One of the good things about going to the gym is that gives an
opportunity to listen to podcasts while I pound away on the rowing machine. One
of my favourite podcasts is This American Life from National Public Radio. Isn’t
it great that now we can sample the best in radio from around the world. Today’s
podcast showed that problems of inequality are the same on both sides of the
Atlantic.
It is interesting that the US is always portrayed as the land of
opportunity, and particularly where the kid from the wrong side of the tracks
can make it to CEO. In reality the kids rarely change the side of tracks when
they grow-up. I was astounded by the dropout rate of poor children in college.
Fewer than one in five who are accepted to College make it through to graduation.
The reasons are fairly obvious but simply these young adults are singularly ill
equipped to enter into college life and to study. The children who make it are
the exceptions.
This is not criticising the US as similar if not worse in-equality
takes place in the UK. I start to think about the remedies for all of this, but
I come back to some inescapable facts. While all children are born equal, by
the time they are five we have knocked that equality out of them, often in soft
ways. I was at my son’s recently and we were discussing something about New
Zealand. Immediately the globe was removed from the shelf and my five-year-old granddaughter
was shown where New Zealand is on the globe. It is a house full of books where
the children are read to regularly. They are involved in conversations. So they
have every advantage in life. When it comes time to attend college they will
blend seamlessly into the academic and probably more importantly the social
life of the institution. They will be more likely to succeed.
So how do we deal with all this, I only see radical solutions that
may not be politically or politically acceptable.
1) We should abandon all forms of private education.
2) Children should be bussed so that schools are socially and racially
mixed.
3) There should be mentoring programmes for children.
I would be interested to know if my readers have any other
suggestions, all discussions welcome.
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
ReplyDeleteNigel, you raise such good questions here. The premise behind your solutions also appeals to me: ask the privileged to acknowledge their privilege, and ultimately to make a conscious choice to not use the benefits of that privilege. It is not enough to say to those less privileged " just work harder". I think of my MIT grad experience. Academically MIT was easy (then... Oh my, I can't imagine it now!) but the culture was so foreign I ultimately had a loss of confidence and retreated to Vermont. And I was 21. This article sheds light on institutional practices that still effect inequality in the US and asks for efforts to address it. It is long (sit with a large mug of coffee!) but I think we'll worth it. One thing I'd add to your list is some form of social support for parents, mentoring, groups, whatever form, so that parents will understand what their children experience and support them.Sometimes, sadly, the parents are the children's main obstacle to growth.