Houston ranks as 38th most-educated US city.

[Guest danax]

Bizjournal rankings.

Can we assume that there is a positive correlation between low education levels and negative factors affecting a city, such as crime, ugly neighborhoods, semi-poverty and the resulting increase in city/state/federal services that accompany such things? If so, then can we accurately predict our future by studying our demographics and dropout rates?

Then for fun, we could add the fertility rates to the formula and the resulting graph would be scary.

29% of adult Houstonians never graduated high school. We are not the worst, however. Hard to believe that 47% of Miami adults didn't. LA's right up there with 33% dropouts.

Are we slowly becoming a less-drastic version of a third world mega-city like Rio?

Do we need to import more immigrants from Asia to get our education levels off of the floor or what?

[citykid09]

Bizjournal rankings.

Can we assume that there is a positive correlation between low education levels and negative factors affecting a city, such as crime, ugly neighborhoods, semi-poverty and the resulting increase in city/state/federal services that accompany such things? If so, then can we accurately predict our future by studying our demographics and dropout rates?

Then for fun, we could add the fertility rates to the formula and the resulting graph would be scary.

29% of adult Houstonians never graduated high school. We are not the worst, however. Hard to believe that 47% of Miami adults didn't. LA's right up there with 33% dropouts.

Are we slowly becoming a less-drastic version of a third world mega-city like Rio?

Do we need to import more immigrants from Asia to get our education levels off of the floor or what?

Have any of you ever noticed that when polls like this come out about the largest cities in the US, The liberal/cool cities do the best. San Fran, Seattle, & Austin, all at the top. And the usually rank highest for Technology, being clean, hip, etc.

[Montrose1100]

Bizjournal rankings.

Can we assume that there is a positive correlation between low education levels and negative factors affecting a city, such as crime, ugly neighborhoods, semi-poverty and the resulting increase in city/state/federal services that accompany such things? If so, then can we accurately predict our future by studying our demographics and dropout rates?

Then for fun, we could add the fertility rates to the formula and the resulting graph would be scary.

29% of adult Houstonians never graduated high school. We are not the worst, however. Hard to believe that 47% of Miami adults didn't. LA's right up there with 33% dropouts.

Are we slowly becoming a less-drastic version of a third world mega-city like Rio?

Do we need to import more immigrants from Asia to get our education levels off of the floor or what?

Every city, around the world, has the poor, uneducated, trash, etc.

To assume that we are "slowly becoming a less-drastic version of a third world mega-city like Rio is a very pessasmistic and poor outlook. Houston doesn't have the second most headquarters of fortune500 companies because we rank 38 on the idiot list.

Lets use my father for example... He dropped out of High school in Louisiana. Went to Mud School, and hoped for the best when he started working on on and offshore rigs. Doesn't sound like the American Dream, does it?

He is now Senior Vice President of Smith International (one of many fortune500 companies here in town). Let's just assume he is "Well off". While he did drop out, and started from the bottom, he is a hard worker. And the company saw that. So promotion after promotion, look where he is today! I know this is not the case for all 29.59% not High School grads, but it goes to show that these lists are sh**.

[brijonmang]

I heard we were actually 83rd, but due to the incompetance of the author...we came out as 38th! I also heard the author was from Miami......

[713 To 214]

I'm going to make a controversial statement here. After living in the city, off and on for the past 25 years, I don't find the statistic hard to believe.

[musicman]

I'm going to make a controversial statement here. After living in the city, off and on for the past 25 years, I don't find the statistic hard to believe.

In my opinion, the education level in general is falling in the United States. It is unfortunate that a good education isn't readily available to all. I also believe that the quality level of teachers has also fallen which contributes to the poor statistics. There have always been good and bad teachers, however I think the ratio is favoring the bad teachers currently. I"ve volunteered at the elementary level and was disappointed at what i've seen with respect to the quality of the teachers.

[Trae]

Every city, around the world, has the poor, uneducated, trash, etc.

To assume that we are "slowly becoming a less-drastic version of a third world mega-city like Rio is a very pessasmistic and poor outlook. Houston doesn't have the second most headquarters of fortune500 companies because we rank 38 on the idiot list.

Lets use my father for example... He dropped out of High school in Louisiana. Went to Mud School, and hoped for the best when he started working on on and offshore rigs. Doesn't sound like the American Dream, does it?

He is now Senior Vice President of Smith International (one of many fortune500 companies here in town). Let's just assume he is "Well off". While he did drop out, and started from the bottom, he is a hard worker. And the company saw that. So promotion after promotion, look where he is today! I know this is not the case for all 29.59% not High School grads, but it goes to show that these lists are sh**.

My dad dropped out of high school in Lake Charles. He started working at Time Warner and now he is one of the head supervisors over at the 290 location.

[Guest danax]

To assume that we are "slowly becoming a less-drastic version of a third world mega-city like Rio is a very pessasmistic and poor outlook. Houston doesn't have the second most headquarters of fortune500 companies because we rank 38 on the idiot list.

Lets use my father for example... He dropped out of High school in Louisiana. Went to Mud School, and hoped for the best when he started working on on and offshore rigs. Doesn't sound like the American Dream, does it?

He is now Senior Vice President of Smith International (one of many fortune500 companies here in town). Let's just assume he is "Well off". While he did drop out, and started from the bottom, he is a hard worker. And the company saw that. So promotion after promotion, look where he is today! I know this is not the case for all 29.59% not High School grads, but it goes to show that these lists are sh**.

Your Dad is a great example of a best-case. And while we can't say that the majority of high school dropouts commit crime, live in poverty and don't care about keeping up the neighborhoods where they live, I am guessing that a large percentage of those contributing to those above-mentioned negative conditions are dropouts. I have no statistics to back this up, but am offering this up as discussion material.

So, if we assume that the areas in Houston that have the highest crime and are the ugliest probably also have the highest dropout rates, and maybe the highest fertility rates, then we can predict that areas like this will grow in time, although the geographical areas might shift. If we eventually hit 50-60% dropouts, can we not expect to have large more of the above, not less? Maybe not people living in shacks toting machine guns as in Rio, but definitely not a more pleasing Houston.

I agree that a lot of these lists are worthless but education levels are solid predictors of where a population is headed.

[The Great Hizzy!]

You'll note that most of the cities at the bottom have a lot in common:

Large immigrant populations. Do you honestly expect a lot of these immigrants to have HS degrees much less college degrees. I mean...

New York 32

Dallas 35

Houston 38

Chicago 39

San Antonio 40

Los Angeles 42

Miami 50

This isn't a shock. The fact that Biz Journals decided to get erudite about this and call it a lack of "brain power" rather than what it really is speaks to their analytical abilities. The challenge is to educate the large number of uneducated or undereducated individuals who immigrate to many of our big cities/metros in search of a better life.

[MidtownCoog]

Lies, damn lies and statistics.

[Trophy Property]

You'll note that most of the cities at the bottom have a lot in common:

Large immigrant populations. Do you honestly expect a lot of these immigrants to have HS degrees much less college degrees. I mean...

New York 32

Dallas 35

Houston 38

Chicago 39

San Antonio 40

Los Angeles 42

Miami 50

This isn't a shock. The fact that Biz Journals decided to get erudite about this and call it a lack of "brain power" rather than what it really is speaks to their analytical abilities. The challenge is to educate the large number of uneducated or undereducated individuals who immigrate to many of our big cities/metros in search of a better life.

I was thinking the exact same thing. The top 10 biggest cities were lumped in the 30-50 range. More diverse population = less educated people as a whole.

This argument also does not seem to take into account the cost of living in the top 10 most educated cities. San Fran, Seattle are expensive as hell which means you must have a damn good job to pay the bills. Most of the damn good paying jobs require higher degrees.

Sure NYC and Chicago are expensive, but those cities still have poorer areas and barrios that are more affordable.

[MidtownCoog]

Not to mention how many people live outside the Houston city limits.

[713 To 214]

Not to mention how many people live outside or Houston city limits.

Huh???

[MidtownCoog]

Are you really that slow?

[713 To 214]

Are you really that slow?

True to form!!! Can you just explain yourself a little better? . . without the insults?

[MidtownCoog]

No.

It's not really worth commenting on an article that only tells 1/2 a story.

Forget I ever posted to this one.

[713 To 214]

No.

It's not really worth commenting on an article that only tells 1/2 a story.

Forget I ever posted to this one.

That's what you've stated. However, I'm sure you'll post in this thread again, along with more insults for those who disagree with, or don't understand, your point of view.

[jmancuso]

i'm not suprised at houston's low numbers; i could elabortate as to why but it wouldn't be very diverse or tolerant of me...

[Houston19514]

I'm going to make a controversial statement here. After living in the city, off and on for the past 25 years, I don't find the statistic hard to believe.

How about Dallas' ranking at 35th. Do you find that statistic hard to believe?

[mrfootball]

I'm sorry, now way in HELL New Orleans ranks higher than Houston.

[713 To 214]

How about Dallas' ranking at 35th. Do you find that statistic hard to believe?

Not at all!

[KimberlySayWhat]

mrfootball:

I'm sorry, now way in HELL New Orleans ranks higher than Houston.

Umm...

[Subdude]

The methodology doesn't specify whether cities or metro areas were used, but I really don't think it would make much difference: our suburbs aren't necessarily a great deal more or less educated than the city itself. Everyone realizes that surveys such as this should sometimes be taken with a grain of salt, but that doesn't mean they are totally bogus either. If anything, the results seem to make intuitive sense. Cities with high concentrations of immigrants (eg Miami, LA, Houston) tend to score low. Cities with high concentrations of high-tech industries (SF, Seattle) score highly, while those with a heavier industrial concentration score less. The question is if there is anything that can be done to improve educational levels.

[Trophy Property]

I'm sorry, now way in HELL New Orleans ranks higher than Houston.

If you think about it we took on all their uneducated after Katrina !! <insert sarcastic emoticon here>

[713 To 214]

I'm sorry, now way in HELL New Orleans ranks higher than Houston.

It's not that hard to believe. Consider that New Orleans has the following:

- Xavier University of LA;

- Tulane University;

- Loyola University;

- Dillard University;

- Southern University of New Orleans;

- University of New Orleans;

- plus a number of community colleges;

- a smaller metropolitan population than Houston's;

- significantly lower immigrant population than Houston's.

[The Great Hizzy!]

The methodology doesn't specify whether cities or metro areas were used, but I really don't think it would make much difference: our suburbs aren't necessarily a great deal more or less educated than the city itself. Everyone realizes that surveys such as this should sometimes be taken with a grain of salt, but that doesn't mean they are totally bogus either. If anything, the results seem to make intuitive sense. Cities with high concentrations of immigrants (eg Miami, LA, Houston) tend to score low. Cities with high concentrations of high-tech industries (SF, Seattle) score highly, while those with a heavier industrial concentration score less. The question is if there is anything that can be done to improve educational levels.

In a nutshell.

[KinkaidAlum]

Sadly, the high school graduation rate isn't just an urban problem. Texas ranked DEAD LAST (50th) in the latest Census data for high school graduation rates. Texas ranks 48th in SAT scores. Thus, it really isn't all that surprising that our biggest cities would rank so poorly.

While it might be easy to point the finger at immigrants, we are NOT doing a good job of graduating their kids (or "ours"). There's a real problem that needs to be fixed.

Also, Texas' public universities do a lousy job of graduating students on time (within 6 years of first year enrollment). Our flagship university in Austin with the second largest endowment in the world behind only Harvard, graduates a lower percentage than Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Cal Irvine, Cal Santa Barbara, Michigan, William and Mary, Coll of New Jersey, James Madison, Miami of Ohio, Penn State, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Binghamton, Virginia Tech, UCLA, Cal San Diego, Cal Berkeley, and Cal Davis.

In the city, it's even worse. Outside of Rice's 90.5% 6 year graduation rate, there isn't a single other local college that graduates over a 50% rate and that includes the privates (HBU and UST)!

[Houston19514]

The study is of cities, not metro areas.

[lilyheights]

Also, Texas' public universities do a lousy job of graduating students on time (within 6 years of first year enrollment).

Maybe that's true. It took me six years. Then, I waited to apply for graduation until the next semester. So, technically that's seven.

Does that make someone uneducated?

I think there are circumstances in most people's lives that have them take a little longer to get through that degree. It usually involves working their way through school. People who do this are often more qualified to enter the work force. So, I question whether it is a bad thing.

[sevfiv]

Maybe that's true. It took me six years. Then, I waited to apply for graduation until the next semester. So, technically that's seven.

Does that make someone uneducated?

I think there are circumstances in most people's lives that have them take a little longer to get through that degree. It usually involves working their way through school. People who do this are often more qualified to enter the work force. So, I question whether it is a bad thing.

i agree - and one cannot make blanket statements around such data.

it is not how much education or how long it took to get to some arbitrary benchmark, but rather how people are in the community in which they reside (of course, that's subjective too).

i do, however, think it is more important for younger students (high school and under) to recieve well-rounded educations, and have the motivation to go to school. at these points in development, it is crucial, and also where houston fails. (of course, some kids just hate school, for whatever reason - how do you make someone motivated?!).