Don’t blame Mississippi’s working moms for state’s education woes
Let’s take a hard look at some facts about education in the poor and largely rural state of Mississippi. Nearly seven percent of adults in the state have less than a ninth-grade education. At least 15 percent of all adults in the state are illiterate, with the percentage approaching twice that in some of the state’s poorest and most rural counties.
The state ranks 48th in an annual ranking of U.S. education performance. Mississippi spends less on education than nearly every other state. Just 61 percent of Mississippi’s students graduate from high school on time—more than 10 percentage points below the national average.
All too often, the children of this state start behind and stay behind.
So what does Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant do when given a microphone at a Washington Post public forum earlier this week? Asked how America became “so mediocre” in its educational outcomes, he noted that both parents started working, and “the mom is in the workplace.”
The Republican governor knew he had put his foot in his mouth.
“I can just see the emails now,” Bryant said as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
Gov. Phil Bryant
The state ranks 48th in an annual ranking of U.S. education performance. Mississippi spends less on education than nearly every other state. Just 61 percent of Mississippi’s students graduate from high school on time—more than 10 percentage points below the national average.All too often, the children of this state start behind and stay behind.
So what does Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant do when given a microphone at a Washington Post public forum earlier this week? Asked how America became “so mediocre” in its educational outcomes, he noted that both parents started working, and “the mom is in the workplace.”
The Republican governor knew he had put his foot in his mouth.
“I can just see the emails now,” Bryant said as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
