Midwest Brain Drain?

We hear about the brain drain in Indiana all the time. How graduates from Indiana University, Purdue, Rose-Hulman, etc. are leaving the state after graduation. Is it real?

We also hear about lack of entrepreneurship and in turn funding in the Midwest. Maybe the brain drain is a root cause or at least attributes to this.

While reading “The Giant Sucking Sound” from The Urbanophile, I began to think more about this topic.

Maybe education and talent aren’t the most important thing in the long run. Maybe the “talent” that matters is a willingness to take risk, to change, and the desire to better one’s condition. I won’t suggest this is the only thing that matters, but it strikes me as important.

Interesting thought.

Ross Perot famously talked about a “giant sucking sound” from jobs headed south of the border. He was completely backwards. The real giant sucking sound is America hoovering up all of the risk takers, entrepreneurs and most motivated citizens of Mexico. We’re sending them a few jobs. They’re sending us their true “best and brightest”. We’re sending them some factories, they’re sending us their future.

The Urbanophile has a way of getting the gears turning. Maybe the Midwest brain drain will attribute to the growth an prosperity of this country in other ways. Maybe the Midwest needs to stop having the pity party and do something about it.