Anybody who equates a Marshall degree with what comes out of our state colleges has never worked with these people. I have. It is night and day. But, anyway, which is it? MU is just like Concord or State; or MU should go market itself to out-of-state kids four states away? Can't be both.
Anyway, the idea that MOST of WV's economy can be "diversified" ignores one basic fact. Is it that coal miners cannot be retrained into some other job? No, that is not only silly, but dumb, exhibiting a singular lack of understanding how modern coal mines work.
The issue is topography. Get a map of anyplace that has similar, or similarly bad, topography to MOST of WV, but without coal. This would include some parts of WV itself, as well as other parts of the Appalachians, south central Kentucky, northern New England, the Ozarks, UP of Michigan, or any such place. Tell me what you see.
What you will see is excess rural land. Land that has no economic value other than to be timbered every 20 years or so, with the occasional hardscrabble marginal farm. It is what that type of land, but for coal, is. No one was ever supposed to live there.
There are some exceptions. The I-64 corridor. Some places around F-C-M. The shores of the Ohio. Plus the ever expanding DC suburbs in the east. But the idea that somebody is going to build a factory in McDowell or Mingo is just fantasy. The idea that you are going to make Welch or Hamlin into the next San Jose is more so. If you live in the coalfields, the best thing you can do for yourself and your family is to GTFO of the coalfields.
The role of Marshall in that is obvious. It is to educate people to live in the broader world. Be that broader world Huntington, Parkersburg, Charlotte, or San Jose.
Anyway, the idea that MOST of WV's economy can be "diversified" ignores one basic fact. Is it that coal miners cannot be retrained into some other job? No, that is not only silly, but dumb, exhibiting a singular lack of understanding how modern coal mines work.
The issue is topography. Get a map of anyplace that has similar, or similarly bad, topography to MOST of WV, but without coal. This would include some parts of WV itself, as well as other parts of the Appalachians, south central Kentucky, northern New England, the Ozarks, UP of Michigan, or any such place. Tell me what you see.
What you will see is excess rural land. Land that has no economic value other than to be timbered every 20 years or so, with the occasional hardscrabble marginal farm. It is what that type of land, but for coal, is. No one was ever supposed to live there.
There are some exceptions. The I-64 corridor. Some places around F-C-M. The shores of the Ohio. Plus the ever expanding DC suburbs in the east. But the idea that somebody is going to build a factory in McDowell or Mingo is just fantasy. The idea that you are going to make Welch or Hamlin into the next San Jose is more so. If you live in the coalfields, the best thing you can do for yourself and your family is to GTFO of the coalfields.
The role of Marshall in that is obvious. It is to educate people to live in the broader world. Be that broader world Huntington, Parkersburg, Charlotte, or San Jose.