Garry Roy [06/30/2004]

To the editor:There was a very interesting article in the June 24 MountainEar. The title was "Higher education survey points to challenges here in the valley". Most interesting were the statistics sited by Mary Ellen Fleeger of University System of New Hampshire. They are as follows:1."Currently, nearly 40 percent of the population in Carroll County between the ages of 18 and 24 had achieved less than a high school education, whereas 5 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher." Can it be that this is indicative of the dropout rate at Kennett High? And, why would anyone with a bachelor's degree stay in the valley? How many jobs are there that require such? The answer, not many. 2. "Approximately 32 percent of the 25-and-older population were high school graduates only and 27 percent held a bachelor's degree." This means that of the 25-and-older population, there are 41 percent who do not have a high school diploma. (Kennett cannot take the blame for all of this statistic because part of this population has migrated here. It is, however indicative of the population that is attracted to the valley). I suspect that the "bachelor's degree" percentage reflects the number of transplants who have discovered that you don't have to work in New Hampshire to live in New Hampshire. It would be interesting to cite what part of that age group is the largest part of that percentage. I also suspect that it is in the 40 and older age group. 3. "Approximately 13.2 percent of the 18 to 24 year old residents of Carroll County were enrolled in college or graduate school, compared to a national average of 34 percent. I wonder what the average for the state was? The rest of my comment for this statistic I'll reserve for number four. 4. Carroll County also had the lowest average weekly wage among the counties at $467.62 in 2001 $200 less than the state average. With that kind of income, who can afford to go to College for Lifelong Learning. Does anyone graduate from that place? Is that why it's called "College for Lifelong Learning"? After spending all of that money (probably borrowing a great deal of it), why would you look for work here, if you did graduate? Why doesn't the education system get real? A better educated work force will go where there are jobs that require it. Unless the quality of employment opportunities improves here, those that get a better education will move out of here. They may come back later and do as I did. Work from my home for out-of-state companies. Before anyone says it, luck had nothing to do with it. I come from a French-Canadian family that knew you could be certain of four things in life. They are, love, family, death, taxes and tons of hard work. It is a great place to raise a family so long as you do not have to rely on the local economy. A lousy place for a young adult to make a start in life and a worse place for a young adult with a family to survive. You don not have quality of life if you cannot pay your bills.By the way, I don't believe that the new high school is going to change this one tiny bit. This situation took many years to create and it's going to take many years to change.