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Originally Posted by
lordikon 
Louisiana is the least educated state in the U.S.. I'm not saying it's a horrible place, it's just that if I'm frustrated with the level of education of the people I see day-to-day, and I'm in one of states with the highest levels of college degrees, then I can only imagine how frustrated I would be in the state with the worst level of education. Louisiana also lies the lowest on a couple of other lists, possibly related to the level of education in the state. I'm not saying everyone in Louisiana is uneducated or not intelligent, I'm saying they just have more people like that than any other state.
It's not bigoted, it's statistical fact.
"Educated," in your mind, refers to a bachelor's degree. This is a narrow view. You are also making an enormous assumption that only those with bachelor's degrees are capable of critical thinking and logic. This is completely false. Your premise is wrong from the start. I'm not sure how far you've progressed in academia, but if you think a bachelor's degree really prepares you for real critical thinking then you are sorely mistaken. It is an extension of high school; recitation and regurgitation. Have you factored in the popularity of trades as well? Are we to assume that a state that has a higher population of tradesmen is suddenly uneducated? I am not faulting the statistics. They are simply numbers. I am faulting your conclusion. That is the bigoted statement to which I was referring. If I am presented with the statistic that the majority of murders are committed by black men and I conclude black men must be more inclined to murder, I came to supportable conclusion based on the statistics. However, logic tells us that there must be other causal reasons for the discrepancy. The irony of this whole scenario is fairly amusing.
If you want to say that the majority of people YOU meet don't seem to possess those skills that is fair. You are offering your own experience. However, once you tried to prove trends with statistics you've stepped into a whole other realm, and you need more than, "Louisiana has lower per capita bachelor's degrees."
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"wonderful" is subjective and provides no indication on education or knowledge levels...
So is the conclusion one can draw based on a single isolated statistic about bachelor's degrees in a state.
