Yesterday, Salon.com published an interview with Sandra Tsing Loh, author of Mother On Fire, about the public school system. Loh, who works in public broadcasting, came to the realization after having her children that she couldn't afford to send them to private schools. So she looked into the public schools and was surprised by what she found there. She likens them to Costco, where nothing is fancy, but you can find some amazing things there.
This is a topic that I have rather irresponsibly ignored in my discussions of the pros and cons of urbia. Public schools can be either. But most people are afraid of city schools. They have terrible reputations, which is one reason why so many parents are avoiding them, either by moving out of the city or by never going there in the first place. I've often thought that as much as I love city living, I don't think I would have chosen to live here when my children were small. And in fact, I didn't. We moved into a school district outside of the city limits where my children were able to walk to school and live in the same neighborhood as all of their friends.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. The problem was, it wasn't a top school district. My children did okay (one of my daughters was a National Merit Scholar), but they didn't have the prestige of a private school or better school district to put on their college applications. Would a city school system have made a difference? I honestly don't know because I don't know enough about ours (which is in Columbus, Ohio).
Years ago, I read Jonathan Kozol's Savage Inequalities, a book about our American school system. While the book got me on fire about the inequitable way that we fund schools, it also made me deathly afraid of city schools. The conditions he described were appalling. This has been an age-old problem and not just since busing was instituted in the 70's. But it has a lot to do with how we fund school districts, an issue Loh only indirectly refers to in the interview. Where property values are high, school districts are better funded. Usually. But city school districts pool all the property assets from the entire city. This includes areas where young professionals live and where houses start in the $200,000 range. Counterbalanced by the poorer areas, like where I live, the money gets spread thin. And yet this still adds up to a lot of money.
I confess that I don't know that much about our city school district. I do know that there was enough money to build a state-of-the-art elementary school across the street from me and that that was just one of six or seven that was built or is being built recently. I've been in a couple of the high schools. They were older and had some graffiti but I had no reason to think that they weren't good schools.
Loh makes a good point at the end of her interview. She said that it is time for us to start thinking communally instead of competitively. Our schools shouldn't be about which one is the newest or has the most amenities. Education is more about good teachers and good programs. And involved parents. Any school can be a good school if enough people put the time into finding out what is going on and are willing to do what they can do to make it better. We don't have to settle for bad schools, but it will take effort on our part to improve them.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Diversity
When I walked to the bookstore today, with my grandson in tow, I was struck, as I always am, by the many different kinds of people who live in my neighborhood. I don't know all the demographics but I do know that there are large numbers of African-Americans and Hispanics--most of the children you see around here are from one of those two groups. But these are on the residential streets and in front of the apartment buildings; the closer we get to the main street that runs through downtown, the more whites we see. By the time we get to the shopping district known as the South Campus Gateway, the crowds are predominantly white. Of course, as the name implies, we are close to the Ohio State University.
But in my own neighborhood, not only is the diversity racial and ethnic, it is also socioeconomic. Only 14% of its inhabitants are homeowners and this area has the highest ratio of Section 8 housing in the city. A rehabbed house is often next door to one that is vacant. There are a fair amount of cars, but a high percentage of people walk or use public transportation. This is perhaps the most significant kind of diversity. It means that the area is highly transient and that there are a lot of people on the streets. It also means that those who own homes are often discouraged by the lack of care shown by renters toward their own dwellings.
But what is the most significant to me is that there is so much sameness in all this diversity. Mothers and fathers still walk their kids to school. Whole families walk to church on Sunday (and sometimes during the week as well). Children and teens flock to the local library to take advantage of its many programs, including help with their homework. Fathers as well as mothers are seen with their children in tow as they go about their business. Flowers are planted in front of apartment buildings (by the tenants, not property management). Parents bring their children to the local day care center. The sounds of schoolbuses and hordes of children resonate on the grounds of the elementary school. People walk by and compliment me on my garden.
Perhaps the greatest lesson for me from living in this neighborhood is how alike people really are. We may live in different types of dwellings, earn different levels of income, have varying degrees of education, work at a wide range of jobs, and come from different backgrounds, but we all want our children to be safe, to live in nurturing environments, to have a place we can call home. We share this neighborhood and together make up its special atmosphere. But the basics can be found anywhere.
But in my own neighborhood, not only is the diversity racial and ethnic, it is also socioeconomic. Only 14% of its inhabitants are homeowners and this area has the highest ratio of Section 8 housing in the city. A rehabbed house is often next door to one that is vacant. There are a fair amount of cars, but a high percentage of people walk or use public transportation. This is perhaps the most significant kind of diversity. It means that the area is highly transient and that there are a lot of people on the streets. It also means that those who own homes are often discouraged by the lack of care shown by renters toward their own dwellings.
But what is the most significant to me is that there is so much sameness in all this diversity. Mothers and fathers still walk their kids to school. Whole families walk to church on Sunday (and sometimes during the week as well). Children and teens flock to the local library to take advantage of its many programs, including help with their homework. Fathers as well as mothers are seen with their children in tow as they go about their business. Flowers are planted in front of apartment buildings (by the tenants, not property management). Parents bring their children to the local day care center. The sounds of schoolbuses and hordes of children resonate on the grounds of the elementary school. People walk by and compliment me on my garden.
Perhaps the greatest lesson for me from living in this neighborhood is how alike people really are. We may live in different types of dwellings, earn different levels of income, have varying degrees of education, work at a wide range of jobs, and come from different backgrounds, but we all want our children to be safe, to live in nurturing environments, to have a place we can call home. We share this neighborhood and together make up its special atmosphere. But the basics can be found anywhere.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Five Environments
A story I picked up on the Internet:
“There are Five Environments you can live in on this planet. There’s The City. The Desert. The Mountains. The Plains. And The Beach.
“You can live in combinations of them. Maybe a city in the desert, or in the mountains by the ocean. Or you could choose just one. Out in the plains somewhere, perhaps.
“But you need to get out there and travel, and figure out where you thrive.
“Some places you’ll go to and you’ll feel yourself wither. Your brain will fog up, your body won’t respond to your thoughts and desires, and you’ll feel sad and angry.
“You need to find out which of the Five Environments are yours. If you belong by the ocean, then the mountains will ruin you. If you’re suited for the blue solitude of the plains, then the city will be a tight, roaring prison cell that’ll eat you alive.”
And I would add: if you lean toward the city, you'll be bored silly anywhere else.
“There are Five Environments you can live in on this planet. There’s The City. The Desert. The Mountains. The Plains. And The Beach.
“You can live in combinations of them. Maybe a city in the desert, or in the mountains by the ocean. Or you could choose just one. Out in the plains somewhere, perhaps.
“But you need to get out there and travel, and figure out where you thrive.
“Some places you’ll go to and you’ll feel yourself wither. Your brain will fog up, your body won’t respond to your thoughts and desires, and you’ll feel sad and angry.
“You need to find out which of the Five Environments are yours. If you belong by the ocean, then the mountains will ruin you. If you’re suited for the blue solitude of the plains, then the city will be a tight, roaring prison cell that’ll eat you alive.”
And I would add: if you lean toward the city, you'll be bored silly anywhere else.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Crime
When I used to drive through the area where I live now,I was scared to death that I was going to get caught in the crossfire of a gang war or be the victim of a drive-by shooting. And when my daughters moved into this area, I was certain they were going to get mugged or raped or worse. But they survived and even thrived in their inner city apartment. Their proximity to Ohio State University and large numbers of young people. I told myself that they were young and didn't mind living in a dicey area. I'd been young once, too, and I could remember the appeal of old homes with character and interesting architecture, high ceilings, wide wooden baseboards and trim, bay windows, towers, and large front porches. Not to mention the huge old trees that lined the streets.
When I went looking for a house I ended up in the same general area because it had more affordable housing than anywhere else in the city. Of course there are reasons for that. And one of the reasons is crime. But crime didn't even enter my mind when I found my house on a quiet side street. The house was as nice as many I'd seen in the suburbs, but it was half to one-third the price. The house prices on the other side of High Street were astronomical, but that didn't stop people from moving there. I figured that the crime rate couldn't be that different since the neighborhoods were just blocks from each other. (I know, I was naive.)
That's the nature of city neighborhoods. One area might be really safe and two streets over you have rampant crime. I've never witnessed a shooting from my front porch but down the street and around the corner a seventeen-year-old kid was gunned down at 3:30 in the afternoon, when children were walking home from school. That was several years ago now, but you never forget it. And that's not the only murder that has occurred in the area.
When you live in a high-crime area you can't worry about what happens on the streets around you. It's quite possible for there to be pockets of safety in even the worst city neighborhood. We happen to live across the street from an elementary school, and outside of the noise issues, we feel that the frequent police patrols do quite a bit to make us safer. Also, there are severe penalties if you're caught with drugs within a certain distance from the school property.
The most frequent crime is burglary, but that can be true of any neighborhood. Sometimes the more affluent neighborhoods are hardest hit. Not too long ago, a better neighborhood north of us was subject to a windshield smashing spree. That's not fun, or inexpensive, but it's better than being mugged or hit by a bullet. You have to learn to prioritize what you're going to worry about.
I've lived in my house for over ten years now and haven't been burglarized once. We don't have one bit of graffiti on our property. Maybe I've been lucky. Maybe it's the fact that until recently I had a dog. Maybe it's the sign for the alarm system that is posted out front (and the actual alarm system that backs it up--some people just put up the signs!) Maybe it's the police presence in my neighborhood. I had a drunk try to kick in the door and force open the windows once, but my neighbor yelled at him and he ran off.
I'm sure I'd have a much better picture of the criminal activities in my area if I talked to a policeman. But from what I've experienced and been able to observe, most of the crime is in my head. A woman comes to the door and wants money which I refuse to give her and I'm afraid she's going to retaliate against me in some way. But nothing happens. A guy stops me in the street and asks if I have a cigarette and when I say I don't, he says "thanks" and walks away. A mean-looking man passes me on sidewalk and says, "Hi, how ya doin'?" and keeps on walking. A bunch of kids hang around my house wanting to know if I have any jobs they can do for money, but when I say no, they stop coming around.
A lot of people I know can't understand why I live in the "ghetto." They tell me cautionary tales all the time. Some think I should never answer the door. Some think I should get a gun. Some warn me about giving out money. Some tell me to keep my shades drawn all the time. But I refuse to live like a prisoner. This is my home and it's been a good and safe one for some time. If I were to worry about something awful to happen all the time, I might as well not venture outside of the house. I like to work in my garden. People walk by and comment on how nice the garden looks. This is a neighborhood. Families live here. Kids play on the sidewalks. It's not an ideal place to live crime-wise, but is any place really?
I could move to the suburbs, but I'd be giving up everything else that I love about living in the city, and I might not be any safer. I might not see as much graffiti or trash, it might be a little quieter, there would (presumably) be less guns. But I would also miss the atmosphere, the liveliness, the sounds of life, and the convenience. I might be more protected (maybe), but I'd be infinitely more bored. It's a trade-off. There are definitely worse ways to live. You just have to pick the right one for you. (See next post.)
When I went looking for a house I ended up in the same general area because it had more affordable housing than anywhere else in the city. Of course there are reasons for that. And one of the reasons is crime. But crime didn't even enter my mind when I found my house on a quiet side street. The house was as nice as many I'd seen in the suburbs, but it was half to one-third the price. The house prices on the other side of High Street were astronomical, but that didn't stop people from moving there. I figured that the crime rate couldn't be that different since the neighborhoods were just blocks from each other. (I know, I was naive.)
That's the nature of city neighborhoods. One area might be really safe and two streets over you have rampant crime. I've never witnessed a shooting from my front porch but down the street and around the corner a seventeen-year-old kid was gunned down at 3:30 in the afternoon, when children were walking home from school. That was several years ago now, but you never forget it. And that's not the only murder that has occurred in the area.
When you live in a high-crime area you can't worry about what happens on the streets around you. It's quite possible for there to be pockets of safety in even the worst city neighborhood. We happen to live across the street from an elementary school, and outside of the noise issues, we feel that the frequent police patrols do quite a bit to make us safer. Also, there are severe penalties if you're caught with drugs within a certain distance from the school property.
The most frequent crime is burglary, but that can be true of any neighborhood. Sometimes the more affluent neighborhoods are hardest hit. Not too long ago, a better neighborhood north of us was subject to a windshield smashing spree. That's not fun, or inexpensive, but it's better than being mugged or hit by a bullet. You have to learn to prioritize what you're going to worry about.
I've lived in my house for over ten years now and haven't been burglarized once. We don't have one bit of graffiti on our property. Maybe I've been lucky. Maybe it's the fact that until recently I had a dog. Maybe it's the sign for the alarm system that is posted out front (and the actual alarm system that backs it up--some people just put up the signs!) Maybe it's the police presence in my neighborhood. I had a drunk try to kick in the door and force open the windows once, but my neighbor yelled at him and he ran off.
I'm sure I'd have a much better picture of the criminal activities in my area if I talked to a policeman. But from what I've experienced and been able to observe, most of the crime is in my head. A woman comes to the door and wants money which I refuse to give her and I'm afraid she's going to retaliate against me in some way. But nothing happens. A guy stops me in the street and asks if I have a cigarette and when I say I don't, he says "thanks" and walks away. A mean-looking man passes me on sidewalk and says, "Hi, how ya doin'?" and keeps on walking. A bunch of kids hang around my house wanting to know if I have any jobs they can do for money, but when I say no, they stop coming around.
A lot of people I know can't understand why I live in the "ghetto." They tell me cautionary tales all the time. Some think I should never answer the door. Some think I should get a gun. Some warn me about giving out money. Some tell me to keep my shades drawn all the time. But I refuse to live like a prisoner. This is my home and it's been a good and safe one for some time. If I were to worry about something awful to happen all the time, I might as well not venture outside of the house. I like to work in my garden. People walk by and comment on how nice the garden looks. This is a neighborhood. Families live here. Kids play on the sidewalks. It's not an ideal place to live crime-wise, but is any place really?
I could move to the suburbs, but I'd be giving up everything else that I love about living in the city, and I might not be any safer. I might not see as much graffiti or trash, it might be a little quieter, there would (presumably) be less guns. But I would also miss the atmosphere, the liveliness, the sounds of life, and the convenience. I might be more protected (maybe), but I'd be infinitely more bored. It's a trade-off. There are definitely worse ways to live. You just have to pick the right one for you. (See next post.)
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