fot it.
Cynicalobserver:
I understand your frustration and I would like to suggest you redirect that advocacy to the right direction.
The schools are charged to teach children, first and foremost. Many blame us for accepting illegal immigrants. That is not our fault. Whoever comes to our doors, our responsibility is to educate them - legal or illegal. Blame INS.
We can not teach those who are not there. We do our part by calling, home visits, letters home, asking neighbors, send attendance officers. If we are unsuccessful, we report truancy. Social Services too are overwhelmed. Blame the parents.
Parents too are overwhelmed. They have to be out working - waiting by the phone. Casinos and businesses make them wait by the phone. Businesses schedule hours so that they do not have to pay benefits. Parents wait by the phone and work unholy hours - just to be able to work. Blame businesses? Their very purpose of being is to maximize returns!
Casinos use advertisements to lure gamblers. People get hooked - parents too. They leave children unsupervised. No one helps them with homework or no one is concerned with their attendance. Who do you blame? Casinos? It's their business. Parents? It's your call.
We cannot be INS, Social Services, Job providers, Parent Counselors, Social Conscience, etc. etc. To blame the schools for all these is a bit unfair, isn't it?
The chicken or the egg? The problem isn't a lack of education. The problem is a lack of jobs requiring an education. You can get any degree imaginable, but it doesn't mean that there's a job in Vegas waiting for you. If you have jobs for educated people open, the educated people will come to fill them. Not the other way around.
Well, duh. Let's hear it a few hundred more times without anything being done about it.
How about starting with making sure kids have the prerequisite skills for the classes in which they're placed? Half of my students - literally - come in non-proficient. What do you think their graduation chances are when they just keep being passed on without the skills necessary for the classes they're in?
Oh, but it's easier to blame teachers than to spend money on education or cut a bunch of extra non-classroom positions in the district in order to put money where it does more good.
Just listen to cynical observer, who seems to do more judging than observing. Blame the CCSD, because the students themselves, and their parents, have nothing to do with the problems in the schools, of course. Yeah, cynical, how about taking your own advice and getting real?
And it's not all about K-12. There is NO premium university in Nevada.
Also, what intelligent person from elsewhere wants to live in a place THIS UGLY and haphazardly planned, which lacks both charm and the types of businesses and activities that tend to appeal to educated people?
Free-for-all business, easy licensing requirements, political corruption - these all have much to do with the poor quality of life here, too. Stop blaming schools alone for the lack of education - there is not sufficient political integrity and leadership here to make it a better place which would attract smarter, more innovative people.
Somehow we needed a study to determine this... The obvious is as illusive in LV as common sense.
Most of the material coming from Brookings is biased and very opinionated. The people running these think tanks think that we should have high taxes to support a huge bureaucracy like they have in Boston or Chicago. Las Vegas is very different from those old Eastern cities. Of course the people from Brookings don't know that. I think the report is mostly garbage.
cnev comments @ 5:52am...
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW,
Right there in black & white.
you GET IT, cnev.
Your post is RIGHT ON.
Actually the problem lies within the diversity itself, look at the vast population of las vegas, look at school overcrowding, and look at the rape of school funds to cover other statewide mismanagement issues. couple that with the illegal immigrants children and you have a cauldron of chaos.
.
and dont even bother calling me a racist i am not, i am just stating the facts.
Something to reflect on...
A "School District" is a mirror image of the community it serves; as a whole, and each school individually...whether it's over in Summerlin, east near Nellis/Sloan, Black Mountain, Sunrise Mountain, WHEREVER.
Look in the mirror. There's your "School District" right there.
Unfortunately there are many causes for the problems being discussed in this forum. I will admit that my wife is a school principle in Texas and has witnessed many of the ills discussed. I might mention that her school is now 80% hispanic and all of her textbooks are in both english and spanish. We have a complete failure in the family structure which no doubt has an effect. Then we have automation in industry and almost every other business which removes many entry level jobs that will never return. No easy answers. I really am concerned about the future of this country as we know it to be.
Edumacation? We don't need no stinkin' edumacation.
Just look how far flat earthers such as Perry and Palin got without much upstairs.
We remained stupid in Las Vegas for a whole generation: We did NOT fix education and we did NOT diversify our local economy. And it is getting worse in Las Vegas during this long recession. The previous boom days mask some of these problems because we were all making money. Now the crash has revealed that Clark County School District is morally and financially bankrupt. Our local city and county governments through their rapid expansions, waste on public projects and even more rapidly shrinking tax bases are near collapse. Most of our large and small casinos are crushed by lack of profits and huge debt that have stripped the real value out of these properties. Finally, the housing crisis with homeowners loosing 2/3's the real value of their homes over the last 5 years has created the core problem. Our neighborhoods are empty and going to hell. There are empty shops and shopping centers all over the place, along with hulking shells of half built buildings that nobody comes to demolish. Then there are the crime, race, and illegal immigration issues that are further eroding the fabric of this city.
Here is your problem people. It's not education or diversity, so stop the belly-aching. The problem lies at the feet of our Politications, Unions, and Greed. Every year, the employees would yell Raise, Raise. If no raise, Strick, Welga we need more... etc. When you get a raise, the only one that makes money is the government and you are put into a higher Income Tax Bracket. Your higher tax goes to the government where they squander that and more. When you cannot give enough, they Print More Money. Stop the governments spending, and the Unions crying, chances are things will settle. I doubt that will ever happen, because of GREED.
"The Clark County School District has been failing its students for 14 years"
wrong. the students are a reflection of the parents but are ultimately responsible for their own efforts. vegas is full of uneducated nit wits.
The sad truth is that Las Vegas was never set up to be a conventional Place where value is placed on the things that are important in other parts of the country, such as education. This idea is ingrained in the Vegas culture. Many people talk about the diversification of Vegas and how to improve the education system but it will never be a priority. Where you come from and what surrounds you is probably 90% of how your child will be educated. Of course there are exceptions to the rule. Most of the "smart" kids go to UNR or leave town. The talk of diversification in Vegas will never happen. Vegas will remain a "one-horse" town with fancier slot machines and clubs.
Part 1
@ Teachers who commented:
My father, who would now be 103 years old, and who had a PhD in economics, told me that Lyndon Johnson fundamentally changed the U.S. economy when he massively raised taxes to fund the Viet Nam War, and when he created the Medicare payroll tax. He said that the result of the new taxes forced mothers into the work place, so that both parents could work to pay the family's basic bills. Two parents working became the norm approximately 40 years ago.
The pervasive problem in urban public school districts, and their teachers, never adjusted their thinking to the reality which the new "working mother" economy created. The nuturing stay at home moms of the 1950's rarely exist.
Kindergarteners will come to school not knowing their alphabet or how to count. Exhausted parents will not sit and do homework with their young children, let alone fight with their teenagers to make sure homework and special project are done.
The collapse of the two parent family, and the collapse of economy leading some parents to have to work two jobs has simply made things worse, in terms of the disconnect between reality and what teachers and principals expect from parents.
To be successful, school districts need to face and deal with a permanent reality created 40 years ago. Parents are not involved in their children's education, nor will the vast majority of them ever be.
Instead of allowing their employees to whine about lack of parental involvement, school districts need to set realistic educational policy based on the assumption that there will be no parental involvement and that no homework will be done. Whatever is taught and learned in the class room will be the beginning and the end of what students learn. The Clark County School District clearly refuses to face the reality of the now 40 year old "working mother economy", and to set its teaching policies accordingly. Students will only learn what they are taught in class. Parents will not help with homework.
Part 2
The idea of teachers and principals taking 100% responsibility for what student learn is nothing new. In the early days of public education, in the 1800's, most parents were illiterate. In the late 1800's and early 1900's America was flooded with immigrants where parents could not speak or read English, and never learned the language. Yet somehow school systems and teachers in places like New York and Chicago coped, and a well educated class of children of immigrants thrived.
Las Vegas has one elementary school where the Principal understands what her responsibilities are, and those of her teachers. Her students are among the poorest of the poor. At that school, parents are not expected to become involved in their children's education. The Principal and the teachers take 100% responsibility for educating the school's students. That attitude is what the Clark County School System needs to adopt, for all of its schools and all of its teachers.
Delusional teachers whining about lack of parental involvement, and parental assistance, like we see on these comment boards are the heart of the Clark County School District's failure to educate its students.
http://www.brookings.edu/about/employmen...
The problem there is every one of the positions they have open REQUIRES a College Degree.
Pretty stupid policy frankly. Instead of investing in someone, they would rather over-pay for somebody of dubious quality who is very likely to leave as soon as the next opportunity presents itself.
That right there is a bigger employment issue than the quality of a school district or community. By operating in this manner an employer is disqualifying 73% of the population outright.
There is a very good reason America is falling behind. This nation has turned it's back on three quarters of its adult population.
Just yesterday, I received in the mail a summary of my daughter's high school, including demographics test scores as compared to the district and the state. They were, to put it lightly, horrible.
From said report, her school and the district:
Dropout rate: 6.5%/4.8%
Reading Meets Standards: 69%/49%
Writing Meets Standards: 56%/75%
Math Meets Standards: 38%/53%
Credit Deficiency (kids lacking credits to grad): 41%/22%
Sad picture no matter how you look at it. Not to draw correlation/causation, because there isn't enough information to do so, here are the demographics:
Male: 54%/52% Female: 45%/49%
Top 3 by race, hispanic 67%/42%, black 15%/12%, white 14%/32%
So, I had the discussion with my two kids last night, asking for their opinions on why scores are low, why so many kids drop out, etc. Their biggest observation was that kids didn't see the value of education unless it was trade-based. All of their male friends want to do construction or work on cars, and their female friends all want to start families, find a man to take care of them, or deal cards.
This city--more specifically, the people living in it--just don't seem to see the benefit of education. They don't see the money or opportunities for a better life that comes from it, because there seems to be little evidence of it around. The role models here are entertainers...aunts and cousins are blackjack dealers making decent scratch, or career housekeepers or asphalt layers with steady work and decent bennies...the primary and higher education systems are usually only discussed in negative terms.
It's a chicken/egg problem: no education, because the desire isn't there...the desire isn't there because the opportunities don't exist...the opportunities don't come around because there's no education.
If you goggle drop-out rates say back to 1975, what you will find is the rate 35 years ago was a national avg. of 3.8%. In the West, it was 5.8%. In 2011 in Clark County it is basically the SAME.
The problem is not dropouts or boys wanting to work on cars or girls wanting to be housewives, the problem is our economic system.
For far too long this system has rewarded easy money and penalized savings and investment. Employers have very little incentive to build employee tenure. Instead the idea is turnover. Burn-em and turn-em is the economic reality we face across the board.
One is better to ask why is the situation the way it is today, even with similar drop-out rates, than it was 35 years ago. What has changed? What happened 35 years ago?
Essentially what happened 35 years ago was our Money ceased being worth anything beyond what the Fed says its worth. We are now 35 years down the tunnel and business cannot invest. They cannot hire long term. They cannot hire trainees. To survive they must reduce risk and think one quarter ahead at most. As a result they automate and even overpay for credentialed personnel who pose very little short term risk or much long term investment.
This economic cancer has been eating away at this country for going on 4 decades now. All manner of diversions and irrelevant issues and statistics are raised in hopes of explaining it. Nothing does because the problem is at a Macro level. The Debt based fiat monetary paradigm is killing us.
The interest needed to pay for all this debt comes out of everything in society. What was once wood, is now plastic. What was once a fully paid Health Care program at work, now is a HSA scheme where the employee pays for everything. What was once a family unit where moms could stay home and be moms, requires her now to work full-time just to pay for essentials.
I wonder if the braniacs at the Brookings Institute understand the real issues? or for sake of expediency is it simply easier for them to blame the very people being abused by a system which threw them under the bus 35 years ago?
This report irks me in that UNLV puts out plenty of grads. In truth it is the other way around. UNLV grads can't find employers willing to hire or offering decent jobs.
After graduating in finance in 2003, I could not find suitable work. The casino's or anybody else did not care about my UNLV education. I wound up getting a job for $11.43/hr which is dis-heartening to a college grad. You work hard, spend lots of money, and learn a lot expecting to get a $50K a yr job. Then you learn that you can't pay off your student loans making less than $30K a yr.
LMAO...true, LV is being hurt by a lack of diversity and education...FROM OTHER PLACES...LV was NEVER built on education, diversity, or anything other than being an entertainment and gambling mecca, and a very successful one. LV is reliant on, and will rebound, when the rest of the economy does. LV is not a driver, it's a receptor. There is really nothing else here that can possibly change that...look around you...DESERT!!
Why are the schools expected to be parents? The schools should expel the kids who waste the schools time, not spend more time "looking for them." The regular schools should call the social workers and work on the kids who have parents and show up. There are alternative schools for kids who have "family problems."
Let's rejoin the real world and come out of the liberal dream land.
Oh and the cyn obs history is wrong. His PhD must have come from UNLV.
What a joke all of these "educators" on this board are. Excuse after excuse. Blame the kid, blame the parents blah blah blah.
We should fire every teacher if we must.
NYC schools are riddled with corruption, greed, incompetence, etc etc yet those kids outperform our kids on EVERY level. Is your claim that kids in Vegas have worse homes/parents than the kids in NYC? 50% of the populous of NYC get's a handout from the government. 80% of babies born in Brooklyn are born on medicaid. The Bronx is the poor county in the country. You think english as a second language creates problems here think what they go through there. Why do the kids in NYC perform better than Vegas kids, simple, it's because they have better teachers.
We graduated 47% of our kids on time last year. It's unacceptable. Fire these teachers/administrators and find some who can teach, inspire, lead, work hard, and accomplish goals to replace them. Clearly our teachers are failing our kids and we should stop giving them our tax dollars until they prove they deserve them.
I find it amazing these people graduating from college with massive loans don't understand they were tools. The entire point of their "education" was the creation of a massive LOAN little else.
Welcome to reality enjoy your $25k a year.
Some of my best students had no parents. These were the rejects, the dregs. They were charter school failures, little thugs whose records included threatening to bring guns to school, getting in fights, getting loaded or drunk at school, pregnancies, kids of their own, probation and parole officers, etc. Ours was the extra last chance after all the others had given up, or thrown up their hands.
And for many of them, it was the only time anyone had ever really taught them stuff that counts, like how to get better at something important like reading and writing and figuring and applying what you learned.
Most kids were pleasantly surprised to make significant gains in skill levels and for the first time in their lives, respect themselves for accomplishing a learning goal. They enjoyed a 100% Pass Rate on Writing Proficiency, 100% on Reading and 100% on Science. Homeless waifs found comfort in becoming, in connecting and in saying what they meant in their own words. They changed themselves around. They knew they could improve and prosper.
But the big lesson they all mastered is the recognition of the potentials within, gratitude for the challenges they face and their strengths in dealing with the world.
There's nothing wrong with bad kids except a bad village; given one leg up and a fair shake, even a smart-mouth brat of some ethnic swirl cone of a single parent could end up President.
Joe Lamy, Great post!
In this case its not the teachers or the school system its the parents. However i also don't see spending tons more on education if the parents and the kids don't participate.
Lets face it. educating your kids is a hands on proposition and the people in vegas think its someone elses problem. Chances are if the parents are uneducated the kids will be too. More money for education will never fix this.
Blame blame blame, no accountability? The Clark County School district must enforce rules so the few that could cause problems to the many that study are kept away. Some kid has bad parents home trouble etc is not the schools' job to solve. School is to teach, students go to learn. Disruption by others is not fair to those students.
Las Vegas is unique and if you had 50% holding PHD's living here it would not change much. It is just not really viable to think Vegas is a academic city like Boston or Berkeley or Dartmouth NH, Ivory league we are not so why try to fake it.
"Delusional teachers whining about lack of parental involvement, and parental assistance, like we see on these comment boards are the heart of the Clark County School District's failure to educate its students."
Why do you consider them delusional? Why do you think they are whiners?. My parents were actively involved and the attitude 20 years ago should be the same. Parents are responsible for their MINOR children.
These children are the responsibility and reflection of the parent. What I see now is a never ending circle due to the lack of self esteem and just plain not parenting.
If you don't want to take care of them, gentlemen: wrap it up; ladies, keep em closed.
What was stated about LBJ is correct
Having a severely mentally challenged younger sister I started to look for ways to help her back in the 60's. I stumbled across a book titled Give Your Child a Superior Mind by Dr. Englemann. He was looking for ways to help the brain damaged children of this nation. One day he decided to apply his methods to young toddlers with healthy minds and the results were staggering. Way before my kids were on this Earth I decided to give his methods a try. Thankfully, I did because I found myself a single parent with kids at one year, three years and six years of age when I was 36. Using the methods of this book by the time the oldest was three I was going broke buying Babysitters Club books for her to read. The boy and youngest daughter followed the same path. All three earned full scholarships to the U, Northwestern and UCF attending public schools. I could have never have got them through schools like those schools on a carpenters wages. If we started kids using Enlemann's dictates at the age of eighteen months Vegas would lead the world, but, alas, I know that will probably never happen. At any rate, if you are a parent with a child under the age of three read the book and draw your own plan. This is not a vague book by any stretch. It will be the best thing you will do in your life. It was in mine.