Brain Drain in Indiana

Brain Drain is being recognized as one of the biggest problems in Indiana, a problem that keeps Indiana from economically performing like its neighboring (Read: Blue) Midwest States. Ironically (maybe not, though), Indiana is also the most Republican state in the Midwest: Bush won it easily, the Dem Senator is at times accused of being a DINO and is definitely owned by Pharmaceuticals, and no Dem presidential candidate has won it since Lyndon B. Johnson (who was a Texan). The last Northern Democrat to win Indiana was FDR in 1936, which was the largest electoral win for ANY president before or since.

The majority of Academically-gifted Students are either Democrats or further left (Greens, American Revolution, etc...). I can say (I do not like to brag, but I got 1510 SAT, 3.9 GPA, finished Diff Eq in Senior year) that I was unhappy at the 2004 election, and miserable after getting denied to MIT and Caltech. Basically, my Blue State in a Blue Nation dream had completely failed: I was going to be in a Red State (Purdue) in a Red Nation. Many of my high-achieving acquaintances also wanted to get out and go to Ivy League (Blue State) colleges.

Now Purdue is an excellent engineering school, but as of now, there are more repuke students than Dem students. It is one of the few schools ranked in US News and World magazine which has more repukes than Dems. Even U of Ohio is known for its liberals (and its marijuana). In addition, Purdue is the best school in state for science, engineering, and management. I know that IU is the "liberal fortress", but could it be that Indiana is losing its bright (and, in most cases, Blue) minds because Indiana is hopelessly repuke? Sorry I don't have any articles on this, just a suspicion.

For some reason, everyone that likes IU is a Democrat (obviously, most of them. There are the republican supportors)

And I live in Indiana. CRAP!

this dem Hoosierfan attended a cons. hoosier college (of strong academic nature) - the faculty were not cons. just the students. Long since graduating I have found many other progressive alumni - could it be we were just stifled into silence while in college (during the reagan years) - so we didn't know that there were many other progressives? Or could the experience of having been in classes with one dimensional thinkers in areas of economics and politics/history made us reject this thinking?

It is a rather funny breakdown per sports fans (purdue vs iu) though.

This is the reason the state as a whole is regressing. The lure of the coasts and forward-thinking cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, and Denver is greater than the desire to "return to the hometown of Bedford, Peru, or Richmond." The failure of local governments to find new uses for old factories and to let central business districts decay has been devastating. Ironically, right under their noses, is the neglected idea of tourism -salvaging what remains of a solid 20th century midwestern way-of-life, architecture, and musical heritage (Cole Porter for instance). This is also the reason Indiana is such a red state - the free thinkers move away while the closed-minded dropouts stay home & just have more kids, thus more fundie-indoctrinated Bush-voters. Indiana needs to promote the state on a massive scale (the ideas are out there - like Bobby Plump's plan for Milan to become a sports-tourism town); recruit Harvard grads as well as Wabash Collegers. Get those kids to come home. It would take a huge statewide effort -local city councils, arts commissions, CEOs, and school boards to get this done.

the creation of a bio-tech research facility in the old RCA/Thompson's factory - that will do R&D research/product development for other companies (that can not afford to have a large research facility of their own.) It being started with Venture Capital, breaks from the city, and perhaps some help from the state. It is exactly the type of venture to which you refer.

Here is to hoping it works!

This former brain drainer (left after graduating from college for DC, later Detroit and then the SF Bay Area) returned to be closer to family and has stayed due to the low cost of living (imp for one in nonprofit work), and finding progressive well educated pockets of folks within which to circulate.

Or is that something else? I know that Cook was trying to open a new facility in Bloomington or Spencer, and I tried to apply for it, but oh well.

:hi: Glad you found our little corner !! :hi:

It has less to do with politics and more to do with the simple fact that there are no jobs for these people. I wanted to stay in Indiana, even stay near where I grew up, but there was nothing there. Nothing really anywhere in Indiana.

It's also a fallacy to say that all the bright minds are somehow liberal - they're not. I went to school with plenty of brilliant people who were not Democrats in the least.

And 56 percent of all Purdue graduates stay in Indiana.

Only 19.4 percent of the state's residents have at least a bachelor's degree. This is five points behind the national rate of 24.4 percent.


19.4 percent would be less than 900,000 if they mean residents over the age of 18. Otherwise, less than 1.2 million.
http://www.purdueexponent.org/interface/bebop/showstory.php?date=2005/05/25§ion=opinions

That 84 percent staying in Indiana does not to me represent a brain drain. Does anyone have stats for students attending out of state colleges and how many return to live in Indiana vs going elsewhere?

A question that needs to be answered is the percentage of Indiana high school graduates that graduate from college. Not the number of current Indiana residents that are college graduates.

to increase the rate of highschoolers going to college and then growing through college - both by getting more college info to kids starting in the 8th grade on (many high schools in Indiana do not push college info to kids until they are in the 11th grade - how crazy is that?) - and through the 21st century scholars program for lower income students - who join the program in 8th grade, maintain certain grades and then are given tuition scholarships to Indiana colleges and U.s

I have read that if you look at the percentage of 25 yr olds with college degrees that it is higher than the overall population - an indication that these programs have been having an impact.

The other question per college graduates leaving the state - is how many are originally from out of state? My alma mater (DePauw) was probably 40% or more out of staters when I attended - I would also guess there is a decent % out of state at Notre Dame and Purdue, and to a slightly lesser extent IU. Not sure how many of the brain drain studies seperate native hoosier graduates staying/leaving in the way that you report for Purdue.

Those that did not leave the state moved to Fort Wayne (the nearest "Big City") or Indianapolis.

Growing up, the main reason cited for leaving for other states was that Indiana was too "boring" with "nothing to do".

My most successful friends were the ones who went to Purdue and left the state.

The highest paid of my friends who stayed in Indiana actually works outside the state five days out of the week. He can only enjoy his brand new home and the company of his wife and child on weekends.

It is easy to blame politics and the general stupidity of most Hoosiers (read "Republican") for so many people leaving the state after graduation. However, a large chunk of blame rests firmly on television and movies. When was the last time you saw a movie or TV show focus on all the fun and excitement, fast cars and loose women on the downtown streets of Kokomo?

Most kids leaving college want their lives to be as exciting as what they see in the mass media, so they gravitate toward the huge cities out east or out west.

A lot of these kids also end up right back here in Indiana once they see how hard it is to make it on their own without Mom and Dad to fall back on.

A large portion of my graduating class went that route.

Evil Kumquat

Small city within short distance of Madison, Milwaukee, Rockford and Chicago. In addition, plenty of activities elsewhere in the state year round.

From Texas!!!! hahaha. Man, i thought most of the northerners were liberal...then i came here and some of the people here act more southern than we do in Texas. IU is a liberal strong hold and always will be. No one likes the republican group here, they are a mini version of the national party and the school newspaper seems to be in their control. We just need to get our student group better organized than it is now.

I graduated from USI here, and our teachers told us it probably is a good idea to leave the state and travel, see what's out there. At least they read our minds. Many of my graduating class are moving away this summer. I tried to move away twice but had to come back here aaaah!

They might as well have printed a bus ticket on the back of my diploma. I am making more than double what any Evansville company ever alluded to offering me on the East Coast.

Each time I passed by I thought of many uses for this building. Last I heard it was an alternative school. Kids getting GEDs after dropping out. Thought of how many homeless folks it could shelter, or how many people could get some kind of job training or medical services in a building that big.