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

Good article to go along with it... http://www.wisegeek.com/what-us-state-is-the-smartest.htm

10/8/2008 6:19:37 PM

liberal elitist states and their elistist book learnin'

10/8/2008 6:26:14 PM

there's no way Maine is #5

10/8/2008 6:33:02 PM

NJ at #4? lolol

10/8/2008 6:33:31 PM

Quote :

"Seattle, Washington has been declared the smartest city, because 52.7% of its residents who are 25 years of age or older have earned bachelor degrees or higher. Seattle was also designated as the most literate city due to its newspaper circulation and number of libraries and bookstores. San Francisco, CA, Raleigh, NC, Washington D.C. and Austin, TX round out the top five smartest cities. Interestingly enough, none of their home states made it into the top five smartest states, leaving much to be disputed in the designation of the smartest state. "

woot, motherfuckers. woot.




[Edited on October 8, 2008 at 6:37 PM. Reason : ]

10/8/2008 6:35:23 PM

According to the article, they use some really meaningless metrics to determine this.

School funding is a dumb enough thing to base it on, but teacher's salaries and average class size? How many administrators are in public schools? Get the fuck outta here. How about some performance-based metrics?

-SAT scores
-% with bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D
-maybe even stuff like patents received, scholarly publications, well, published, etc.
-HS dropout rate (they did include this)
-etc

[Edited on October 8, 2008 at 6:37 PM. Reason : Raleigh was their 3rd smartest city, for whatever that's worth.]

10/8/2008 6:36:26 PM

that's gotta be why Maine did so good. of course rural schools are gonna have classes with like 5 kids per teacher

10/8/2008 6:37:28 PM

yeeah, i think its pretty meaningless to try to broadly quantify an entire state on something like intelligence that tends to be subjective.

a city, perhaps, you could quantify based on metrics like level of education, etc...

but a state is so disparate... for instance, education is almost completely a function of the county.

take washington state, for instance, its truly is almost like 2 separate states. the western 1/3 is completly 180-degree different than the eastern 2/3. its like night and day.



[Edited on October 8, 2008 at 6:42 PM. Reason : ]

10/8/2008 6:40:57 PM

true dat. Focusing on teachers' salaries is ridiculously useless, because the cost of living in different areas of the country will more than make up for the differences you see in salaries. Maybe if they compared salaries adjusted by cost of living, it would be more helpful. As it is, simply looking at salaries alone would account for so many northeastern states being so high on the list.

10/8/2008 6:46:01 PM

yep

although even adjusting for cost of living just makes it a better implementation of a stupid metric.

10/8/2008 6:59:13 PM

Funny how the color spectrum for that chart would go from blue to red.

10/8/2008 7:51:11 PM

funny how california is dumber than west virginia

10/8/2008 8:03:13 PM

That's cause of all the Mexicans.

10/8/2008 8:04:50 PM

i notice arizona and alaska both arent doing too well.

10/8/2008 8:45:53 PM

Delaware and Illinois aren't exactly smoking hot either.

Stupid list though. I mean, Kansas, the state where the teaching of evolution was almost banned, is 15th?

10/8/2008 9:01:36 PM

1234567890

10/8/2008 9:09:47 PM

That can't be agood list. Their criteria are meaningless (most). But the proof is in the pudding. California is near the bottom, just one better than Mississippi, which is the fattest and most impoverished state in the US.

Still, I wonder how it compares with

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_GDP_per_capita_(nominal)

Rank	State		GDP per capita  
1 	DC		124,363 
2 	Delaware 	59,288 
3 	Connecticut 	50,332 
4 	Massachusetts 	46,721 
5 	New York 	46,617 
6 	New Jersey 	44,885 
7 	Alaska 		43,748 
8 	Colorado 	41,798 
9 	Virginia 	41,702 
10 	California 	41,663 
11 	Minnesota 	41,295 
12 	Nevada 		39,813 
13 	Washington	39,616 
14 	Illinois	39,514 
15 	Maryland 	39,161 
16 	Wyoming 	39,130 
17 	Hawaii 		38,083 
18 	New Hampshire 	37,666 
19 	Oregon		37,633 
20 	Texas	 	36,920 
21 	North Carolina 	36,489 
22 	Nebraska 	36,441 
23 	Rhode Island 	36,292 
24 	South Dakota 	35,842 
25 	Iowa 		35,662 
26 	Wisconsin 	35,390 
27 	Georgia 	35,362 
28 	Pennsylvania 	34,828 
29 	Ohio 		34,609 
30 	Vermont 	34,472 
31 	North Dakota	34,446 
32 	Tennessee 	34,321 
33 	Kansas 		34,242 
34 	Indiana 	34,058 
35 	Florida 	33,718 
36 	Michigan 	33,468 
37 	Arizona 	33,441 
38 	Missouri 	33,297 
39 	Louisiana	32,923 
40 	Utah 		32,357 
41 	New Mexico 	31,986 
42 	Idaho 		30,896 
43 	Maine		30,305 
44 	Kentucky 	29,842 
45 	Alabama		29,697 
46 	South Carolina	29,642 
47 	Oklahoma 	29,545 
48 	Montana 	27,942 
49 	Arkansas 	27,875 
50 	West Virginia 	24,748 
51 	Mississippi 	24,062

10/8/2008 9:44:09 PM

Quote :

"that's gotta be why Maine did so good. of course rural schools are gonna have classes with like 5 kids per teacher "

The reason the Northeast is so high on that list is that we've had public education far longer than many other states.

10/8/2008 9:52:52 PM

whats with the bold?

10/8/2008 11:12:14 PM

Quote :

"there's no way Maine is #5 "

this place is full of morons and so is massachusetts

10/8/2008 11:30:27 PM

Quote :

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_GDP_per_capita_"

did obama make that list? you know, because there are more than 50 states listed

10/8/2008 11:32:22 PM

Connecticut (2/3)
Massachusetts (3 /2)
New Jersey (5/4)
Virginia (8/6)
Tennessee (31/30)
Utah (39/38)
Alabama (44/45)
Mississippi (50/48)

Some of the bigger surprises come in the states with massive deltas. For example, Alaska, California, and Nevada have large per capitas but then fall near the bottom of the "smartest state" rankings. Meanwhile, poor, rural states like Maine and Montana are near the top of the list.

[Edited on October 9, 2008 at 12:00 AM. Reason : (Formatting)]

10/8/2008 11:58:57 PM

^^You see how the first entry on the list is DC?

Yeah

10/9/2008 12:14:03 AM

yeah of course

you see how i'm making fun of obama's gaffe?

yeah

10/9/2008 12:15:06 AM

I swear I've seen this thread before. Multiple times.

Quote :

"The reason the Northeast is so high on that list is that we've had public education far longer than many other states."

Even if I can't stand the place, we have an older public university down here in NC. So fuck off, self-righteous Yankee Catholic Navy chemistry guy who is actually pretty cool because he's the only person off the wolfweb to specifically help me during the brutal student government campaign wars.

I'm conflicted.

---

The lsit is stupid. There's a huge difference between counties, even ones right next door. I was smuggled across a county line all through high school so I could go to one in Guilford County as opposed to Randolph County, because I wanted to learn real good.

I won't deny that there's probably a trend towards "blue states" being overall more educated than "red states." But then again, red states tend to be less densely populated and therefore less possessed of major centers of learning and industry that both create and draw in educated individuals. Wyoming's population could be extremely well educated down to the last man, and it would probably still have fewer well-educated people than California.

10/9/2008 12:15:41 AM

I mean grammar school, Grumpy.

10/9/2008 12:19:34 AM

YEAH

WELL

...

SHUT UP

You guys are also way ahead of us in "executing people on suspicion of witchcraft"

So there

10/9/2008 12:25:48 AM

10/9/2008 12:30:05 AM

i think you had better edit out that crap before you are suspended.

10/9/2008 2:00:25 AM

Quote :

"you see how i'm making fun of obama's gaffe?"

You mean his joke?

10/9/2008 2:00:46 AM

yeah, regardless of how suspect the rating system is, i dont think those posts are going to be seen favorably by theduke

^i've explained it before and i'll explain it again...it was not a joke...a joke is an intentional bit of humor...what obama did was a simple slipup...he misspoke...he said he had visited 57 states with 1 to go (implying the continental US)...he obviously meant 47 states, with 1 to go in the continental...it was a simple case of misspeaking...many candidates from both parties have misspoken and gotten shit for it even though it was an honest mistake

but dont try to say it was a joke cause it wasnt, it was a simple mistake...saying it was a joke kind of screams that you're defending obama just for the sake of defending him

[Edited on October 9, 2008 at 2:04 AM. Reason : .]

10/9/2008 2:01:23 AM

And?

10/9/2008 2:04:31 AM

and......me and 0EP are just giving you advice to try to prevent you from getting suspended...take the advice if you want, don't take it if you don't want to

10/9/2008 2:06:08 AM

Honestly I haven't seen the clip, just read about it.

But it seems like something someone would say if they had been to 47 states over the past couple of months, as if to say "it feels like a lot more"

10/9/2008 2:06:44 AM

i hear that, but youtube it, it seems pretty clear that he simply F'd up on the tens digit...i only bust on him for it because thats what you do when a candidate makes a gaffe (for which one definition is "a clumsy social error") which i could classify a "spoken typo" as

10/9/2008 2:10:25 AM

Anyway I dunno about 57 but there are 56 primary elections sooo. Maybe he was counting the Texas primacaucus as two. Who knows it's a retarded argument

10/9/2008 2:10:37 AM

Howard Dean was a multiple-term governor of the supposed smartest state.

10/9/2008 2:10:52 AM

^^well there are 50 states...pretty basic fact...like i said he simply misspoke...why must some obama supporters try and defend a simple speaking mistake? he talks to people all the time for hours a day, he occasionally slips up, why try to justify it?

10/9/2008 2:17:09 AM

why must some obama detractors try and criticize a simple speaking mistake? he talks to people all the time for hours a day, he occasionally slips up, why try to demonize him for it?

10/9/2008 2:18:49 AM

i'm not trying to demonize him, i'm simply pointing out one of his gaffes, in response to a list of states that lists 51 since it includes DC...surely nobody on tww has ever pointed out a simple speaking gaffe by bush, or more recently by mccain or palin, have they?

i'm also pointing out that its not a joke like some suggest, and its not some odd reference to the number of primary elections, but its a simple mistake...i'm defending obama here for christ sake

[Edited on October 9, 2008 at 2:22 AM. Reason : .]

10/9/2008 2:20:09 AM

dc being the richest is a shocker to mua

10/9/2008 2:20:38 AM

^seriously

10/9/2008 2:23:03 AM

No, Obama wants to give asthma sufferers a breathalyzer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbpWonUzlrc

And what state is Joe "Plugs" Biden--The Human Gaffe Machine--from again?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VAzOIT4Ef8

10/9/2008 2:28:07 AM

Quote :

"i think you had better edit out that crap before you are suspended. "

too late.

10/9/2008 3:34:03 AM

That anybody from either side is comparing "gaffes" is a little saddening.

JOE BIDEN THINKS THAT TV'S WERE AROUND IN 1929!

SARAH PALIN SAID MCCLELLAN NOT MCKIERNAN!!

OH YEAH WELL OBAMA THINKS THERE ARE LIKE 100 STATES!!

OMF PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO TALK OFF THE CUFF ABOUT A HUGE RANGE OF SUBJECTS OCCASIONALLY MISSPEAK!

[Edited on October 9, 2008 at 3:41 AM. Reason : ]

10/9/2008 3:41:18 AM

"OCCASIONALLY"?! BIDEN?! SERIOUSLY?!!1

10/9/2008 3:48:14 AM

Quote :

"The lsit is stupid. There's a huge difference between counties, even ones right next door. I was smuggled across a county line all through high school so I could go to one in Guilford County as opposed to Randolph County, because I wanted to learn real good."

If anyone thinks that the Northeast is somehow magically more educated than the rest of the country hasn't been to Worcester, MA. Like the rest of the country, you have pockets of rich, urban elites surrounded by ignorant masses. I think the difference is that the income gaps are much more severe in the Northeast (extremely well established WASP families vs. the leftovers from the manufacturing collapse generations ago) and the class distinctions are much sharper (which in my theory is what fuels the Democrats up north) compared to Southern states. I guess when you average them out, the rich are rich enough to pull up the rest.

Seriously, have any of you been up there? Go to towns like Worcester, New Haven, Hartford, Providence, New London, and Springfield. I never truly understood the concept of urban decay and dying towns until I went up north.

10/9/2008 10:20:24 AM

While we're on the subject of lists that make red states look bad...

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2004/09/red_states_feed.html

Quote :

"States Receiving Most in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid: 1. D.C. ($6.17) 2. North Dakota ($2.03) 3. New Mexico ($1.89) 4. Mississippi ($1.84) 5. Alaska ($1.82) 6. West Virginia ($1.74) 7. Montana ($1.64) 8. Alabama ($1.61) 9. South Dakota ($1.59) 10. Arkansas ($1.53)"

Quote :

"States Receiving Least in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid: 1. New Jersey ($0.62) 2. Connecticut ($0.64) 3. New Hampshire ($0.68) 4. Nevada ($0.73) 5. Illinois ($0.77) 6. Minnesota ($0.77) 7. Colorado ($0.79) 8. Massachusetts ($0.79) 9. California ($0.81) 10. New York ($0.81)"

10/9/2008 10:27:29 AM

WHO FARTED IN THIS THREAD?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10/9/2008 11:05:08 AM

I think its funny that red tends to be more for national security but blue was who was attacked...

10/9/2008 11:18:46 AM