re: Is Education As Important in Louisiana as Other States?

Ohio, california, maryland, connecticut, rhode island prolly washington

I'm not even really referring to the public school system in Orleans and Jefferson which we all know suck. But none of my friends in LA seem to obsess over education/schools like the people I know in person here and the posters on forums like City data, which is where I learned a lot about Dallas before my move.
Kids get sent to St. Catherine, St.Angela, Sacred Heart, Stuart Hall, Newman etc. A lot of it is because the parent went to a certain school or the school is close to home. The avg SAT score doesn't seem to come into play. I bet if I asked my affluent, well educated friends what the avg SAT score for the high school their kids attend they'd have no clue.

I get being active in their education and wanting the best for them, but I'm glad I was raised and educated in Nola. Some of the parents here act like their kids are failures if they don't get a perfect SAT or become doctors or engineers.
Definitely a different environment than i'm used to.

Education simply isn't that important in this state for many factors:

1. Entitlement Fraud: Whether due to ineptitude or design, Louisiana is one of the leading states in rates of entitlement fraud. One can live a pretty comfortable life doing nothing if they know what forms to falsify information on. Why educate one's self if they don't need education to get a great job because they don't have to work?

2. "Family" business: Louisiana has a lot of industries that rely on "family" connections more so than education, training, or experience. Some of these include agriculture, River Boat Pilots, sugar refining, cotton mills, ect.

3. Government Jobs: Louisiana has nearly the highest number of government employees per capita of most any state. Government jobs generally require an education, but they often don't specify in what. Excelling isn't really that necessary.

4. Oil Industry: Oil exploration offers extremely high paying salaries to people who barely made it out of high school. It's an industry that values work ethic and experience above everything else. In Downstream oil & gas, opportunities for skilled tradesmen and operators are everywhere. After just 1 to 2 years, a GED graduate can be employed as a contractor or operator making close to 6 figures. Why strive for a university when you can have a better paying career faster without the student loans?

5. Professional Sports: Louisiana produces more professional athletes per capita than any other state. The amount of talent that makes it to the NFL and NBA is staggering. Nearly everyone knows at least one kid from their block who "made it". For me, it was Olympic Gold Medalist and former Brewer's Ace Ben Sheets. For many of my friends in Gonzales, it was Glen Dorsey or "Hot Rod" Williams. Many people in Baton Rouge played football alongside Warrick Dunn or basketball with Big Baby or Shaq. The examples are everywhere. This gives many kids the false hope that they too will make it to the big leagues. Why does education matter when you can be a millionaire athelete? Too many (see Ryan Perriloux) fall prey to that trap.