Map Unfairly Tries to Prove People in Missouri Bootheel are Dumb

I feel compelled to come to the defense of my people. No, I have not lived in the Missouri Bootheel (yet), but I've found a map that claims the people there are dumb and I must prove with science that it's completely wrong.

Check out this map shared on the Missouri sub-Reddit. The word "dumb" is not used, but you can see the obvious inference.

Percent of people over 25 who have completed high school in the United States
byu/mikebellman inmissouri

I'm not questioning the accuracy of this American Community Survey 5-year estimate. Is it great to complete high school? Sure. Does everyone have a life situation that allows them to do it? Absolutely not.

I'll give you an example. I have an unnamed friend who decades ago had to drop out of school to get a full-time job to support his family after their dad left them. He had no choice. It was either work and eat or don't eat. I would also like to point out that life experience can be as valuable (if not more so) than school learning. I want to be clear that I'm not downplaying the importance of getting a good education. My argument (and defense of my Missouri Bootheel friends) is that you can't discount a person's intellect just because they didn't get a diploma. I have a few friends who graduated from the school of hard knocks that are smarter than many actual school graduates.