Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Monday, January 13, 2014

Mens sana in corpore sano




How healthy is your state and how much does your state invest in education?  For communities to thrive, IMO, their populations must be healthy and educated.  All other factors for success follow in an upward trajectory when those two indicators are doing well.

Here is some information on how the various states are doing in those areas:





New York Times Report from September 2013

BRAINTREE, Mass. — Conventional wisdom and popular perception hold that American students are falling further and further behind in science and math achievement.

The statistics from this state tell a different story. If Massachusetts were a country, its eighth graders would rank second in the world in science, behind only Singapore, according to Timss — the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which surveys knowledge and skills of fourth and eighth graders around the world. (The most recent version, in 2011, tested more than 600,000 students in 63 nations.)

 Massachusetts eighth graders also did well in mathematics, coming in sixth, behind Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.

The United States as a whole came in 10th in science and 9th in math, with scores that were above the international average.

 Of course, Timss is only one test, and achievement tests are incomplete indicators of educational prowess. But behind Massachusetts’ raw numbers are two decades of sustained efforts to lift science and mathematics education. Educators and officials chose a course and held to it, even when the early results were deeply disappointing.

 While Massachusetts has a richer and better-educated population than most states, it is not uniformly wealthy. The gains reflected improvement across the state, including poorer districts.


Report: American Education Isn't Mediocre—It's Deeply Unequal 

Students in Massachusetts are doing great compared to their international peers, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.

Students in Alabama, Mississippi, and D.C., however, are languishing.


Massachusetts was the highest-scoring state in math, coming in behind four educational systems—Republic of Korea, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, and Hong Kong—and outranking 42 education systems. The lowest-ranking state, Alabama, outperformed only 19 educational systems.

 Massachusetts and Vermont outperformed 43 educational systems, while the District of Columbia ranked above only 14 educational systems. Singapore was the only education system to outrank all U.S. states.


Health Care


As of 2012, according to the United States Census Bureau, here are the states with the top five highest and lowest estimated percentage of uninsured citizens (scroll down the page for the chart):

STATES WITH THE HIGHEST ESTIMATED PERCENTAGE OF UNINSURED:


1) Texas
2) Nevada
3) New Mexico
4) Florida
5) Georgia 

STATES WITH THE LOWEST ESTIMATED PERCENTAGE OF UNINSURED:

1) Massachusetts
2) Vermont
3) Hawaii
4) Washington, D.C.
5) Connecticut





Report, December 2013:

Hawaii the nation's healthiest state and Mississippi the least healthy.  

Overall, Hawaii was the most healthy state in the country, while Mississippi ranked lowest for health. 

Last year, Vermont topped the list for healthiest state, and came in second this year. To understand the health of communities across the country, various factors were measured, including smoking, obesity, air pollution, high school graduation rates, infant mortality and crime rates. 



America's healthiest states, top 5:

1) Hawaii
2) Vermont
3) Minnesota
4) Massachusetts
5) New Hampshire


America's unhealthiest states, top 5:

1) Mississippi
2) Arkansas
3) Louisiana
4) Alabama
5) West Virginia 





15 comments:

BB-Idaho said...

The GOP has controlled Idaho since 1964. We lead the nation in
highest percent of workers making the minimum wage. We are way down at or near the bottom in everything else .

Shaw Kenawe said...

BB-Idaho, that's a sad thing to read. Idaho is blessed with abundant natural beauty and resources.

If you look at the stats on health and education, you will see that GOP-run conservative states do very poorly as opposed to the traditionally liberal states.

Massachusetts made a commitment to improving educational outcomes, and it paid off.

For reasons I can't discover, GOP states mostly do not share that value.

It's pretty obvious where their values lie.

Infidel753 said...

None of this surprises me. Massachusetts always seems to be at or near the top in state comparisons like this.

If it were a separate country, it would probably be a world-class contributor to technological and intellectual progress as well, with MIT, Harvard, Boston Dynamics, etc.

I admit I don't know a lot about Idaho, despite living in the state next door, but for some reason white supremacists around the country seem to feel an attraction to the place. If a lot of them have actually moved there, it must have depressed the average IQ quite a bit.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Infidel753,

Conservatives are always very quick to make fun of "Masshole." But they never bother to see how Massachusetts leads in so many crucial areas where quality of life is concerned.

And of course they never, never, never look in their own backyards to see how poorly the southern conservative states fare in the most important areas of human development.

Ducky's here said...

Odd that New England states turn up so often on the "best" lists.

Oh by the way, Shaw, they should put a sign on the lobster tails at Maria's, "serves 6". Best filling evah!

Anonymous said...

jerks who've never been to Massachusetts are the first to trash it.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Ducky: "Odd that New England states turn up so often on the "best" lists."

Yes. An inconvenient truth when conservatives try to sell the American people that their way of governing is superior to any liberal's. The northeast blue states, are among the most successful in the categories of good quality of life.

The conservative southern traditionally red states are among the worst.

Facts are stubborn things.



"Oh by the way, Shaw, they should put a sign on the lobster tails at Maria's, 'serves 6'. Best filling evah!"

And don't forget that from now until the end of March you can get the heavenly "zeppole" with either a sweet ricotta or custard [traditional] filling with the dried cherries in them.

Delizioso!

Les Carpenter said...

What I want to know is were I can find the best grilled octopus in Boston. Aside from being a delectable dish it is extremely healthy.

Shaw Kenawe said...

"Mare" in Boston's North End has octopus on the menu.

It's a top-rated restaurant.

But please don't mention I told you this to our 8-armed friend over at TSZ.

For other cephalopod dishes:

Piccolo Nido does a great job with grilled calamari (squid). And the mushroom crepes are outstanding.

skudrunner said...

BB

When you have much area and so few people, revenue is hard to come by. Most farmers and ranchers are considered low income yet they have assets in the millions.

Massachusetts is highly populated with a great educational system. Boston is one of my favorite cities to visit because of it's history and cultural diversity.

Dervish Sanders said...

Proof that when the people choose more Socialism (by electing representatives that listen to them instead of the plutocrats and those brainwashed by them) that populations thrive.

From your STATES WITH THE HIGHEST ESTIMATED PERCENTAGE OF UNINSURED list, both Nevada and New Mexico have accepted the Medicaid expansion... so those numbers should change. The people in the states were the expansion has been rejected need to get out and vote their Republican governors and legislators out of office. Voting Republican in a Republican state means you want your state to remain unhealthy and stupid... and WHY would anyone want that?

Shaw Kenawe said...

skud,

Vermont's population is a little over 600 thousand, Idaho is approx. 1.6 million.

The greatest natural resource is a state's people.

Vermont exceeds Idaho in many areas of human well-being.

BB-Idaho brings out a salient point: Idaho has been governed by Republicans since 1964. That's 50 years for a political party to be in power and to have an impact on a population's well-being.

skudrunner said...

Ms shaw,

Size does matter

Shaw Kenawe said...

skud: "Ms shaw,

Size does matter."

Not true.


"It's not the size of the wand that matters; it's the magic you make with it."

BB-Idaho said...

Idaho is notorious for sweetheart deals with business, while taxinggirl scout cookies . Small wonder the
university mascot is the Vandal.