Street roots., October 11, 2013, Page 12, Image 12

Street roots
Oct. 11, 2013
Ending inequality through early childhood education
BY M . NELS JOHNSON *
between the Mayor and homeless
advocates and questions about relocating
everal weeks ago Democrat Bill de
Right 2 Dream Too.
Blasio won the Democratic
Go anywhere downtown, and you see
nomination for Mayor of New York
inequality among and all around us;
City while running a progressive campaign sometimes it’s huddled in tired, soggy
based on ending the city’s growing
masses, sometimes it has a sign asking for
inequality. The Center for Economic
spare change, or sometimes its sprawled
Opportunity recently released a report
out under a business’s awning trying to
stating that by the end of 2011, more than
stay dry. In Portland, there is no greater
one-fifth of New Yorkers lived below the
example of inequality than that of those
poverty line, and another quarter lived just
experiencing homelessness. Perhaps it’s
above it. Since 2000, income disparity in
for us here in Portland to take a page out
the city has widened dramatically, with the
of de Blasio’s playbook and try to address
wealthiest one percent of city residents
one of the long-term causes of inequality.
(those making over $500,000 per year)
As de Blasio argues, public education is
earning 39 percent of the city’s income, up
the great equalizer in our society. A free,
from 12 percent in 1980. De Blasio ran as
quality and universal education system is
a New Deal Democrat, promising to tackle
the best way to ensure students are fully
the stark and growing inequality in
equipped to go and get jobs and live a
America’s flagship city. His signature
stable life. A top-notch public education is
promise is to raise taxes on anyone in New
also the best way to help children already
York City making over $500,000 per year
experiencing poverty to escape its cyclical
to fund universal early childhood education
clutches. One of the main factors in
throughout the city of New York, de Blasio
determining whether a student received a
won easily; in fact, it wasn’t even close. His
quality education or not is whether the
unabashedly progressive message got him
student received early, pre-kindergarten
the 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff in
education or not. Research shows that 90
the Democratic primary. Polls show de
percent of brain growth occurs by age six.
Blasio beating his Republican opponent Joe
In Portland, one in five Portland
Lhota handily in the general election.
kindergartners aren’t ready when they
In Portland, we spent the summer
reach kindergarten, largely because they
dealing with one form of inequality;
don’t have access to early childhood
namely, what to do about those among us
education. Children who fall behind in the
who are experiencing homelessness. This
first grade have only a 13 percent chance
of ever catching up to their current grade
summer saw the revival of the sit-law
level. According to a report put out by the
ordinance die in the Legislature, standoffs
C O N T R IB U IT N G C O L U M N IS T
S
Mete Johnson
Nels Johnson is an
elected Director
serving on the board
o f the M ultnom ah
Education Service
District, adjunct
professor at Warner
Pacific College and
is ap, attorney in
private practice. He
and his wife live in
Northeast Portland.
Children’s Institute, children who start
school behind all too often stay behind.
Success or failure in a child’s early years
largely determines the achievement later
in K-12 school, and
consequently,
throughout life. As a
city, we cannot afford
to postpone making a Jt iree? q u a lity and universal
proper investment in
education system Is the best
our children’s future
way to ensure students are
any longer. If we fail,
fu lly equipped to go and get
the results will be
jobs and live a stable life .
dramatic, and the
statistics bear this
out. Seventy-seven
percent of students
living below the
poverty line receiving childhood education
graduate on time versus approximately 50
percent of their peers, who did not receive
early childhood education. The rate of
success is even more pronounced among
girls (84 percent versus 35 percent).
Universal early childhood education
significantly influences higher graduation
rates and successful general learning.
There is no other single investment in
education that yields these results.
As voters in New York City recently
acknowledged by voting for de Blasio as
Mayor, if we’re serious about eliminating
the long-term problems of inequality in our
city> then we must start by investing in
universal early childhood education.
Where can I? How can I?
BY JOHNNY WILLIAMS
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
ere I am, starting over, I say to
myself as I step off the Greyhound
bus. I have no job. I have no money
and no place to go. The place to start I
decide would be to make some money. I
grab a newspaper and find no jobs that I
qualify for. It might be a job that I can
easily do. But because I am not bilingual, I
don’t get the job. As my job
search continues, let’s
say I find someone
that will hire me,
then I tell them that I
am homeless and
they start thinking: If
he is homeless, how
well rested will he be
when he comes to
work? Will he have on
clean clothes? How
will he shower? He
makes the decision
that I’m not such a
good candidate for the job.
Then I decide that the first thing that I
need to do is find a place to live. Problem
solved! So I go to the nearest mission. Yes,
they do have a program that will give me a
fresh start. I will have a place to shower
and rest so I can put in a good day s work.
“Great!” I say to myself. I go and sign up ,
for the help, but there is a problem. I don’t
drink and I don’t use drugs, so I m told
that their programs are designed to help
those who have drinking problems and you
don’t qualify. I go all over town going just
to hear, “I’m sorry you don’t qualify.”
What can I do? Where can I go for help?
Should I start drinking and doing drugs so
H
8
I can qualify for help? That can’t be the
answer. If I do that then I can’t get the job.
They don’t want an addict or a drunk
working for them.
I need money. I say to myself, what can I
do? And as time goes on you find you will
do just about anything that your conscience
will allow. So you decide to try
panhandling. I make up a sign and go out
with it and find 15 other sign holders on
every block. There are so many that the
people just walk by! It is so overwhelming;
they don’t know how to help. I can’t afford
to help them. Is it their fault that their
lives are like that? And without stopping
and finding out your story and seeing that
you are clean and sober, they just walk on
by shaking their head, saying what a
shame.
Homelessness in America has changed
over the last few years, it is an ever-
increasing a problem that has no easy
answer. But something needs to be done.
It’s not just drinking or drugs that are the
blame for homelessness, I know a
homeless woman who has her master’s
degree in math, who had a good life, till the
day of the accident that took the lives of
her family. Is it her fault that she is
homeless?
Another homeless man I know was a
professor at the University of Texas in
Austin.
During my time of being homeless, just
trying to find a safe, dry place to rest, all
the time I’m woken up by the police and
told I can’t sleep here. I just ask the simple
question. Where can I? How can I?
Johnny Williams is a Street Roots vendor.
ri
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