Educating a populace for a town with no jobs?

The New York Times reported yesterday from Welch, West Virginia, in coal country.  The headline is "A Fading Coal County Bets on Schools, but There's One Big Hitch."  That big hitch is jobs--or the lack thereof.  The county is aiming to do a better job of getting more teens through high school and on to college, but then what?  Not much, if the job situation in that corner of southern West Virginia--coal country--doesn't improve.  Indeed, the whole story reminds me of something an Australian rural sociologist commented on years ago:  smart rural girls are expected to become teachers.  That's a solution to part of the problem, but not nearly all of it.  That said, it's interesting that the newly  minted teachers featured in the story are women.  Here are two key quotes from the story: 

Notably, the teachers’ federation acknowledges the tension between the goal of preparing the young to grasp future opportunities and the fact that there are few of those in town. Bob Brown, the federation’s main person in McDowell County, noted that “there is a very small percentage of high school graduates who stay.” As Ms. Keys sees it: “The options are you get a job as a teacher or you leave.”

McDowell is poor — one of the poorest counties in the country. Over half of its children do not live with their biological parents, who are often addled by opioids, in prison or dead. Among residents 25 or older, only about one in five has a bachelor’s degree.

The county is hoping that it has a future in ecotourism, which would employ more skilled graduates:

Now Welch is putting its hopes in tourism, mostly revolving around trails for all-terrain vehicles that draw crowds every weekend. It hopes to expand this into zip-lining, kayaking and whatever else will attract people willing to spend money.

And here's a quote from Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers:  

You can turn around schooling, but if you can't turn around the economy, it's not enough.  

Welch's population is just 2,406.  McDowell County's population is 22,113. Prior posts about McDowell County are here.  I will also add that Welch reminds me of my hometown--in terms of its percentage of adults who have Bachelor's degrees and in terms of there being no jobs for educated folks except teaching.  I'm also reminded of something a rural sociologist from Australia said to me years ago:  smart rural girls are supposed to become teacher.  There's no higher aspiration or expectation--at least not without moving away.