Comments on: Down the Drain

By: Don Weeks

Don Weeks — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:37:20 +0000

Annie Scott, with her ears and mind wide open, has shed more light on the topic of brain drain than the numerous studies and surveys over the decades. Her first- and second-person accounts are very telling and fascinating. She’s a good writer, too.

All of this hand-wringing is somewhat useful—we do want to improve career prospects for college grads and all job-seekers. But the fact of life is that Michigan does not, and never has and probably never will, provide the “vibrant city” experience that these young, idealistic future-of-the-world folks desire.

Our biggest city is in sad decline; our second biggest city is kind of boring (in the eyes if grads); our capital city is, of course, dominated by government.

For reasons best left to other areas of study, we do not have a Chicago, New York City, Seattle or Los Angeles here in Michigan. These are the exciting environs sought by young people looking for “cool cities.” You can’t just slap that label on some Michigan city and make it so.

The other side of this coin is the draw that Michigan has on the people who grew up here, which Annie also mentioned. I contend that most people who grew up in Michigan, and went elsewhere to find work when they were in their 20’s and 30’s, will return in their 40’s and 50’s to start or relocate their own businesses. If you’ve experienced the lakes, the north, the U.P., you will long for this while listening to the traffic noise in Baltimore or looking at the flat, treeless landscape of west Texas.

Yes, let’s do all we can to provide opportunities for people who want to work in Michigan. But let’s also be realistic and devote these efforts where we have the best chance of success. Build on what we have; don’t waste time and money building phony facades.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:57:23 +0000

My own college graduate children are leaving the state only because there is little opportunity for them here. Good jobs are important but I hesitate to urge them to rely on the green energy movement because that is driven by government and excessive hype. Energy is an infrastructure industry like roads and rail – providing necessary inputs to other businesses. It won’t matter much if there is no industry left to consume energy.

By: Christy

Christy — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:58:11 +0000

Even more important than creating “cool” cities (an initiative famoulsy touted by the governor), the focus should be on creating economic growth in Michigan. If jobs are available in a variety of fields more students will be willing to stay in state. I left Michigan for college, and every time I think about going back I wonder — but what kind of job could I have there? Efforts like the one to build a green energy industry are on the right track in terms of their potential to attract and keep highly educated talent in the state. Ambitious folks are looking for places where they can have successful careers — not just cool places to go out at night.

By: Rob Bacigalupi

Rob Bacigalupi — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:35:59 +0000

Annie:

Very important topic! The programs you mention are important, but not as much as fixing the base problem: better cities. Michigan college grads are going to continue to look elsewhere as long as Michigan can’t offer great cities to give them that “fast moving, big city” experience you spoke of. Michigan needs to deal with its substandard cities, and the sprawl that helps degrade them, in order to keep and attract talent.