Tag Archives: poverty

Tone Deaf Privilege

human rights, politics,
Crimson and Clover

Fifteen years ago, my husband and I left the once-sleepy college town turned retirement mecca and moved south across the river (think wrong side of the tracks). We bought a farm, grew some food, raised pigs and chickens. While we have mostly left farming behind, we continue to live in our old farmhouse on the edge of a tiny town. In those 15 years, we have learned a lot about what it means to be underprivileged and underserved in America.

It was with that perspective that I read a thread from an urbanite this morning who listed all the companies he and his family would be boycotting from Amazon to Walmart. He also helpfully shared the businesses, both online and offline, that his family would be supporting. If you were wealthy and lived in a city with a car or good public transportation, it sounded quite doable. He admitted it took more time and planning but was willing to make the sacrifice to lodge his protest.

When one of his followers did suggest that those in “rural-esque” areas (fyi: we call it the country) might find this more of a struggle, the writers and his followers immediately went to the buying online argument, noting that you might incur shipping costs. But, again, all in sacrifice to this greater good they were pursuing.

I had to put the phone down and walk away as I make it a general rule not to engage on social media and, by this point, was just shaking my head at how little these people understood of the world beyond their bubble of privilege. My favorite part was the discussion of toilet paper. Of course, they all use bamboo toilet paper that, according to the writer, is generally the same price as the regular stuff. Seriously? Maybe in the city. The brand he referenced runs about $2/roll. In my “rural-esque” community, toilet paper is widely available at less than $1/roll. It may not be as soft or smooth on your bum, but it gets the job done.

One replier talked about missing the lovely vegetables at his upscale market. Unless you grow them and slaughter them yourself, fresh vegetables and meat are not available in my town. There was a grocery store in the town when we moved there: it smelled bad, and I learned that “manager’s special” meant items were often long out of date. It closed a decade ago so now the nearest full-service grocery store is almost ten miles away. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot for suburban commuters, but many people in my town do not have cars. There is no public transportation. They are limited to what can be purchased from one of the three discount stores. While those stores increased their inventory of food when the grocery has closed, they do not have fresh food, and the packaged food is low-end and over-processed. Even now, the milk delivery truck doesn’t always make it in time to replace the outdated milk. I laughed out loud at the writer when he described how they were now buying directly from a butcher and a baker, “just like the old days.” Again, seriously? My town probably had those things in the old days, but when the lumber mill closed, most businesses went right along with it.

I hesitate to jump into the conversation about why Democrats lost, but this thread gives a glimpse into one possibility. Poor “rural-esque” people (I just can’t quite get over that description) are struggling and were largely invisible in the previous election. As far as I know, neither of my senators, both good Democrats, has ever visited our town. At the fall festival, the local Democrats couldn’t even put together a booth.

Since Democrats seem to be starting from scratch, here’s a humble suggestion: come to my town and every other town like mine. There are plenty of them: if you drive Route 460 in Virginia to get to the beach, you pass through them. You may have gotten a speeding ticket because you decided you didn’t need to slow down to 35 when you passed through my town. Sorry, not sorry. Your law breaking (yes, friends, speeding IS breaking the law) helps fund our police force that does a lot of good community work.

I am sending out an open invitation to anyone who is interested to come to my town. We are happy to have you stay with us since the closest hotel is 30 minutes away on the interstate. On second thought, if you do stay at the hotel, your drive to my town will allow you to experience rural America: there are still crops and fields and animals, but more and more of the land is being taken over for industrial solar. I support solar as I know most liberals do, but I wonder how happy those in surbuban-esque areas would be if the fields outside their town suddenly sprouted solar panels. I can’t say for sure, but I suspect they would come down with a whole lot of NIMBY.

I know a few people who read my writing, and my intention is not to offend but rather help you see past your privilege. It took me some time, too. I remember how shocked I was to discover the closest dry cleaner was in my old town, a ferry ride away. What did these people do? Well, clothing at the dollar store is never dry clean only. And, to be completely transparent, my privilege is one of the reasons I can live here. I can afford to have food and essential supplies delivered to my house. I have a car to get to the “urban-esque” areas when I need to. We provide rides when we can and help our neighbors order online as their Internet access is often limited to cell phones with strict data plans.

Phew! I think I have had this rant in me for awhile. I know you may be wondering who, if anyone, these people voted for. It doesn’t matter. They have been left behind by everyone, Democrats, Independents, Greens, and Republicans alike. They are mostly invisible to the rest of the country. Perhaps I can help bring them into the light.

Meanwhile, go on with the boycotts and the protests. Wealthy white people tend to get attention and if your dollars start to make a difference in the pocketbooks of these companies, it could help. And, also spend some time learning about the struggle of rural communities. This article from The Chronicle of Philanthropy is a good starting point. You can learn more about poor people in the United State at the Poor People’s Campaign.

It’s Not About Unions Either

Education, school reform,

I caught the tail end of this CBS News report this morning. It’s the typical kind of media coverage of teacher unions that gives one hugely horrible example of how tenure protected someone who shouldn’t have been in the classroom in the first place and then suggests we need to get rid of unions completely. If the laws are making it difficult to get an abuser out of the classroom then those laws need to be modified. But doing away with teacher unions, which is the real purpose of the multi-billionaires who are funding this lawsuit, is not the answer if the question is how do we make teachers more effective and students more successful?

How great it would be if the billionaires put their money into the classroom to provide coaching and support for teachers to help them become more effective. Think of how far all that money that is currently going to lawyers on both sides would go if the two groups worked together to identify the most challenging environments where teachers, students and their families need substantial social, emotional and economic support to succeed. Let’s move beyond union busting to have the harder conversations about equity and opportunity in this country. Maybe like they are doing in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

At the end of the piece, the commentators all agreed that providing the best education for these kids is the answer to everything so even though they sympathized with the teacher, we just have to guarantee that a good teacher is in every classroom, and they seemed to support this lawsuit. Certainly having effective teachers is essential, but I’m not sure this lawsuit would really make that happen. And, honestly, the better answer to everything would be to figure out how to lift every kid out of poverty.

Getting Started with Kozol

Education,

I haven’t set a new 30 day challenge but I am at least thinking about what I am going to read for the next month.  I have been reveling in fiction lately but feeling like I need to dig into some more serious reading. I looked back at my post about the banned books in Arizona. It’s been a very long time since I read Jonathan Kozol so yesterday I pulled Death At An Early Age off the shelf. (I just bought a digital copy of Savage Inequalities so that will be next.) From there, I will dive into the Latino literature on the list with maybe a side of Howard Zinn.  I’m about half way through A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present and this would be an excuse to finish it.

My biggest problem is finding time to read this kind of serious writing. It can’t be at night before I go to sleep because i am simply not attentive enough. Night time is all about easy fiction and falling asleep with a book in your hand. Kozol, Zinn and Latino literature deserve my full attention.

Yesterday, I found that time and dug into Death At An Early Age. His descriptions of the lives of the students and the teachers who expect so little from them is painfully raw in its honesty:

For it is the Boston schoolteachers themselves who for years have been speaking of the Negro children in their charge as animals and the school building that houses them as a zoo. And it is well known by now how commonly the injustices and depredations of the Boston school system have compelled its Negro pupils to regard themselves with something less than the dignity and respect of human beings…the price it exacted was paid ultimately by every child, and in the long run I am convinced that the same price has been paid by every teacher too (1967, p. 7).

We all pay when people are not treated with respect and dignity. And while No Child Left Behind suggested that it was about equality, it did nothing to change the classroom culture but simply said, you need to get everyone to pass a test, a distraction from the real issues that are harder to address. Here’s Kozol on NCLB:

NCLB widens the gap between the races more than any piece of educational legislation I’ve seen in 40 years. It denies inner-city kids the critical-thinking skills to interrogate reality. When they reach secondary school, they can’t participate in class discussions. Only 4 percent of Chicago high school graduates complete four years of college. Ninety-six percent drop out because they’ve never learned to pose discerning questions. NCLB’s fourth-grade gains aren’t learning gains, they’re testing gains. That’s why they don’t last. The law is a distraction from things that really count. There’s nothing in it about class size. Children in the top suburban schools – Brookline, for instance – are in classes of 16 or 18 students. Inner-city schools often have 32 students in elementary school classes and up to 40 in high school classes.

Not surprisingly, Kozol draws attacks. Clearly, Jay Greene is not impressed. And The Weekly Standard makes fun of him, a sure sign he is a danger.

Yet, even as I was writing this entry, Tavis Smiley’s report Too Important to Fail came on. The program focuses on the increased drop out rate amongst teens, especially young Black men and highlights schools that are making a difference in their lives. He is interviewing the principal of a Philadelphia high school who calls these young men victims of Society. They’ve had experiences they shouldn’t have had and they bring those experiences with them to school. Thinking you can ignore that baggage leads to clashes in the classroom. The principal focuses his attention on building relationships with the students to help draw them into the school, baggage and all, and let them see that there is a place for them in school.

We are still fighting the battles for equality of access and opportunity and we’re lucky to have Kozol to continue to lead the way.

 

 

Whole System Reform: Balancing the Reaction to Poverty

Education

One of Michael Fullan and Joanne Quinn’s big ideas at the ISTE Leadership Forum was that we are after Whole System Reform. This is not the typical educational approach where we tinker, tightening a bolt here, putting on some oil there. We don’t get to the heart of what really needs to be done to ensure we realize Jefferson’s vision:

I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised, for the preservation of freedom and happiness…Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish & improve the law for educating the common people. Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against these evils [tyranny, oppression, etc.] and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.

Fullan and Quinn focused on the education system as the system to be reformed.  But, and increasing focus on poverty’s affects suggests that real school reform can only come when it looks beyond the walled garden of the school system to the neighborhood beyond.

In a guest post for Larry Cuban, John Spencer writes about the need to carefully balance accountability with a concern for student welfare.  Recognize the effects of poverty without making it an excuse. He tells the story of Marcus Foster, a Civil Rights era educator who refused to accept limitations for his students but also worked to hold everyone in the system accountable:

On one occasion, for example, he closed the Oakland schools and transported thirty busloads of Oaklanders to the state capitol to seek more support for needy urban students—resulting not only in more money but in “three-thousand folks of all persuasions saying, ‘We stand together for schools.’”

He points to the Broader, BOLDER Approach to Education as an organization trying to bridge the gap by acknowledging that a healthy child is a better learner. They also focus on the need to focus on the time students spend outside of school and call for organized learning activities that take better advantage of that time:

Successful programs do not exclusively focus on academic remediation. Rather, they provide disadvantaged children with the cultural, organizational, athletic, and academic enrichment activities that middle-class parents routinely make available to their own children.

A proposal like this emphasizes the need for a bigger view than just the school system as the approach will have to include parents and the community if it is to work effectively.  We are all accountable for having healthy children who can be successful learners and something like this can’t simply fall on the shoulders of school teachers.  This is a community rallying to the aid of its youngest,  most vulnerable members.

 

 

The Voices of Teachers

Education

Diane Ravitch and Anthony Cody encouraged teachers to write letters to President Obama relating their experiences of Race to the Top and high stakes testing. They are amazing: the voices of people who work so hard for kids every day only to be treated as though they are the ones standing in the way, demonized as union cronies or second rate hacks. They have been publishing some of them to their respective blogs and I would encourage you to read them.  Here’s the one I tweeted out this morning. Shelley Barker from Washington State thinks about the differences between her honors kids and her not-so-honors kids and comes to this wrenching conclusion:

Obviously, the variable is the vast differences in my students’ lives. We cannot ignore the fact that some kids come to us programmed to learn. They’ve had amazing experiences in their short lives. They have parents who support their endeavors, be they academic, artistic, or athletic. They do not come to school hungry and they do not go to bed scared. They travel during school breaks. Their houses are warm and their many pairs of shoes fit. My students who live in poverty do not have their basic needs met. In addition to lacking food, shelter, water, and clothing, many live in chaos. Violence, missing parents, low wages, drug use, loss of employment…the list goes on. How can a child focus on crafting a good title or writing an engaging lead when so many forces, out of her control, take center stage in her brain and her psyche? I’m positive you studied Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in your academic years. NOTHING that propels growth can happen in a person’s life until those very basic needs are met.

The letter is eloquent and raw at the same time as you feel her anguish over these students. No five point plan or extra testing or charter school or voucher program is going to solve this.  Lyndon Johnson declared a War on Poverty and many of the programs like food stamps and Medicaid that are now under fire were put into place in his administration.

Yet, poverty wasn’t mentioned once in any of the debates, and one of the candidates famously said that he didn’t really worry about the very poor since they were taken care of, as though we had somehow solved the issue of poverty in this country.  We can talk all we want about having a first class education in this country but until we figure out how to reduce the 15% poverty rate, we’ll never succeed.