By Madison Waldie Posted June 2, 2011
“Hello. How ‘bout that ride in? I guess that’s why they call it Sin City.”
For a lot of people, Nevada is just slot machines, Vegas, and brothels. For us, it is home. Nevada is one of the only states in our nation that allows legal gambling. Our biggest city is known nationally as, “Sin City”. If that isn’t saying something about Nevada’s culture, I don’t know what is.
As of 2010, Nevada had the highest divorce rate in the nation. Our divorce rate stands at 6.6 per 1000 people.
In the last report done by the Guttmacher Institute, Nevada had the highest rate of teen pregnancy. 113 per every 1000 teenage girls, ages 15-19, in the year of 2006. This was five years ago! I am not saying that teens who get pregnant are bad people. Given more support and education, some of these unplanned births could be prevented.
In 2010, the Walletpop staff compiled a list of the most dangerous states. Not only did our home state make the list, but Nevada was number one, again! On a scale from 1 to 50, 1 being the worst, here is how The Silver State rated: Assault-8, Burglary-12, Murder-13, Motor Vehicle Theft-1, Rape-8, and Robbery-1.
Just this week, the number of unsheltered homeless people in Nevada is up by 19%.
When researching for this story I began to get upset with some of these facts. As citizens of Nevada, we are being stereotyped into these statistics. When you read the news online or watch Good Morning America, you never hear about Nevada in any good way, shape, or form.
In a February 2011 article about Nevada and Harry Reid’s thoughts, Dennis DiClaudio’s first sentence was, “Those poor Nevadanites, I feel so bad for them. First of all, they live in Nevada. Right there, huge bummer,”
“Only in Vegas, kids, do wannabe superheroes fight with tourists,” said Gretchen Carlson, a FOX and Friends anchor, on May 12, 2011.
Many people around the nation have stereotyped Nevada into nothing but filthy streets full of neon signs and ever-so-famous ‘porn cards’ that are handed out on the Vegas strip. I for one, do not feel proud to live here when the only things I hear coming out of the media are words like these.
As high school students, we are the next generation. We have an opportunity to change the ways that Nevada is thought of. Whether it is staying in school, to raise the 51.3% graduation rate that is the lowest in the nation, or finding a secure job to lower the 13.2% unemployment rate, that happens to be the nation’s highest.
Don’t get me wrong, Nevada has had a lot of good things happen here. As far as history and fame, I would say we rank fairly high, our lakes, reservoirs, and wonderful hunting areas have been nationally acclaimed. In all honesty, if we don’t fix some of our main problems like DUI rate, and the high school drop-out rate, our successes and accomplishments will be painted over with the upsetting numbers, alarming statistics, and unwanted “first-place” standings that Nevada now holds.
