In There
Are No Children Here the author
tells a narrative of two young boys growing up in the Horner Projects of
Chicago. The neighborhood they are born into has a huge impact on the way they
live their lives and neighborhoods like the one described in this story are
found all over America and are causing great deals of harm to individual's
lives. In chapter 8 of The
New Urban Sociology the authors describe neighborhood formation process and
the type of neighborhoods that are formed within urban communities. The Anomic
neighborhood most closely resembles the Horner area described in the book. This
neighborhood type is characterized by high levels of crime and low turnover
rates. Basically individuals that live in this type of neighborhood have very
low expectations to amount to anything. This is what causes the most harm to
young individuals lives. If they are raised to believe that they have no hope
of escaping their current life situations how should they strive for something
greater. This hopelessness can cause a downward spiral into deviance because it
is an easy means to achieve the desired end. Just like Lafayette in the narrative
turns to more violent acts the more hopeless he feels. The other main
character, Pharaoh, has teachers and parents take an interest in him at an
early age and because of that he strives to achieve on an academic level. These
differences in role models vesting interest in the boys help illustrate the
problems with a hopeless society. The one boy who has adults encourage him ends
up valuing academic success and working hard to possible achieve class
mobility, while the other turns to crime because he sees that as a viable
outlet.
It seems very strange that since the
“separate but equal” standard was ended years ago minority individuals still
have far worse conditions that their white counterparts. An article by Wade
Henderson describes the differences in academic achievement levels of minority
members. According to Henderson’s data black students are suspended much more
frequently than white students even as early as preschool. Even though
enrolment rates in primary schools are similar for whites and minorities out of
primary school whites are much more likely to obtain a secondary education
degree than members of a minority. This again shows the major problem of
counting members out because of their ethnic orientation. If teachers are
putting more stock in white individuals because they are more likely to further
their education the culture of hopelessness is furthered. Teachers need to
begin to put more effort into students who come from neighborhoods like the
Horner area maybe they will begin to achieve class mobility and may eventually
return to their neighborhood to help others who have been born into the same
situations. Finding teachers who are able to invest interest in young
individuals regardless of their economic background is the only way to fix
these segregation problems. Next we need to staff teachers who will instill a
sense of community pride in these young children so they may one day return to
their neighborhood and reinvest their resources in it. Teachers can be the most
beneficial or detrimental forces in young students lives and it would seem that
too often they do not take that responsibility very seriously. Especially when
dealing with students who come from high risk neighborhoods teachers may be the
only positive role model these children have. Placing emphasis on individual
improvement over the course of a academic year is one possible solution for
boosting the self esteem of young children and encourage them to stay the
course of academic achievement. But good teachers may not be enough to correct
the problem, I feel the most effective teachers for these positions would be
those who have come from similar backgrounds and escaped the neighborhood in
search for a better life. They have an obligation to help other students that
are born into bad situations escape just like they did. Showing that there is a
path that leads out of the life of poverty they have become so used to may help
inspire a drive that would otherwise be nonexistent. If individuals do not feel
an obligation to reinvest in these neighborhoods or areas of high poverty in
urban cities they should be immediately replaced with individuals who do care.
Offering other incentives outside of a paycheck could also help teachers set up
shop in these problem areas. Incentives such as tax breaks or other government
programs could greatly contribute to attracting quality teachers to these
problem areas.
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