The 'Brain Drain' revisited

A few months ago, I read an opinion piece in the Gazette by J.L. Schmidt discussing “Brain Drain,” the net loss of high academic achievers to other states. The premise was an x-tweet by Governor Pillen about 31 Nebraska students who earned perfect scores on the ACT exam. Pillen expressed hopes that those students would return to Nebraska after college.

After commenting on Pillen’s social media policies, Schmidt wrote about Nebraska’s net outmigration since 2010. He discussed the growing number of people leaving our state and the disproportionate exodus of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher. He also determined that most of the whiz kids Pillen wished to praise would attend college out-of-state.

Schmidt concluded by pointing out that Nebraska’s top scholars are motivated by full-ride scholarships and programs not available in-state. He mentioned a student who will study astronautical engineering with ambitions of working for NASA but also looks forward to leaving Nebraska to “see what’s out there.” Schmidt then bypassed the endemic causes of outmigration, citing “the spirit of adventure” as sufficient reason to leave our state.

While Schmidt’s conclusion didn’t resonate with me, his description of the announced plans of the 31 ACT whiz-kids reminded me of a story I published in 2002. Our intrepid reporter interviewed valedictorians from Lakeside, Hitchcock, McCook, Republican Valley, Twin Valley, Arapahoe, and Cambridge High Schools. Of the seven, only one valedictorian planned to remain in Southwest Nebraska.

Twenty years later, we’re still having the same conversation. I was recently reminded of these issues by a Gazette editorial that, ironically, runs adjacent to Schmidt’s weekly column. The Gazette editorial dug deeper into the topic, citing the too-familiar statistics about people with degrees leaving the state and the more recent exodus of young people without degrees.

The Gazette article concluded that a comprehensive approach to the problem should be considered, including ”addressing housing challenges, promoting diversity and inclusion, strengthening the employment pipeline, and exploring innovative strategies to attract and retain a diverse range of talents.”

What the Gazette Editorial gets right, and the good Mr. Schmidt is missing, is that the problem with brain drain is not that our youth will be curious enough to go out and see the world. The problem with brain drain is that they must.

The most desirable employment opportunities simply don’t exist in our neighborhood. To borrow from Mr. Schmidt’s example, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to find Nebraska’s job opportunities insufficient, and that trend is now growing in the ranks of non-degreed workers.

The good news is that we are blessed to have a group of relatively young, forward-thinking people in the community who do more than write about it. They are pushing for the infrastructure and amenities that combine to create capacity for recruiting employers.

From the walking trail (now approaching 20 years old) to the new swimming pool, the injection of capital and excitement into our arts scene, and the embrace of our minority community in the brilliant Día de los Muertos celebration (whoever thought of that deserves to take a bow), our city is moving in a positive direction and is garnering state and national recognition for doing so.

Corporate site-selection committees look for more than amenities like vibrant downtown areas and recreational opportunities. Proximity to inputs and customers, access to shipping channels, and quality of infrastructure are all essential factors. They look at the availability of healthcare, and ours compares favorably with communities of similar size. Efforts to shore up housing and industrial infrastructure are also in process.

In my view, the piece of the puzzle still missing is education. Although I often wish our schools had a more rigorous academic atmosphere, our primary and secondary schools are safe; our teachers are caring and competent. My concern is that as good as our Junior College may be, our increasingly complex world demands a four-year degree or higher.

Unfortunately, we are currently in an anti-education environment. A failed student loan system, bloated tuition costs, and a lack of ideological diversity have made higher education unfashionable among the communities that need it the most. Perhaps this is Mid-Plains’ golden opportunity to offer reasonably priced, career-directed four-year programs without unnecessary political baggage.

I know that’s a big ask. The more realistic approach may be to expand distance learning and our association with Bellevue University, but above all else, our youth are our most valuable natural resource. Thanks to generous donors and hardworking organizers, we’re creating a place where our young people want to live. Let’s make it a place where they can.