Robin Goldschmidt
Colloquium: Thinking for a Change
October 30, 2011
Blog 9
Canada is motivated by a majority of reasons, but the main thing is that he wants kids from the inner city to go to college and receive a degree. The other smaller goals are to remove the children from the streets and create a safe haven for them to learn at. Canada also wants his school to be successful and a model for other schools and communities that have the same issues as Harlem. He is striving to help the African Americans in these neighborhoods, so they can be on the same level where mostly white children attend school. Canada does not directly address the issues of the school system as he created his own charter school instead of trying to fight the public school system in New York. However he wants to address the issues of the educational differences between whites and blacks as he discusses in the 60 minute interview. He believes through the education the children are receiving at his school in Harlem they will be able to receive a college degree and compete in the job market. The students are also trained to work hard in order to reach the goals they set for themselves, so they can get out of the poverty in the inner city. He stated that he faced some financial problems during the economic downturn and needs to recover in order for the school to remain successful. A huge inner problem he faces is that he is unable to accept all of the children that apply to enter his school as he is sending them to the ill-functioning public school. As these children are denied entry their chances of reaching college are reduced significantly. This is hard for Canada to accept as his goal is to send every child in the Harlem area to college. Canada would not see the point as only a few of the children would be able to attend the school, as in the article it states, “If all he was doing was picking some kids to save and letting the rest fail, what is the point”. Throughout this colloquium we have discussed the importance of school and how it can lead to future success. Also we have discussed how limited schooling has been and how many people are underprivileged while receiving an education.
What surprised me most were the statistics that were reported at the beginning of chapter two that there were 107 homicides in 1990 in Harlem alone. These 107 murders were of kids between the ages of 14 and 17. This is the age most children are busy with all of the work that comes with high school and getting ready to go to college. They are also discussing the different aspects of poverty as they say that it may be the individual’s own fault that they live on the street and that it is not their own fault. There is much discussion over the issue on how to best treat the individuals in poverty, but until a decision is reached nothing will happen. This is stated in the article by saying, “If this theory is correct, what the poor need is not handouts, but moral guidance and strict rules”. The root cause of poverty is almost always the loss of an individual’s job. Many people can also become impoverished because of their habits as they become addicted to drugs and alcohol. With these issues most of the money the individual’s make would then go to their addictions and not the necessities as the house, food, and clothes. The reformers have also stated that the poor are poor because the government has not provided enough aid and has not done its job in the first place, to prevent poverty.
It looks like the mural along the street is in a rough neighborhood that encounters many issues. First of all the mural is decoration for what would be a boring concrete wall. With this people would seem happy while walking past a piece of art as the same piece of concrete on a day to day basis. The image stands out due to its sheer size as it covers entire side of a street wall and the mix of colors it uses. It also emphasizes key parts on the wall by highlighting and outlining these aspects. I do not believe the piece is trying to speak out about a certain issue or problem that is occurring in this neighborhood, but instead is there for the enjoyment by the local population. It seems like it is symbolizing the importance company whose name is on the wall and the importance of art on this community.