That tag line up in the banner, "Connecting People For Results," is more than just our firm's slogan. It's something I think about every day. Several threads related to that idea came together for me this morning.
First, my friend Connie made a comment on last Friday's Featured Foto that caught my ear:
One of the things Barbara Ehrenreich observed in her new book (bait & switch) is the genuine comraderie among blue collar workers (and by extension poorer and homeless) vs what she experienced in the unemployed middle management. In my experience no amount of charm could gin up much friendship w/ other execs, not so in my poor bookselling environment. Booksellers are tight. We bond over management (down with) and customers (how crazy are these people) and dreams (when my book, music, movie, art etc is published).
Rings true, doesn't it? I haven't read Ehrenreich, but I know what I see. The white-collar corporate world is rife with competition, jealousy, drama and deceipt. Authentic relationships? Genuine camaraderie? Not much. I get the feeling that blue collar and unemployed people are more and more starting to realize that they'd better stick together, 'cause the folks at the top aren't going to invite them over any time soon. Hell, we don't even invite one another over anymore.
My point is not to glorify the bonds of sociability among people earning middle and lower-income salaries, but to note a tendency toward more rigid class stratification than we've seen in decades. The New Orleans pictures brought that point home like a sharp left hook, and we're all still reeling from it.
Then I read David Brooks' op-ed in today's NY Times. (Due to the new Times' Select program, non-subscribers will only view a summary of this article.) The piece, entitled, "The Education Gap," outlines the now familiar theme of a widening educational disparity between American haves and have nots:
As you doubtless know, as the information age matures, a new sort of stratification is setting in, between those with higher education and those without. College graduates earn nearly twice as much as high school graduates, and people with professional degrees earn nearly twice as much as those with college degrees.
But worse, this economic stratification is translating into social stratification. Only 28 percent of American adults have a college degree, but most of us in this group find ourselves in workplaces in social milieus where almost everybody has been to college. A social chasm is opening up between those in educated society and those in noneducated society, and you are beginning to see vast behavioral differences between the two groups.
For example, divorce rates for college grads are plummeting, but they are not for everyone else. The divorce rate for high school grads is now twice as high as that of college grads.
There are other behavior differences, large and small, which reflect the different social norms in the two classes. High school grads are twice as likely to smoke as college grads. They are much less likely to exercise. College grads are nearly twice as likely to vote. They are more than twice as likely to do voluntary work. They are much more likely to give blood. These behavioral gaps are widening.
[Snip]
Educated parents not only pass down economic resources to their children, they pass down expectations, habits, knowledge and cognitive abilities. Pretty soon you end up with a hereditary meritocratic class that reinforces itself generation after generation.
You see the results in the college graduation data. In the 1970's, when the information age was young, kids from poorer, less educated families were catching up to kids from more affluent families when it came to earning college degrees. But now the gap between rich and poor is widening. Students in the poorest quarter of the population have an 8.6 percent chance of getting a college degree. Students in the top quarter have a 74.9 percent chance.
Read those numbers again. Chance of getting a college degree: 8.6% in the bottom quarter, 74.9% in the top. Imagine being in that bottom quarter, looking around and seeing those kinds of odds? What would you do? Here's what 50 Cent says:
We make a move and act a fool while we up in the club
This is how we do
Nobody do it like we do it so show us some love
This is how we do
We make a move and act a fool while we up in the club
This is how we do
Nobody do it like we do it so show us some love
Fresh like, unhh; Impala, unnh
Crome hyrdolics, 808 drums
You don't want, none
Nigga betta, run
When beef is on, I'll pop that, drum
Come get, some
Pistol grip, pump
If a nigga step on my white Air, Ones
Since red, rum
Ready here I, come
Compton, unh
Dre found me in the, slums
Sellin that skunk, one hand on my gun
I was sellin rocks when Master P was sayin "Unnnh"
Buck pass the blunt
These G-Unit girls just wanna have, fun
Coke and rum
Got weed on the ton
I'm bangin with my hand up her dress like, unh
I'll make her cum, purple haze in my lungs
Whole gang in the front in case a nigga wanna, stunt
I put Lamborghini doors on that Es-co-lade
Low pro's so low look like I'm riding on blades
In one year mang, a nigga's so paid
I have a straight bitch in the telly goin both ways (Ah!)
Touch me, tease me, kiss me, please me
I give it to ya just how you like it, girl
You know I'm rockin with the best tre pound on my hip
Teflon on my chest
They say I'm no good
Cuz I'm so hood
Rich folks do not want me around
Cuz shit might pop off, and if shit pop off
Somebody gon' get laid the fuck out
They call me new money, say I have no class
I'm from the bottom, I came up too fast
The hell if I care, I'm just here to get my cash
Bougie ass bitches, you can kiss my ass
I put gold Daytonas on that Cherry Six-Four
White walls so clean it's like I'm ridin on bulbs
Hit one switch mang, that ass so low
Cali got niggaz in New York ridin on hundred spokes
Touch me, tease me, kiss me, please me
I give it to ya just how you like it, girl
You know I'm rockin with the best fo' pound on my hip
Gold chain on my chest (Ah!)
[50 Cent]
50, unh
Bentley, unh
Em came 'n gotta nigga fresh out the, slum
Automatic, gun
Fuck 'em one-on-one
We wrap up ya punk ass, stunt 'n ya done
Homie, it's Game time
[Game]
You ready? Here I come
Call Lloyd Banks and get this motherfucker, crunk
It took two, months
But Fifty got it done
Signed with G-unit
Had niggaz like, "huh?"
Don't try to front
I'll leave yo' ass, slumped
Thinkin I'm a punk
Get your fuckin head, lumped
Fifty got a, gun
[50 Cent]
Ready here he come
Gotta sick, vendetta
To get this, chedda
Meet my Ba, Retta
The dra-ma, setta
Sip Am-a, retta
My flow sounds, betta
Than average
On tracks I'm a savage
I damage
Any nigga tryin' to front on my clique (G-Unit!)
Rough? Nah, just gettin' by. Just dealing with the realities of the numbers. Five grand says 95% of 8th graders in the predominantly black part of your town know every word in that rap.
And then, finally (sorry this is so long!) a little hope. Also in today's Times (greatfully, not behind the Select paywall) a story about Raleigh, North Carolina's school system. Here, a teaser from the first few paragraphs:
Over the last decade, black and Hispanic students here in Wake County have made such dramatic strides in standardized reading and math tests that it has caught the attention of education experts around the country.
The main reason for the students' dramatic improvement, say officials and parents in the county, which includes Raleigh and its sprawling suburbs, is that the district has made a concerted effort to integrate the schools economically.
Since 2000, school officials have used income as a prime factor in assigning students to schools, with the goal of limiting the proportion of low-income students in any school to no more than 40 percent.
Surprising? Hardly.
Economic connections = Psychological connections = Behavioral results.
What part of those equations don't we get?
I just love the fact that my father in law includes the lyrics to a 50 Cent song on his blog. Now if he could only cheer for the right sports teams....
Posted by: Jeremy | September 26, 2005 at 12:44 PM
A couple comments on this...
As you may know, I am working for Mayor DeStefano in his Gubernatorial campaign. One of the things he talks a lot about is how much the price of public universities has gone up recently. He contrasts this to Georgia, where anyone earning a B average or better in high school gets free tuition in the State University system. Over the weekend, I met a student from Georgia who was in college because of this. I realize there are other factors but I cannot help but wonder how great a factor the price of college is for many people.
I’m also very interested in digital divide issues. New Haven and Hartford are both working on plans to provide low cost (perhaps free) wireless access in their cities. Of course, this doesn’t do much for people who don’t have access to computers or knowledge of how to use them, but it is a start. Perhaps more significantly is the work that Gina Coggio is doing with her students in New Haven. Stop by at Orient Lodge to see my comments about her teaching and how others use the Internet.
Posted by: Aldon Hynes | September 26, 2005 at 03:07 PM