Quick intro from Cool Poppa:

Remember your old boring Geography class in school? Did you ever wonder whether it really mattered if you knew exactly where various states were located in the United States? Really, you are not even able to drive yet and what if you never planned on even visiting those states when you got older? Well, I’ve noticed the fruits of this mentality in adults over the years, so this year I wanted to try something different with the Tribe. 

Now in full disclosure, Lil Pappa (my dad) would take the fam across the country to California and one of my favorite activities (besides counting BJ Trucks…but more on that another day) was following along in the atlas, and observing the topography and demographics in each state. 

 

Therefore, we are combining Geography with a bit of Sociology. We are choosing various states and besides just asking questions like, “What are the main tourist attractions in the state?”, they are making a short analysis of each state within Neely Fuller’s Nine Areas of People Activity paradigm: 

1. Economics
2. Education
3. Entertainment
4. Labor
5. Law
6. Politics
7. Religion
8. Sex
9. War/Counter-War

With that background, I pass it over to Lexi…

For my geography work, I had to answer questions on the state of Arizona. I gathered information and answered questions in the areas of economics and education, and then put the data into a chart form. The first question I had to answer was for economics.

1. How well is Arizona doing economically? 

• The unemployment rate is 6.2%, which is 0.8% higher than the national average.
• The job growth rate is 2.53%
• The sales tax in Arizona is 8.6%
• The median household income is $49,928
• In business growth from 2013-2014, it was -0.2%

   2. Is there a difference between various people groups in Arizona?

I gathered this information and then put it into two charts, one for Race and one for the political party affiliation:

 

I had to also answer two questions on the subject of education.

1. Where is Arizona ranked educationally?

• Arizona was ranked number 48 in 2016 for the United States.
• Arizona has one of the highest pupil-teacher ratios.
• In 2013 Arizona spent $7,620 for each student.
• There are about 33,965 homeschoolers in Arizona from 2016-2017

2. Is there a difference between various people groups in education levels? 

I put together I chart that shows college graduation rate for four-year graduates:

 

 

This lesson really helped me understand more about the state of Arizona and finally know the sales tax!