QuoteSome cities and neighborhoods are stuck in vicious cycles of poverty while others have a proven track record of turning poorer children into economic success stories.
DEREK THOMPSON
Baltimore did not need more negative publicity this week. But in a bit of fateful timing, the Equality of Opportunity Project of Harvard University has released two papers concluding that Baltimore City has the worst income mobility for poor young children of any large county in America. Every year spent in Baltimore "reduces a child's earnings by 0.7 percent per year, generating a total earnings penalty of approximately 14 percent for children who grow up there from birth," Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren write.
Geography is not quite destiny. But neighborhoods can dramatically shape the economic prospects of those who grow up there. One hour south on the I-95 of Baltimore is Fairfax, Virginia, one of the 10 best large counties for low-income children. Growing up in Fairfax for 18 years raises a typical low-income child's household earnings by 11 percent by the time he's in early adulthood. All else equal, the difference between growing up in Fairfax rather than Baltimore, these studies say, amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars of lifetime earnings.
The two new studies, beautifully summarized in a portfolio of articles in the New York Times, arrive at one unmistakable conclusion: Some cities and neighborhoods keep their residents stuck in vicious cycles of poverty while others have a proven track record of turning poorer children into economic success stories. One study looked at low-income families who took vouchers from the government in a randomized 1990s study, which moved thousands of families from housing projects to counties with less poverty. A new analysis of the experiment shows that "every year spent in a better area during childhood increases a child's earnings in adulthood."
In other words, the value of moving to a county with high upward mobility is not just a matter of where, but also when: The earlier the move, the better the outcome.
Full article: http://www.citylab.com/work/2015/05/the-curse-of-segregation/392417/
I was fortunate to have gone to a high school that has been in the top in SAT scores nationally. But what I found out later is that the same high school has the highest percentage of kids that fell into the "poor" or "minority" designation compared to their SAT scoring peers.
Not only did this mean that the teaching was excellent, but that culture of mobility was pervasive. A majority of those kids went on to perform at a level beyond their parents.
So I do believe that when kids are placed in a culture of mobility and surrounded by like minded, it does raise their level of opportunity.
I was completely unaware of this info on my school until I applied to finish college. The admissions review told me more about my high school than I ever knew while I was there.
How do you export that culture and plant it like a seed so it can grow in other places?
Interesting. What school was this?
It has been my experience that whether adults or children, people will rise or fall to their level of expectation. There are lots of low income schools where the administration and teachers believe that the disadvantaged kids can and will only achieve at a sub-par level. Invariable they do. A few places believe and expect that a higher level is possible, and if demanded, achievable.
Quote from: thelakelander on May 18, 2015, 08:55:33 AM
Interesting. What school was this?
Wheaton North High School
Wheaton, IL
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheaton_North
Dont know what/how they rank now. I just remember the admissions director asking me a hundred questions about my high school.
I asked why and she showed me stats about how the school was in the top 1 percent of SAT scores nationally and that our student ratio identified as poor or minority was 12 percent. She went down the list and showed me how far on the SAT ranking you had to go before you found a poor/minority percentage that high. (Several pages I recall)
I do remember all the college and career fairs we had. At the time I thought it was normal at all high schools. Now I know it isnt.
I thank my parents for making good public education a priority when we moved there.