States Ranked From Smartest to Dumbest

[MD]

The smartest state in the union for the second consecutive year is Massachusetts. The dumbest, for the third year in a row, is New Mexico.

These are the findings of the Education State Rankings, a survey by Morgan Quitno Press of hundreds of public school systems in all 50 states. States were graded on a variety of factors based on how they compare to the national average. These included such positive attributes as per-pupil expenditures, public high school graduation rates, average class size, student reading and math proficiency, and pupil-teacher ratios. States received negative points for high drop-out rates and physical violence.

How does YOUR state rank?
1. Massachusetts
2. Connecticut
3. Vermont
4. New Jersey
5. Wisconsin
6. New York
7. Minnesota
8. Iowa
9. Pennsylvania
10. Montana
11. Maine
12. Virginia
13. Nebraska
14. New Hampshire
15. Kansas
16. Wyoming
17. Indiana
18. Maryland
19. North Dakota
20. Ohio
21. Colorado
22. South Dakota
23. Rhode Island
24. Illinois
25. North Carolina
26. Missouri
27. Delaware
28. Utah
29. Idaho
30. Washington
31. Michigan
32. South Carolina
33. Texas and West Virginia (tie)
35. Oregon
36. Arkansas
37. Kentucky
38. Georgia
39. Florida
40. Oklahoma
41. Tennessee
42. Hawaii
43. California
44. Alabama
45. Alaska
46. Louisiana
47. Mississippi
48. Arizona
49. Nevada
50. New Mexico

[cjoe]

Go New Mexico! its funny how the southern states are at the bottom of the pile. except alaska. Please note i may be wrong because i'm not very familiar with the layout of the states.

edit: did you include Hawaii

[MD]

#42 = Hawaii

8 out of the top ten are BLUE STATES.....coincidence?

[cjoe]

#42 = Hawaii

8 out of the top ten are BLUE STATES.....coincidence?

oh yeah, me blind. btw are blue states democrat states?

[Mynock]

Nice observation, but I might be a slightly leaning left guy myself. Minnesota Top Ten! Hey, where's Canada our 51st state?

[morea]

NY is #6. Although I don't know if most of the people around here deserve that much credit.

[Jason Fraker]

Geez, no surprise TN ranks near the bottom of the pile. I guess you guys are all smarter than me...except those who live in
42. Hawaii
43. California
44. Alabama
45. Alaska
46. Louisiana
47. Mississippi
48. Arizona
49. Nevada
50. New Mexico

The state with the most electoral votes is number 43? That's comforting.

[Ulysses]

Damn ... UK didn't even make the list. What the hell does that say about us!?

[Vikia]

Interesting, but not surprising.

[Vikia]

LOL @ Mynock and Ulysses!

Nebraska is #13, at least were nearer the top of the heap. Yea Minnesota and Iowa!

[VisualizeDesign]

Maybe the southern states have the lowest scores because of their higher influx of immigrants from the Carribean and Mexico. Socioeconomically, these groups tend to have higher drop-out and violence rates thus, rendering the states lower scores. Maybe they should do the study using:
- a control group (chosen at random)
- an english as a first language (no 2nd language at home) group
- a group who's first language is not English, but they do speak english at home
-a group who's first language is not english and english is not the primary language spoken at home

Or they could break it down by gender. Or maybe, a longitudinal / cross cultural study to see if the groups above maintain, do better or worsen in school with time. I dunno that just me.

i.e. follow whether or not foreign students do better with time in school or do they end up dropping out. And, for every one non-foreign student how many foreign students register as opposed to registration of non foreign students, kinda like trying to figuire out whether the scales are tipped by the amount of incoming foreign students.

[Neballer]

5. Wisconsin
6. New York
7. Minnesota

I will not stand for this! :D

[Vikia]

Maybe the southern states have the lowest scores because of their higher influx of immigrants from the Carribean and Mexico.
So with that thinking ... this means that the northern states reap the benefits of a higher influx of immigrants from Canada? I doubt it.

I think this is a slam to Mexico and the Carribean. Nebraska has a very high rate of immigrants from Mexico yet is #13 and New York has immigrants from everywhere and is in the top 10.

I hate stereotyping - just because someone is an immigrant does not make them ignorant.

[D-Zine]

#38 - Georgia!

See and everyone thought us Southerns were so slow. Apparently #39 - 50 are even slower! It could be worse.

Screw it - who cares. I love Georgia :p

[VisualizeDesign]

So with that thinking ... this means that the northern states reap the benefits of a higher influx of immigrants from Canada? I doubt it.

I think this is a slam to Mexico and the Carribean. Nebraska has a very high rate of immigrants from Mexico yet is #13 and New York has immigrants from everywhere and is in the top 10.

I hate stereotyping - just because someone is an immigrant does not make them ignorant.

I am sorry if you didnt like my examples I was aiming at the influx of non-english speaking immigrants. People from Canada speak English as a primary language (well except for quebec). I was not stereotyping. My mom is cuban and my dad is irish. My first language at home was Spanish and I live in Miami Fl. And, I said I would have liked to seen the experiment done in different ways not because I am ignorant but because it would perhaps help explain why the statistics are what they are and maybe find a solution from there for the generations to come, seeing as the US does so poorly in comparison to the rest of the world.

Furthermore, there is no slamming. If you dont speak nglish and you start school here, you will probably do poorly for many psychological factors/stressors outside of just language. But thats why I had said they should do a longitudinal study to see how each group of students progresses as they become accustomed to being here.

[chalsema]

Hmmm #17. That's better than I'd expect. There are some dumb people here....

[Vikia]

Nah, I didn't mean to criticize...you actually make some very important points.

I just think that some schools are doing great in spite of the numbers of immigrants. They have learned to adapt and their students are thriving. I do think it has a lot more to do with how much money and resources you put into those schools.

[VisualizeDesign]

Thats very true also. I dont have kids but, I hear horror stories from my friends who have children in school.

I think kids seem more violent now a days too. Lastly, I wonder if the gaming industry and internet help or hurt kids. They've got so much to entertain them nowadays, that I think keeping there attention may have become more difficult. Technology has advanced so much, Im not sure if teachers have really adapted their cirriculum to match the pace at which children are now thinking or processing information. I know 7 year olds who can burn their own cd's and stuff. Hell even in college ( i graduated last year) most of my teachers sucked at using the internet and their computers.

[VisualizeDesign]

In Miami, we have middle school kids stabbing one another in the bathrooms, the usual bomb threats, mysterious "hit lists" being found and weapons on school grounds. I think the bomb threats and lists are just stupid ploys for attention or pranks, mimmicking (sp) Columbine but, the news makes such a huge deal about these things every time they occur. Maybe if they didnt, the kids would stop doing that stuff.

[keith1]

Least I be smarter than all yall from these here other states under me. I ain't got much learning but I know right from wrong and this list is wrong. Go Michigan!

31. Michigan
32. South Carolina
33. Texas and West Virginia (tie)
35. Oregon
36. Arkansas
37. Kentucky
38. Georgia
39. Florida
40. Oklahoma
41. Tennessee
42. Hawaii
43. California
44. Alabama
45. Alaska
46. Louisiana
47. Mississippi
48. Arizona
49. Nevada
50. New Mexico

[Crimson]

Indiana is too bad but the way the are treating their teachers we will be close to the bottom in no time.

[reuber1]

#8? #8!?! Apparently they left out the eastern half of the state. I feel like the smartest person within 100 miles here based on the people I help at work...then again, Illinois is right across the river and all of the anal-retentive baby-boomers from Galena drive on over to harass us.

And as far as blue/red states go, Iowa BARELY became a red state, so it's not like it's overwhelmingly red.

[D-Frag]

#48 - AZ, no surprise their, shit I barely SURVIVED HS. But then again shootings and stabbings are probably common ground in all highschools across the nation :rollyeyes:

[Drorain]

*Flex*
*Strutting about like a peacock*

Yup Massachusetts #1...Yup Yup Yup...time to go watch 'Married with Children'
Just remember, address your betters as Sir or Madame.

You know I'm just kidding, theirs enough dumb pancakers up here to share around