All I can say is, I KNEW IT ALL ALONG!
I work with disadvantaged children in inner NYC (a part-time gig), and the amount of stress these kids go through from the moment of their birth would probably make most normal adults cringe. They see their parents get humiliated, and they see themselves get humiliated, usually by their own school faculty who usually live in upstate NY. There’s nothing for these kids to do in their school due to lack of funding and quite frankly, lack of effort on the part of the teachers. Even slight rainfall is enough to stop half the teachers from coming to school, after which the kids are forced to sit in a classroom or cafeteria all day doing nothing since the law requires the kids to stay off the streets (and the authority seem to place an abnormal amount of emphasis on kid staying off the streets, rather than giving them an actual education).
New York City is a city by the sea, yet many of the kids I’ve seen in inner city haven’t seen an ocean in their lifetime. Their parents are too busy pulling 12 hour shifts and the kids are intimidated to visit any place in the city that’s even remotely affluent. “I don’t feel like I belong there” they say. Whenever I bring them to a museum/library/bookstore etc they tell me that other people (security guards) are looking at them funny. Whatever the case might be, we are resigning an entire generations of children to very twisted social stereotypes and future that’s not quite worth living for. An entire generation who either has to choose to be dumb or brave the whole weight of their own society. Am I the only one seeing a problem in this?
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