STUDY SHOWS People In Small Towns Are Not Stupid

Another "study" by the website "Wallet Hub" looked at the differences between big cities and small towns, and once again got it all wrong.

I recently addressed some of this in my comparison of the small Wyoming town of Glenrock and New York City. Which is a better place to live? You can read that comparison at this link.

In the new Wallet Hub "study" (yes, I'll be using quotes for that every time), they note that "The most disturbing portion of the study was finding out Gillette, Wyoming was ranked 497th overall, for Lowest Educational-Attainment Diversity."

Let's step back and take a look at what Wallet Hub and a whole lot of other people are not considering. 

1). Just because a town does not have a major college does not mean that the people there are not going to them. There are people in Gillette, Wyoming, who graduated from good Gillette schools, left to attend a university, and then came home.

2). It is true that most of the people in Gillette do not seek IV League universities for their studies. But then again, when we look at what the people of Campbell County do for a living, they would not want an Ivy League education.

Campbell County and the town of Gillette are the heart of America's coal, gas, oil, electricity, and cattle industries. A doctorate degree from Harvard doesn't do a lot of good out here.

On the other hand, being a welder, electrician or mechanic can earn a person a lot of money. I bet many people who have degrees from major universities would be shocked to learn how much a person can earn in just such a blue-collar job.

Attending a technical school to learn a skill does not cost a lot of money, but it does earn a lot of money in a place like Gillette, Wyoming. The people who followed that path are, obviously, smart.

3). People in small towns make a lot less money. This is often true. But then again, it costs a lot less to live in a small town. Most small-town people get to keep more of their money than those in the big cities.

So, Wallet Hub, you can take yet another "STUDY" and... (sorry I can't write what I'm really thinking).