How can Oklahoma retain its college grads? Here's what readers say about 'brain drain'
When The Oklahoman asked readers whether there was a "brain drain" in our state, they had plenty to say about why graduates are leaving. And a few offered advice on how to persuade them to stay.
Some mentioned politics, racism, micromanaged women's health care and fewer job opportunities as reasons why a graduate might choose to leave Oklahoma. But others countered that mentoring and a "modern, diversified Oklahoma economy" were reasons they might choose to stay.
So, does Oklahoma have a brain drain?
Here's what readers had to say:
From our survey form 📋
Allure of mentoring, life quality
The brain drain is subsiding, but still exists. For the average student, the biggest predictor of where they will work at after graduation is the state where they received their bachelor's degree. However, the exceptional student will tend to migrate to the place with the highest academic expectation. The research I have seen (pre-COVID) suggests that about half of the young adults that leave the state after graduation return when they have been mentored in a profession and begin the process of raising a family. The 20-year process of increasing Oklahoma City’s quality of life has been a significant factor in decreasing Oklahoma’s brain drain.
— Bart Binning, Oklahoma City
More: Does Oklahoma have a 'brain drain?' Maybe the answer is in one's own experiences.
State's 'repressive legislation'
I think there is definitely going to be a brain drain as well as missed opportunities to recruit prized corporations and employers due to the continuing repressive legislation and rhetoric coming out of our state government.
— John Privette, Edmond
A more hospitable place to live
When legislators in the state Capitol refer to Oklahomans as "filth," that's a powerful incentive to seek a more hospitable place to live. It points to the fact that the problem with Oklahoma goes much deeper than politics. It presents Oklahomans with a rigid culture that does not welcome those seeking the freedom to live their own lives. A genuine free market could go a long way toward fixing that by giving Oklahomans the freedom to create and share their own values. This is what transformed Hong Kong from a sleepy fishing village into one of the greatest financial capitals in the world before China took away its freedom. Oklahoma would do well to learn from Hong Kong's example.
— Rob Abiera, Oklahoma City
Oklahoma 'breaks my heart'
Everyone knows the obvious answer, the state government is dominated by politicians that support and promote discriminatory racist, sexist ideals. Does not invest in public education nor health care. The supposed valuing of life and family values is a farce, only when it applies to a select few. I was born and raised in Oklahoma, went to college in Oklahoma, but the thought of retiring there is not a possibility considering the state of politics. My home state saddens me and breaks my heart.
— Kevin Benjamin, Houston, Texas
Not a place for young people?
It is very evident that graduates have better opportunities in other states. However, I believe that many just don’t want to live and start families in a state micromanages women’s healthcare. Oklahoma has already been taken over by the right wing extremists who want to tell its citizens what to think. Honest discussion about history is made a crime. Education is underfunded and run by a man who only cares about how he is viewed and not the education of children in this state. Oklahoma is not a place where young people want to make a living and raise families.
— Lawrence Burger, Alva
Choosing to stay in Oklahoma
I graduated high school and college in the '70s; there was definitely a brain drain back then. I don't see a brain drain now. I think our much more modern, diversified Oklahoma economy has made it much easier for our young people to stay here. In my family, there are around twenty or thirty 20-somethings and 30-somethings, some college educated and some not, who have chosen to raise their families and work in Oklahoma.
— Fred Berry, Oklahoma City
MD: Moving out in May
As an MD graduate, my primary goal when applying to medical residency programs was to leave Oklahoma. This is entirely because of Oklahoma's politics. As a queer physician who is passionate about civil rights, I was afraid to stay here. The idea of practicing medicine under a state government that feels entitled to intrude on and criminalize the care I provide while fearing for my community's physical safety was too terrifying to seriously consider, and made leaving the state feel like a necessity more than a preference. Consequently, I will be moving out of state to train as a family physician in May despite the dire shortage of primary care providers in Oklahoma.
— Austin McCauley, Oklahoma City
Have they lost their voice?
Oklahoma politics have become so divisive, and with so many young voters registering as independents they feel like their vote doesn’t count because of closed partisan primaries. Let’s start by opening the primaries so that they don’t feel unheard. Then maybe things will move toward the center and the state will not be run by the extreme right.
— Beth Donica Sackett, Tulsa
From our inbox ✉
'NOT what Oklahomans want'
It has to do with politics. Women’s rights are slowly being taken away and the political environment is not conducive to what the people want or think. Ryan Walters is a terrible education leader and should be fired. His politics are the worse and he keeps saying this is what Oklahomans want. IT IS NOT what Oklahomans want, it is only what he wants and he is being very selfish and only taking his views in consideration.
When I retire in 2025 I plan on moving if Stitt or Walters are still in office. I hate that Oklahoma is 49th in education and the same with all of the other problems we are having. It is very sad that we are going in the wrong direction. This feels like the '50s all over again.
— Gay Thurman, Mustang
Fighting the brain drain
Since 2010 I have run a not-for-profit foundation that provides scholarships for Oklahoma students who will attend Oklahoma colleges, universities and OSUIT: the Jimmie L Dean Scholarship Foundation. We interview every eligible applicant as our mission is to find students who will stay in Oklahoma after graduation. We are on the front lines of fighting the brain drain so our data is firsthand. Our students have to major in what we call applied sciences, so basically STEM majors.
The state doesn’t have to attract these young adults as they have grown up here. We have found that our students who leave the state after graduation do so for economic reasons. They found a job in another state, went to graduate school in another state or went to medical school in another state. We have also found that several wanted to stay here but the companies did not prioritize Oklahoma students when hiring. One student with a master's degree in engineering with a 3.0+ GPA sent out 27 resumes to Oklahoma companies and did not receive one interview.
Maybe a more concerted effort on the part of Oklahoma companies and the placement office of our universities to do more to keep our homegrown students here is the place to start.
— Robert Boyd, Owasso
'Too conservative' for millenials
Until 2022 I had been a lifelong resident of northeast Oklahoma. I now live in the Colorado mountains, which as you can imagine, is a much more liberal political environment. While I love Oklahoma, and I am not taking sides here, and from the outside looking in, Oklahoma is seen as too conservative by millennials. The constant political decisions based on religious ideology is a turnoff to most people — and I say that as a conservative. Women’s health care, schools, roads, environment — it goes on and on. Decisions made at the state level are just laughable to people of the next generation. It won’t change until Oklahoma voters get rid of the kangaroo court that is the state Legislature and the governor’s office.
— Kurt Zumwalt, Crested Butte, Colorado
Is it too late for Oklahoma?
The opinion question comes too late since the Republican Legislature and the Republican governor who could have vetoed House Bill 4156 are making Oklahoma a fearful place for immigrant families who have children in schools, who have jobs and have created opportunities for their children to have a wonderful education.
It is too late also because voters want a basketball arena and cannot afford a new jail.
It is too late due to the vilification of those who are LGBTQ+ and transgender who want to live a normal life.
It is too late due to the exodus of EXCELLENT PHYSICIANS who have the know-how and skills from whom Republican legislators did not want to hear how to understand transgender adolescents.
It is too late because, oh, I could not forget the embarrassing head of the Oklahoma State Department of Education has not been impeached.
It is too late because the head of the state Education Department has caused the number of amazing educators to depart classrooms and perhaps cross the borders to find appreciation for skills we have lost.
My sincere regrets.
My condolences to sorrowful Oklahoma for "it" being too late.
— Donna O'Keefe, Edmond
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Does Oklahoma have a 'brain drain' issue? Readers talk grads leaving
