Is it fair to say that Indiana seems to have the most teen pregnancies, young obesity and lowest education?

Question

It seems to me just from living in the state that most teens are pregnant pretty young, most teens and 20's people are obese and the education level is low. Most people I went to school with are fat, have many kids and work at Walmart or some other extremely low income job.

Answer 1

Look, Bob- this is an answer you probably won't like, because I don't agree with you, not one bit. I was RAISED in Indiana- I lived there for over 25 years, from the time I was 4 until I was in my early to mid 30's- and during that time, I knew only 3 teenagers who got pregnant in high school. These girls were classmates of mine- and at least one of them went on to have a successful college and military career. I still keep in touch with her, in fact- she's a Purdue alumni and has traveled all over the world during her service in the army. Yes, she has a lot of kids- but not all of them are hers. Some of them are her husband's, from HIS first marriage. My classmate is also a rare example of someone who married the father of the baby she had in high school, and actually made the relationship work, which in this day and age is exceptional by itself. She's not obese or even overweight- and right now, she works for Verizon wireless as a supervisor. I don't know as much about the other two girls- one of them is still living in the Lafayette area ( I was raised in West Lafayette, and am a Harrison High School alumni) and has 2 kids now, but I am not sure what she does for a living. The other girl has disappeared from my life- and she was not at our 25th reunion last year.

I don't think it's very fair of you to generalize and categorize the entire population of the state of Indiana this way. Yes, there are people there who are overweight or obese- but that is no different from any other state in the country. Likewise, the rates of teen pregnancy were always low when I was growing up there- and I got the impression that things haven't changed all that much when I was there last summer for the reunion. Of course there are people who work at Wal Mart there- but have you really looked at Indiana's over all cost of living lately? The cost of living there is about half what it costs to live in most of the rest of the country, and about a third of what it costs to live in a place like California, New York, or Washington state. Indiana is still one of the only places left in the US where you can actually rent a decent sized apartment for under $ 500 a month. I should know, because I lived there for so long. One of my brothers was born in the state, in fact, and so was my late stepdad, who at one point was a senior vice president at Purdue, and was a faculty member there for most of his life and career. I hardly consider my stepdad to have been in the category that YOU have described- he wasn't, by any stretch of the imagination.

As for the schools and education issue, Indiana is actually blessed with some of the best schools in the country, I think, as well as several renowned institutions of higher education. Where would the US be if it were not for Purdue, which gave us Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon?? Ever heard the song called the "Wabash Cannonball"? Well, that was written by the poet/lyricist James Whitcomb Riley, who was an Indiana native. In more recent times, Indiana has also produced its share of famous people, including the singer John Melloncamp, who was born and raised in Vigo County, in the southern part of the state. The song "Small Town" which won him a bunch of awards and has sold millions of copies, is about the town Melloncamp was born in- Brazil, Indiana. There is nothing wrong with the schools in that part of the state, and there is nothing wrong with the ones where I grew up, either. I have a college degree myself, and I don't work at Wal Mart- and I never have. I shop there because the food is less expensive than it is in other places, but that doesn't mean they have ever employed me.

I think you need to base your beliefs on something other than just generalizing people. Indiana has its problems, yes, but then so does every other state.