up in Huntsville, AL (one reason the article was interesting to me) and one of the most significant decisions I made when I was younger was going to college at UVA. The next was moving to the west coast after college rather than staying and working in DC, which I seriously considered. That led to opportunities in technology that was just coming to fruition. A ton of my friends who went to Alabama or Auburn, stayed in the state and they've done just fine, but almost all of them are from families who have been in Alabama for years and have deep ties and influence. My family were transplants, with my dad working in the space program. Most of the kids from families like mine left town also.

But one counter to the parenting argument is this; my father and his brother grew up in a dirt poor farm family in Arkansas. They were a close family but they certainly didn't want the same life. They wanted to leave and got the opportunity with the Navy and then the GI Bill to send them to college, my uncle as a chemist and my father as an engineer. The GI Bill is an excellent example of how public policy can change a country for the better. Graduates of that program were huge influencers in the growth of this country following WWII, not to mention building a strong middle class.