Economic inequality: The real cause of the urban school problem
I follow the news and write commentary that I call "the rest of the story" suggesting what we can do with the information to help change what's happening in inner city neighborhoods.
Content
Volume 1, Issue 1
October 20, 2011
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
The Rest of The Story
Articles from Tutor/Mentor Blog Archive
Read these and follow the links at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
Economic inequality: The real cause of the urban school problem
Special points of interest:
• Read these articles at http:// tutormentor.blogspot.com in order to follow the links These are two of hundreds of articles written since 2005. Follow these stories and share them with your network The problems won’t go away until more of those who don’t live in poverty are involved on a daily basis In the October 6, 2011 Chicago Tribune is a commentary titled: Economic inequality: The real cause of the urban school problem This was written by economists from Harvard and the University of California at Berkley. The authors write, "Our findings show that the root of the problems facing urban schools can be found in gradual but extremely powerful changes in the nation's economy — not the least of which is the increasingly unequal distribution of family incomes." I've been using maps since 1993 to try to show this income inequality and the connection between high poverty concentrations and poorly performing schools. We include maps in many of the articles we've written on this blog and in the MappingforJustice blog. Our interactive Program Locator can be used to create your own map story for your own communications. Every time I've hosted a leadership conference in Chicago (the next is November 4) I've put maps on easels to help others see the power of these as a tool to focus attention and resources to volunteer-based tutor/ mentor programs in all high poverty neighborhoods. I've tried to get attention of leaders who've attended the conferences so they would incorporate maps and our strategy of volunteer-based tutor/mentor program growth into their own leadership. Today there was another editorial in the Tribune, challenging the way TIFF money seemed to go to charities favored by the Mayor and his wife. If the Mayor had incorporated T/MC maps into his efforts to help kids in poverty perhaps the aldermen, state legislators and others would do the same. Were that happening there would now be a much stronger distribution of high-quality tutor/mentor programs in all of the poverty areas of the city and suburbs and perhaps there would be a different future for some of the youth who have grown up in neighborhoods of high poverty and under-performing schools. That's the past. We have a new Mayor and we have another presidential election. We have new research. Now can we interest some of the leaders and people - continued on page 3
•
•
Follow Tutor/Mentor Institute on
Twitter @tutormentorteam Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ TutorMentorInstitute Home page www.tutormentorexchange.net
Racism, Poverty, Unemployment - Network Building
On April 27, 2011 I attended a panel discussion titled “The Relationship Between Racism and Unemployment” at First Unitarian Church in Hyde Park, Il. The day before I wrote about an article about poverty written by Clarence Wood, President of Jane Addams Hull House. It focused on many of the same things as the April 27 panel. Then this morning, I read a paper posted on a Social Edge discussion forum, (see pdf link below) where the researcher said "only when upper-class individuals were experimentally induced to feel compassion – thus orienting them to the needs of others – did they exhibit levels of prosociality that rivaled their lower-class counterparts."
- continued on page 2
Volume 1, Issue 1
Racism, Poverty, Unemployment - Network Building
- continued from page 1 In many ways, each of these discussions focuses on the needs of one community of people and the need to have the wealthy class, the political elite, and those living beyond poverty involved, and connected to those who are working in the field to solve this problem. There is much "bridge building" to be done. This graphic illustrates this idea. on the Tutor/Mentor Connection library that connect myself and the people I know to thousands of others. After panel members shared opinions and research related to the problem of racism and unemployment, recommendations for solutions were discussed. Among these were * Educating yourself and others about these issues *Learn (teach others) to take personal responsibility for your learning, actions and success *Believe that the “right to work is an inalienable right” central to the pursuit of live, liberty and happiness in America. *Organize. Form a movement to create political change and make this "right to work" idea a reality. So how do we do this? In almost all events I attend people say "we need..." and "we should" but they don't provide a map or blueprint showing how this small group grows to an army that makes that idea a reality. There is plenty of evidence of racism in America and gaps between rich and poor, but too few market-based strategies that will change this dramatically in the coming century. As I said, I wrote a blog article on Wednesday about a Perspectives article in the 4/24/2011 Chicago Tribune saying “people
In the April 27 forum, panel members (Dr. Finley Campbell, Social Justice Council of the First Unitarian Church, Dr. Dick David, Cook County Hospital, Nanette Campos and Samuel Gutierrez, Primerica, and Walter Bush IV, The Renaissance Collaborative, Inc.) provided information about the connections between racism and unemployment and shared ideas about what can be done. As I listened my mind was shouting "Where are we connecting these people and this information to all of the other people and information related to the same problem?" In just a few minutes this morning I was able to create a map showing links to several places where this topic is being discussed by different groups, as well as to links
Page 2
are not poor because they are Latino or African America or Caucasian. They are poor because they have not had the opportunities to advance themselves.” The authors concluded that “we all pay for poverty” and we need to find ways to work together to solve this problem. Since only about 20 people attended the Racism and Unemployment discussion the first thing we all might focus on is “how do we expand the size of the congregation?” In the research study from this week’s Social Edge forum led by Charles Cameron, the writer says “In Study 4, only when upperclass individuals were experimentally induced to feel compassion – thus orienting them to the needs of others – did they exhibit levels of prosociality that rivaled their lower-class counterparts.”
“Where are we connecting these people and this information to all of the other people and information related to the same problem?"
Only when we move from 20 people to 20 thousand and then 20 million and then 200 million people in this discussion can we change the way we all understand the impact of racism and poverty in the world, and become more consistently committed to actions that result in a different world.
— continued on next page
Read these articles at http:// tutormentor.blogspot.com
Volume 1, Issue 1
— continued from page 2 So how do we do this? On the Tutor/Mentor Connection site I’ve created articles that show how volunteers who become part of well organized, long-term, tutor/mentor programs can grow in their understanding, and empathy, to the point where they become leaders inviting others to become involved. In the T/MC library, I post articles like this one, that show how volunteer involvement can create understanding and empathy, that is essential for greater involvement. If this is happening in enough places, there can be a constant expansion of the number of people from beyond poverty who are getting involved and becoming informed. Becoming informed of what? There is so much to know. What would be 10 things we’d want people to understand that would result in actions that increase employment among those who are chronically under employed, or unfairly compensated when they are employed? What if we borrowed a chap-
ter from the education reform movement? What if we developed a set of “learning standards” for ADULTS? What do we want them to know about poverty, racism, philanthropy, capitalism, etc? How do we teach this? How do we motivate learning? Then let’s develop standardized testing that would determine how well adults are learning this information, and would also help us understand how many are involved in this learning. Without this we’ll never really know if the congregation is growing and/or if we’re all singing from the same song book. • what do people need to learn • what test questions would determine if this learning is taking place • how do we determine that a growing number of adults are involved in this learning and mastering the knowledge • what changes in behavior do we want to see as a result of the learning • how will we know this is happening
Then, let’s tie this form of Adult test-taking to privileges, such as driving a car, or leading a company, or being elected for public office, or taking a trip out of the country, so we’re sure that the people who don’t live in poverty are being motivated to ‘attend this school’ and take part in this learning. If it works for kids in America why wouldn’t it work for adults? This is only an idea. But it could be made into a reality if others felt it had value and wanted to use their own talent to develop it. We've many ideas that need resources and partners to develop. That's where philanthropic investors come in. Take a look at the information we share and the maps and graphics we're piloting and ask "How much more could the Tutor/Mentor Connection be doing if I were its benefactor?" If you see the potential please come forward with your support.
Cities need leaders thinking of ways to make high quality learning and mentoring available in all poverty areas and around all high-dropout rate schools.
“Let’s create an adult learning system and test them on what they know about these issues”
Economic inequality, continued from page 1
who are concerned with poverty and its impact on the economy and quality of life for all of the people in the region to participate in the next Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, on Friday, Nov. 4 at the Metcalfe Federal Building? Can someone step forward to become the Steve Jobs who brings a vision and financing to the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to help build tutor/mentor program support infrastructure in Chicago and other cities?
Read this blog article at http:// tutormentor.blogspot.com/2011/10/ economic-inequality-real-cause-ofurban.html
Mayor Richard Daley and General John Borling at 1997 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference
Page 3
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC Tutor/Mentor Connection Merchandise Mart PO Box 3303 Chicago, Il. 60654 Phone: 847-220-2151 Fax: 312-787-7713 E-mail: [email protected]
During 35 years of leading a volunteer based tutor/mentor program serving inner-city youth in Chicago Dan Bassill has learned much about how to connect youth and volunteers in on-going non-school tutoring/mentoring activities. He also has learned much about what does not work well, and what might be improved to support individual tutor/mentor program growth in all poverty neighborhoods of a big city like Chicago. Dan’s ideas are shared in the http://tutormentor.blogspot.com and through essays shared at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net. If you’d like to have Dan meet with your planning team, speak to a local leadership group or be part of a conference you are organizing email [email protected]
Connecting people and ideas to help inner city kids
Learn more at http:// www.tutormentorexchange.net
Read more Tutor/Mentor Blog Articles
This is the first time I’ve published my blog articles on Scribd. I’d like your feedback. It seems that my habit of linking to many different sites in my blogs does not carry over well into the Publisher format I’m using to convert articles. Is there a different way to do this? Are you looking for a volunteer opportunity where you could expand your writing, editing skills? Do you want to help me publish my blog articles in more places? Email me at [email protected]. I need your help. To view the articles and links from the blog articles I posted today visit the following links:
Economic inequality: The real cause of the urban school problem http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2011/10/economic-inequality-real-cause-of-urban.html Racism, Poverty, Unemployment - Network Building http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2011/04/racism-poverty-unemployment-network.html
The work we do to support volunteers and youth once they join a tutor/mentor program is what determines the long-term impact on the lives of youth and the adults who become involved.
October 20, 2011
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
The Rest of The Story
Articles from Tutor/Mentor Blog Archive
Read these and follow the links at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
Economic inequality: The real cause of the urban school problem
Special points of interest:
• Read these articles at http:// tutormentor.blogspot.com in order to follow the links These are two of hundreds of articles written since 2005. Follow these stories and share them with your network The problems won’t go away until more of those who don’t live in poverty are involved on a daily basis In the October 6, 2011 Chicago Tribune is a commentary titled: Economic inequality: The real cause of the urban school problem This was written by economists from Harvard and the University of California at Berkley. The authors write, "Our findings show that the root of the problems facing urban schools can be found in gradual but extremely powerful changes in the nation's economy — not the least of which is the increasingly unequal distribution of family incomes." I've been using maps since 1993 to try to show this income inequality and the connection between high poverty concentrations and poorly performing schools. We include maps in many of the articles we've written on this blog and in the MappingforJustice blog. Our interactive Program Locator can be used to create your own map story for your own communications. Every time I've hosted a leadership conference in Chicago (the next is November 4) I've put maps on easels to help others see the power of these as a tool to focus attention and resources to volunteer-based tutor/ mentor programs in all high poverty neighborhoods. I've tried to get attention of leaders who've attended the conferences so they would incorporate maps and our strategy of volunteer-based tutor/mentor program growth into their own leadership. Today there was another editorial in the Tribune, challenging the way TIFF money seemed to go to charities favored by the Mayor and his wife. If the Mayor had incorporated T/MC maps into his efforts to help kids in poverty perhaps the aldermen, state legislators and others would do the same. Were that happening there would now be a much stronger distribution of high-quality tutor/mentor programs in all of the poverty areas of the city and suburbs and perhaps there would be a different future for some of the youth who have grown up in neighborhoods of high poverty and under-performing schools. That's the past. We have a new Mayor and we have another presidential election. We have new research. Now can we interest some of the leaders and people - continued on page 3
•
•
Follow Tutor/Mentor Institute on
Twitter @tutormentorteam Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ TutorMentorInstitute Home page www.tutormentorexchange.net
Racism, Poverty, Unemployment - Network Building
On April 27, 2011 I attended a panel discussion titled “The Relationship Between Racism and Unemployment” at First Unitarian Church in Hyde Park, Il. The day before I wrote about an article about poverty written by Clarence Wood, President of Jane Addams Hull House. It focused on many of the same things as the April 27 panel. Then this morning, I read a paper posted on a Social Edge discussion forum, (see pdf link below) where the researcher said "only when upper-class individuals were experimentally induced to feel compassion – thus orienting them to the needs of others – did they exhibit levels of prosociality that rivaled their lower-class counterparts."
- continued on page 2
Volume 1, Issue 1
Racism, Poverty, Unemployment - Network Building
- continued from page 1 In many ways, each of these discussions focuses on the needs of one community of people and the need to have the wealthy class, the political elite, and those living beyond poverty involved, and connected to those who are working in the field to solve this problem. There is much "bridge building" to be done. This graphic illustrates this idea. on the Tutor/Mentor Connection library that connect myself and the people I know to thousands of others. After panel members shared opinions and research related to the problem of racism and unemployment, recommendations for solutions were discussed. Among these were * Educating yourself and others about these issues *Learn (teach others) to take personal responsibility for your learning, actions and success *Believe that the “right to work is an inalienable right” central to the pursuit of live, liberty and happiness in America. *Organize. Form a movement to create political change and make this "right to work" idea a reality. So how do we do this? In almost all events I attend people say "we need..." and "we should" but they don't provide a map or blueprint showing how this small group grows to an army that makes that idea a reality. There is plenty of evidence of racism in America and gaps between rich and poor, but too few market-based strategies that will change this dramatically in the coming century. As I said, I wrote a blog article on Wednesday about a Perspectives article in the 4/24/2011 Chicago Tribune saying “people
In the April 27 forum, panel members (Dr. Finley Campbell, Social Justice Council of the First Unitarian Church, Dr. Dick David, Cook County Hospital, Nanette Campos and Samuel Gutierrez, Primerica, and Walter Bush IV, The Renaissance Collaborative, Inc.) provided information about the connections between racism and unemployment and shared ideas about what can be done. As I listened my mind was shouting "Where are we connecting these people and this information to all of the other people and information related to the same problem?" In just a few minutes this morning I was able to create a map showing links to several places where this topic is being discussed by different groups, as well as to links
Page 2
are not poor because they are Latino or African America or Caucasian. They are poor because they have not had the opportunities to advance themselves.” The authors concluded that “we all pay for poverty” and we need to find ways to work together to solve this problem. Since only about 20 people attended the Racism and Unemployment discussion the first thing we all might focus on is “how do we expand the size of the congregation?” In the research study from this week’s Social Edge forum led by Charles Cameron, the writer says “In Study 4, only when upperclass individuals were experimentally induced to feel compassion – thus orienting them to the needs of others – did they exhibit levels of prosociality that rivaled their lower-class counterparts.”
“Where are we connecting these people and this information to all of the other people and information related to the same problem?"
Only when we move from 20 people to 20 thousand and then 20 million and then 200 million people in this discussion can we change the way we all understand the impact of racism and poverty in the world, and become more consistently committed to actions that result in a different world.
— continued on next page
Read these articles at http:// tutormentor.blogspot.com
Volume 1, Issue 1
— continued from page 2 So how do we do this? On the Tutor/Mentor Connection site I’ve created articles that show how volunteers who become part of well organized, long-term, tutor/mentor programs can grow in their understanding, and empathy, to the point where they become leaders inviting others to become involved. In the T/MC library, I post articles like this one, that show how volunteer involvement can create understanding and empathy, that is essential for greater involvement. If this is happening in enough places, there can be a constant expansion of the number of people from beyond poverty who are getting involved and becoming informed. Becoming informed of what? There is so much to know. What would be 10 things we’d want people to understand that would result in actions that increase employment among those who are chronically under employed, or unfairly compensated when they are employed? What if we borrowed a chap-
ter from the education reform movement? What if we developed a set of “learning standards” for ADULTS? What do we want them to know about poverty, racism, philanthropy, capitalism, etc? How do we teach this? How do we motivate learning? Then let’s develop standardized testing that would determine how well adults are learning this information, and would also help us understand how many are involved in this learning. Without this we’ll never really know if the congregation is growing and/or if we’re all singing from the same song book. • what do people need to learn • what test questions would determine if this learning is taking place • how do we determine that a growing number of adults are involved in this learning and mastering the knowledge • what changes in behavior do we want to see as a result of the learning • how will we know this is happening
Then, let’s tie this form of Adult test-taking to privileges, such as driving a car, or leading a company, or being elected for public office, or taking a trip out of the country, so we’re sure that the people who don’t live in poverty are being motivated to ‘attend this school’ and take part in this learning. If it works for kids in America why wouldn’t it work for adults? This is only an idea. But it could be made into a reality if others felt it had value and wanted to use their own talent to develop it. We've many ideas that need resources and partners to develop. That's where philanthropic investors come in. Take a look at the information we share and the maps and graphics we're piloting and ask "How much more could the Tutor/Mentor Connection be doing if I were its benefactor?" If you see the potential please come forward with your support.
Cities need leaders thinking of ways to make high quality learning and mentoring available in all poverty areas and around all high-dropout rate schools.
“Let’s create an adult learning system and test them on what they know about these issues”
Economic inequality, continued from page 1
who are concerned with poverty and its impact on the economy and quality of life for all of the people in the region to participate in the next Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, on Friday, Nov. 4 at the Metcalfe Federal Building? Can someone step forward to become the Steve Jobs who brings a vision and financing to the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to help build tutor/mentor program support infrastructure in Chicago and other cities?
Read this blog article at http:// tutormentor.blogspot.com/2011/10/ economic-inequality-real-cause-ofurban.html
Mayor Richard Daley and General John Borling at 1997 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference
Page 3
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC Tutor/Mentor Connection Merchandise Mart PO Box 3303 Chicago, Il. 60654 Phone: 847-220-2151 Fax: 312-787-7713 E-mail: [email protected]
During 35 years of leading a volunteer based tutor/mentor program serving inner-city youth in Chicago Dan Bassill has learned much about how to connect youth and volunteers in on-going non-school tutoring/mentoring activities. He also has learned much about what does not work well, and what might be improved to support individual tutor/mentor program growth in all poverty neighborhoods of a big city like Chicago. Dan’s ideas are shared in the http://tutormentor.blogspot.com and through essays shared at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net. If you’d like to have Dan meet with your planning team, speak to a local leadership group or be part of a conference you are organizing email [email protected]
Connecting people and ideas to help inner city kids
Learn more at http:// www.tutormentorexchange.net
Read more Tutor/Mentor Blog Articles
This is the first time I’ve published my blog articles on Scribd. I’d like your feedback. It seems that my habit of linking to many different sites in my blogs does not carry over well into the Publisher format I’m using to convert articles. Is there a different way to do this? Are you looking for a volunteer opportunity where you could expand your writing, editing skills? Do you want to help me publish my blog articles in more places? Email me at [email protected]. I need your help. To view the articles and links from the blog articles I posted today visit the following links:
Economic inequality: The real cause of the urban school problem http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2011/10/economic-inequality-real-cause-of-urban.html Racism, Poverty, Unemployment - Network Building http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2011/04/racism-poverty-unemployment-network.html
The work we do to support volunteers and youth once they join a tutor/mentor program is what determines the long-term impact on the lives of youth and the adults who become involved.
