Posts Tagged ‘population movement’

Should we banish “brain drain” from our vocabulary

January 8th, 2010

In his report “Rural Migration:  The Brain Gain of Newcomers,” Ben Winchester tells us that many parts of rural Minnesota are experiencing a brain gain with new residents age 30-45 moving in.  This is a very important occurrence because rural areas tend to lose younger individuals as they go off to college. 

For those who haven’t read the report, I want to share a few insights Ben sent me via e-mail. 

First, Ben’s research leads him to believe the trend he discovered in Minnesota is widespread across the Rural Midwest, including South Dakota.  While I trust Ben’s academic prowess, I’d still like to see some research to support it.  After all, my South Dakota heritage tells me that all the good stuff happens to Minnesota and not South Dakota.

Second, he highlights a point made explicit in his report:  Over half of the residents moving to rural communities come with college degrees.  This trend has helped raise the educational attainment level of rural communities.  In other words, the communities are getting smarter, not dumber, which leads to his last point.

Finally, using the word “brain drain” to describe the rural population movement creates problems for us as we try to move rural communities forward.  As Ben writes, “the use of negative language to describe the dynamics of our small towns (brain drain, outmigration) makes it difficult to foresee a way forward for our rural people.” 

This last point is one that I’ve long agreed with.  From my economic development specialist’s perspective, using “brain drain” creates a marketing challenge.  Why would we expect outsiders to look positively at our communities when we imply that the smart people are all moving away?

But I’ve continued to use the phrase anyway for a couple reasons.  First, even though it’s negative, the phrase helps focus our attention on the issue of young people moving out of our communities.  And second, I’m not aware of a term to replace it with.  

Ben and I hope to get together sometime in the near future to discuss this and other issues.  I’m open to the possibility of banishing the word from my vocabulary.  But before I do, want to throw the topic out to our readers here at ReImagine Rural. 

Should we banish the phrase “brain drain” from our language?  And if so, how can we continue to focus attention on the need to create change in our rural communities so that they become more attractive places for young people?  What do you think?

Photo Credit:  spierzchala - Flickr

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Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Rural | Comments (15)