It’s nothing short of hypocritical for us to wring our hands over the D’s and F’s given to Memphis City Schools students in the Tennessee Department of Education report card.
After all, that’s exactly what we as a city preordained for them.
Yes, these 105,000 students made D’s and F’s, but what did we expect?
Making The Grade
These students come from neighborhoods that earn D’s and F’s on their best days. Crime fighting in their neighborhoods gets D’s and F’s. The low skill, low wage economy where they find their jobs deserves D’s and F’s.
Opportunities to break the cycle of multi-generational poverty that grips them are D’s and F’s. Day care and early childhood for them largely get D’s and F’s. The social network that teaches job skills to middle class kids and connects them to employment earns D’s and F’s.
Housing conditions get D’s and F’s. Literacy programs and community resources earn D’s and F’s. Risk factors for child development are D’s and F’s, and so are coordinated social services. The ratios of children to working adults are D’s and F’s, and so is economic integration.
Health care and access to it are D’s and F’s. Public transportation gets D’s and F’s. Infant mortality rates earn D’s and F’s. Physical activity and sexual activity are D’s and F’s.
Reboot
And yet, in the midst of this D and F world, Memphis City School students are supposed to earn A’s and B’s like the middle-class kids in the suburban school district.
It’s the parochial residue from the puritanical work ethic: they should simply pull themselves up by their bootstraps. And yet, these are people without boots, much less the energy to pull them up.
It’s the same sort of policy by bromide that fuels the mantra of higher standards as if standards alone will give these students better opportunities and choices for the future. More to the point, the ability of Memphis’ students to achieve these higher standards won’t result only from more qualified teachers in the classroom. They will be achieved only when all the other D’s and F’s in these students’ lives are equally addressed.
The good news is that change is in the wind. Finally, after more than two decades of pretending like the poverty in our midst could simply be ignored, there is a growing understanding of its cancerous impact and growing interest in getting deadly serious about attacking it with the full force of our governments and civic organizations.
Geography Lesson
Its target is what Robert Lipscomb, Memphis director of housing and community development, called the “geography of poverty” in a meeting at Leadership Academy. As he pointed out, it’s no mystery to any of us where the problems are, and because of the concentrated nature of the poverty there, the “city of choice” concept is merely vaporous rhetoric.
There, choices are cut off. There is a greater likelihood of a future in the justice system that in a system of higher education. There is little choice for entering the economic mainstream, because there aren’t the paths to self-sufficiency that exist in neighborhoods with higher incomes.
There is a lesson learned by these young people that is more powerful than anything they ever learn in a city classroom. It’s that everything in their world teaches them that the city in which they live places little value in them.
Tale Of Two Cities
Reasons for optimism center on Memphis’ “City of Choice” agenda praised by the Brookings Institution in a report early this year. It’s a new, strategic way of looking at public policies and public investments – with an eye of creating choices for every one in our city. It’s about giving talented people choices for the future, poor people choices for better jobs and middle class families choices for staying in Memphis. It’s about using the federal stimulus funding with the end in mind and leveraging local government funds to propel real change.
But first and foremost, it’s about the geography of poverty and the no man’s land that traps more people in poverty in Memphis than the entire population of Chattanooga.
It’s a city within a city. And as it always is, when the national economy sneezes, poor people catch pneumonia.
Harsh Realities
That’s why in the city within a city, it’s almost impossible to find a family that isn’t on welfare. There are 50,000 vacant houses, and the density of the neighborhood is half of what it was 30 years ago, making public services more difficult to deliver and more difficult to have impact.
In the city within the city, neighborhoods have so little value that Shelby County Board of Commissioners will turn over 140 lots to a builder to construct even more homes that earn D’s and F’s.
In the city within the city, more than half the families live on less than $8,700 a year. Children there almost have no friends who weren’t born out of wedlock and whose mothers aren’t single. Incredibly, the mean age of death in some poverty-stricken zip codes is less than 60 years of age.
Vigilant Vigils
Here’s the thing: we were appalled by conditions of the dogs at the city animal shelter, and we could have easily joined the people who held vigil there. But we think there are reasons to hold vigils on the other days of the years when it’s not animals, but people, who are being emotionally starved and educationally malnourished.
We wonder why we never see the picketers in front of Planned Parenthood walking in front of City Hall demanding better chances for every child once they’re born.
There’s little argument here that it was time for a vigil at the animal center, but we’re past time for vigils demanding action to change the lives of the 151,000 people held captive in the geography of poverty in Memphis.
As former Indianapolis Mayor Steven Goldsmith said: “It’s not just that poverty is morally inappropriate. It’s also economically dangerous.” That’s why it’s in the best interest of everybody in the region that we not only get serious about fighting poverty but that we become the national model for it.
Thanks for hashing the harsh realities. The vigil is every family that chooses to stay and face our shared challenge rather than run away. We may not be able to save every soul in this lifetime, but every one we do is worth it.
hmm…Memphis may be doomed then
Education is still free. Libraries don’t charge admission. Paying attention in the classroom is not difficult. Poverty has been in historical societies since time, and will continue to be with us. Achievement has something to do with where your head is in my opinion.
Memphis won’t figure its way out for another 20 years, so pull up a chair and sit a while. It has squandered its own future compared to other cities, and that is inarguable when you examine the last 25 years closely.
Pearlbob: That’s a very middle class way of looking at the problem. It always seems to us that the people who always say attitude is everything don’t understand what it’s like to be born into the grinding poverty that holds 60,000 children in Memphis as captive. It’s simplistic to say libraries are out there, etc. These kids can’t stay in school or in libraries their whole lives. They have to return to neighborhoods where public services are poor, schools are poor, and where their option is to pick the best choice from a lot of bad ones.
And just for the record, no city has figured this out yet, but there are some things under way here that are promising and could become national models. In other words, there’s no reason to beat Memphis up on this issue when we have the chance to change things if we get our focus right.
Memphis lost its right focus, as you suggest some time ago, if you have been in the city for over 15 years. That’s farily evident to me and a bunch of others.
Look, the realities are that some people can’t be saved in this world, albeit a noble goal. We should be focusing on developing the concept of individualism in our ranks. The masses don’t really ever do anything, right ?
Whether 60k or 160k born into poverty, the facts are that most will not make it, but some individuals will. That’s the way it is worlwide NOT just in Memphis, TN.
I have known tons of poor families that have rich ideals, high standards, and superb family life…moreover a zeal for individual accomplishment.
By the way, I’m not aware of Memphis developing a ‘national model’ for anything (from a public perspective). it might happen however in the next 30 years. Anything is indeed possbile.
As well, there is nothing nefarious in having ‘a middle class way of looking at it’. In fact, if there were no rich citizens in the US, perhaps you and others may not have a job, right ?
“I’m not aware of Memphis developing a ‘national model’ for anything.”
I would suggest taking a tour of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or Youth Villages.
Another one to keep an eye on is the Power Center Charter School. The new location being built for that charter school will be surrounded by businesses that will have internships for the students. The students at that academy are already starting their own businesses.
Indeed anything is possible. A kid in the 1960s had a 4% chance of beating childhood leukemia now has a 96% chance of surviving and being cured of the disease.
“the facts are that most will not make it, but some individuals will.”
We could have said that about leukemia 40+ years ago. It’s not acceptable that most will not make it- be it from cancer or from poverty. We can do better.
I believe the national model SCM is referring to is the same model that attracted the Gates Foundation. As for the education trend- focus- Memphis is hardly alone on this issue. The nation as a whole is struggling with the underperformance and outright failure of public schools in educating our youth. Note recent cultural phenomenon’s such as “Saving Superman” and such. We realize there is a crisis but are unsure as to best method for achieving resolution. One of the principal issues is whether there is indeed a national “one size fits all” approach.
While Memphis certainly has many miles to cover, the fact that change and experimentation is underway certainly provides hope for a change in the near future and might even prove to offer a method to accelerate the cities social and economic growth.
there is indeed a national “one size fits all” approach.
All the flip flops in 201 are the same size for men.
smaller ones for women.
even smaller ones for juvenile class valedictorians.
standardization proves itself a winner, once again.
Memphis has national models on many fronts. I’m not going to list them since I don’t think you’ll find anything positive to say anyway.
St Jude’s is NOT public
Youth Village is NOT public
Neither is the Gates Foundation, right ?
amazzzzing
The only thing that is amazing pearl is your ability to dance. Individuals here provide information as a response and you choose to change the prerequisites. Apparently you do not understand what the Gates Foundation is and how they are working with the Memphis City Schools.
Looks like YOU are spending way too much time in making things ‘personal’ ^^ dont you think ?
I’m not attempting to personalize anything with YOU, so what’s YOUR BEEF with me personally ??
What I stated CLEARLY in the initial comment was the following :
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re-read my “FROM A PUBLIC PERSPECTIVE”
Stop personalizing your remarks. That’s a reasonable and fair thing to expect
I am not sure what you mean by “public” Pearlbob? Do you mean a model started by the government or a model that is started by a private group and funded by private foundations or a model that is started by a private group but funded with federal and state grant money or a public project initiated by the local government but supported by mixed funding sources?
Regardless of who initiated it, public or private, we have a number of models here in Memphis that are worthy of national recognition.
The Church Health Center is another one that comes to mind. If only every city had one, imagine the positive impact on small businesses.
I was reading PearlBob’s first post and what hit me pretty hard was then watching what is happening in Egypt and thinking through how spoiled this nation is. You have folks there that just want the right to speak out, not be tortured, and an opportunity to be successful. Could you imagine how grateful they would be with the resources we give to help the poor in the city of Memphis.
Pearl, the critique was aimed at your comment. You are the only one continuously attaching you personal ego to these comments. Your comments show a pattern of becoming sensitive when the fallacy is pointed out. Your comments show you still fail to understand what the Gates grant is or how it functions where the MCS is concerned.
A fair thing to expect is for an author to admit a mistake and or halt immediately resorting to the “personal attack” retort when they are not able to reply with competent remarks. I would also expect an author to have the fortitude to utilize a single pen name.
PB: We are completely baffled by your continued discounting of anything that speaks to Memphis’ authenticity and progress. You dismiss Youth Villages and St. Jude’s because they are not public as if that is somehow relevant to what you originally asked. We know that you are a contrarian and exceptionally negative but the lack of common logic is baffling.
SCM and others,
I think an important question for us to ask concerns what the end of a good city is. I think you are hitting close to the issue when you discuss how Memphis is a city within a city, where many of the citizens’ lives are bled away, and the healthy half, including me many times, doesn’t seem to care. This is a state so sad that we are forced, as you have eloquently pointed out, to recognize that we are not a community. Rather, we are two cities; we are alienated from each other.
But what is the end we should have in mind in changing our city? What are we hoping for the majority of citizens trapped by this geography of poverty? I suggest that the reason for the lack of action by many Memphians is due to no shared vision of a goal in mind. We have no touchstone of what the good life is and looks like for our city. Is it material prosperity? Is it equal access to benefits, opportunities, challenges, and situations that can better oneself?
Your point concerning the Planned Parenthood vigil is instructive in this regard. I think it represents a basic divide that must be breached if Memphis is to move forward towards a better future. The reason that you never see the protesters at Planned Parenthood protesting at City Hall is due to their worldview. They believe innocents without a voice are being put to the knife. If this is true belief, then protesting outside of Planned Parenthood may even look rather paltry as a response. After all, if you believed innocent humans were being harmed, you wouldn’t take a day off of protesting the perpetrators of this action. Though you have a point in claiming the basic unfairness inherent in the geography of poverty and the lack of agency of those crushed by it, if you grant the position of the Planned Parenthood protesters, surely the two issues aren’t comparable in the injustice being done.
That you do or don’t agree with the protesters outside of PP (I don’t know you after all) is not the point. The point is that your calls for justice may fall on deaf ears for many Memphians until a discussion about end goals is had. Frankly, I am speaking about the Christian church in Memphis when I talk about deaf ears. In regards to the city planning that you advocate, the church can best be regarded, for the most part, as a sleeping giant. If one regards those on the periphery of the city and those who have left out of fear, hatred, concern for safety, or other reasons, ignoble or not, this giant is quite a hulking one. Though there are Christians active in the renewal of Memphis, I would wager that the majority stand on the sidelines, hovering somewhere on the spectrum between frustrated confusion and sad indifference. Yet, Christ’s call to love and help the least of these still stands and remains as a responsibility of the Church.
Also in Memphis are, for lack of a much better term, what I will call the progressives, Smart City Memphis among them. They are progressive in the best sense, engaging thorny, complex issues with creative vision. New ideas, exciting strategies, creative thinking, defiant calls for justice, and fervent engagement in the politics of the community are the hallmark of the progressive wing. Yet, most of these programs are undergone without the help, care, or knowledge of the Church.
I propose that until these two wings of Memphis (not the only two, mind you, but an important two) engage in some kind of discussion about ends, not means, we will continue to be in the boondoggle we currently stand in. We have no animating vision. As SCM so painfully points out to us, we are not a community. This divide runs deep. It runs not just along lines of race, economic ideology, or zipcode. It runs between large ideas of what the good life is. It also runs between a view of what it means to be a human. Yet, no one knows how deep this fault line really is. No one can know until we enter into some kind of repeated, committed dialogue about the terms discussed above. In this regard, SCM is to be praised greatly for asking difficult questions that lead us to question our beliefs.
A community, by definition, is centered around some common set of principles, ideals, creeds, etc… Pluralism in cities is not a new phenomena, though one can make a case that Memphis has been relatively insulated from the radically chimerical sprouting of various opinions concerning the good that avant garde cities such as New York and San Francisco produce. I am not suggesting some kind of Christian dominion over Memphis ie Geneva. I am not trying to guilt Smart City Memphis over a slight remark concerning Planned Parenthood. I am simply suggesting that until we discuss ends, it makes little sense to discuss means in regard to helping Memphis.
I am open to correction, qualification, suggestions, and even rebuke. I am also open to finding out how such a discussion could be possible. It is very easy for me to diagnose what seems to me to be a very obvious problem. It easy for me to suggest an abstract reversal of the order of things without any immanent plan for its birth. It is much harder to know what such a dialogue actually looks like. Any ideas?
Harvey ?
It is an obvious problem. Memphis does not have a community as you defined and described competently by you.
You failed however to discuss the ‘glue’ of the community as you described. That glue seems to be shared ‘values’. The town is a classic example of bifurcation and stratification of the worse order (educationally, socially and politically).
Shared values are indeed absent, so the ‘means’ will be fractured, and the ‘end’ truly unidentified.
IDEAS ??
Yep, for one, get rid of the architects, planners, developers etc in the process of establishing community values. They are patently ineffective and unnecessary in this fundamental process.
Second, dismiss all of the obvious interlopers. Their own selfish goals are transparent….and they are focused soley on the ‘means’ which is antithetical to your very salinet observation.
Third, have a ‘come to Jesus meeting’..perhaps literally and figuratively speaking.
Fourth, stop trying to fool ourselves by chasing empirical ‘dreams’, and have that important and tangible discussion about ‘ends’..
Fifth, state clearly and loudly that Memphis’ solutions will not be found in ‘re-branding’ efforts. Those efforts are beyond laughable..those bogus efforts fly in the face of your astute observation in re community.
Community is not founded around stupid notions of ‘having th best bbq’ in the nation, or Memphis being ‘home of the blues’.
…because what do all those planners, architects, business leaders and involved citizenry know? Of course these individuals are the ones that have transformed and built the great cities of both the south and the nation, but here in Memphis the answer is for us to go to church more and pray for a spiritual awakening. Of course, we will need to turn to someone like mouse/shekel/shanika or whoever they are calling themselves to tell us when we have achieved the correct spiritual awakening.
These are the individuals in Memphis that actually care enough to devote some of their private lives to bettering the city. You can make the argument that seeing as they are the only ones willing to show up that the course of the city should be decided by them. Do we elect individuals into office based on the actual vote, of the assumed intention of those able yet unwilling to vote? Of course we only count the votes of those willing to participate in the process. Individuals must participate in the process in order to steer the outcome. These individuals must show up to meetings, even if it is to say that the city should in no way or form take on such a cheap project as painting a bike lane down a street.
Harvey-
To your point, I heard an interview recently from an individual reviewing the history of the public school desegregation process and failure here in Memphis. His key critique of the program and its failure was pinned on the fact that Memphis lacked the leadership at the time that actually spoke for the silent majority here in the community.
It is no secret that Memphis has faced a severe shortage of visionary leaders that recognize the interrelated nature of the issues we face as a city. The type of connections that show how our city’s dominant issues related to health, education, built environment and crime are all very mush related to each other. We are just beginning to see a hint of change in this category. It will require the silent majority to remove their self imposed muzzles to finally bring about the shared vision and goals that will allow Memphis to make its own great leap forward. We have allowed the radicals on opposite ends of the spectrum to play their game on too many community issues. We in fact have a political structure that is beginning to fracture that was built on this premise. I believe Wharton’s election was the first sign of failure in this structure but it would be naïve to believe that it does not extend out further than city hall and into our churches and some of the locally owned businesses.