The technological revolution, rising levels of college applicants, and an infatuation with subcultural social trends have all become hallmarks of the 21st century inextricably linked to the nexus from which they sprang – youth. Now more than ever, in an era of globalization and digitalization, the importance of a young, educated workforce is considered essential for assured economic survival.
Largely, the United States has wrestled with the issue of educating its students to compete in a global market economy. However, on a more local level, Maine is struggling just to keep its head above water.
A disturbing trend has developed in the Pine Tree State over the past decade or so wherein more and more young college graduates, both from and educated in Maine, are electing to vacate the state’s territory rather than remain, or return to the state, to start their careers and plant their roots.
Statistically, this dilemma is significant. The Finance Authority of Maine investigated the issue in 2004 and compiled a comprehensive report that indicated that only 24.2 percent of Maine residents age 25 to 65 have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher, indicating a low retention rate for college-educated citizens. Moreover, the report evidenced that approximately half of all Maine students chose not to return to live in the state after earning a college degree. In short, young, college-educated citizens in Maine are (and have been) fleeing Maine borders for some time now and in alarming numbers.
Nearly all previous analyses of the threatening intellectual drought in this state have focused on jobs and employment opportunity – and rightly so, with employment opportunities becoming scarcer commodities across the map. However, the exclusivity of these analyses is a myopic view that Maine officials can hardly afford to adopt. Instead, it should be considered that the dwindling aspects of community wealth of social capital – personal and business relationships/connections – across the nation are having an insidious and drastic effect on Maine’s brain drain.
Robert Putnam, a political scientist and professor at Harvard University, has studied the phenomena of social and community stagnation extensively. In his 2000 work, “Bowling Alone,” Putnam addresses what he considers to be a national malaise with regard to human-to-human activity and cultivation of social capital, focusing on American youth as the most susceptible social group. For Putnam, younger Americans are becoming more exclusive, introverted and individualized.
Perhaps Putnam is onto something here. But does a degradation of community exist in Maine? And if so, is it really impacting our youth to the point of driving them away?
Kristen Johnson, 28, is a former Maine resident and student of the Rochester Institute of Technology currently living in Massachusetts who echoed Putnam’s concerns in describing her choice to leave Maine in pursuit of better career opportunities.
“Growing up, I can’t say that I really felt a strong connection with my community outside of the connections I made at school, with close friends, or my family,” said Johnson. “As a Mainer, I’ll always have roots here, but I feel like my connections are more personal and not so much a product of the community around me.”
When asked if the lacking aspect of community had an impact on her decision to pursue a career elsewhere, Johnson was definitive.
“It had a huge impact on my decision,” she said. “The fact that the only things holding me back were my ties to my friends and family, who I could always keep in contact with, made it very easy for me to (leave Maine).”
Another former resident, Brett Bisesti, 20, grew up in Raymond and attended Hebron Academy before choosing to attend Bentley University in Massachusetts. Largely, Bisesti echoed Johnson’s sentiments about a seeming lack of community ties among young Mainers, but noted that the phenomenon wasn’t unique to the state.
“I’ve always believed that life is what you make it through personal decisions,” said Bisesti. “Sure, it’s true that a lot of young people in Maine are less involved than previous generations, but no matter where you go you have to actively search to get involved. Ultimately, while I feel this is a serious problem for Maine, I also have hope because I feel like Maine communities are more prone to involvement.”
As evidenced by Bisesti, the problem isn’t necessarily a Maine-specific issue. Youth across the nation are documented as being “less involved” than previous generations. The problem is that Maine, because of its small population, can ill-afford to lose potential business leaders and educated minds who venture off in search of making connections elsewhere.
One such leader, Westbrook City Councilor and businessman Brendan Rielly, believes the answer resides in early youth involvement.
“Maine communities like Westbrook are great places to live and raise a family,” said Rielly. “What’s striking to me, however, are the number of young students, some 75 percent, that aren’t involved in any activities both in and out of school. That needs to change. We need to get children more involved in their communities because the opportunities for a successful future in Maine are present and immense.”
In the end, it is this sentiment on which we must focus. Community connections are forged, not handed down. Surely, Maine should be seen a fertile field wherein cultivation of the fruits of citizenship and social capital will yield vast returns if proper understanding and innovative change are applied by current community leaders.
Perhaps the problem is both economic and social for young Mainers looking to start their lives after college. Perhaps the solution is for Maine communities to make an impact on youngsters before they head off to college, bolstering community ties.
Perhaps it’s finally time for Maine to heed its own history and stymie the effects of a national crisis at home, remembering always: “As Maine goes, so goes the nation.”
Joe Gousse is a senior at the University of New England in Biddeford majoring in political science and graduated Westbrook High School in 2008. This article is in response to the Citizenship Seminar course offered at UNE that encourages senior students to explore and engage the topics of citizenship and community on both a local and global level.
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