This article is about:
- poverty in New York (particularly the Bronx)
- fear and anxiety of kids and parents in the Bronx
- murders and serious injuries children are subjected to in everyday life
- different horrors that are arriving in the cities
- level of intelligence in children in the Bronx
- support for drug addicts and "sex workers"
- the poor situations in hospitals
- the inability to receive care and medication for the sick
Authors Arguement:
Jonathan Kozol basically argues that the poverty and destruction that children (and adults) are shown in their daily lives in the Bronx could be having adverse effects on their learning processes and also on their views of life. This is beside the fact that the things they are exposed to could also be damaging to their physical and mental health.
Evidence:
1. The things that children see can be damaging to their mental health, especially if it is an everyday thing. You would think that the children "get used to it" or see it as "a thing in life" but how do we know that deep inside, in their sub-conscious that it is not hurting them? To support this, you can read the short quote from a little boy that the author had the pleasure of touring the Bronx with on page 6 of Kozol's article:
"I saw a boy shot in the head right over there," he says a moment later, in a voice that does not sound particularly sad, then looks up at me and asks politely, "Would you like a chocolate chip cookie?"
Clearly although the boy seems disaffected, he dwells on this fact both because it is a jarring situation for someone to be in, and also because he has to see the crime scene all the time, and it will continue to bring back those terrifying memories.
2. We can assume that kids in schools are not recieving the education that "privileged" children are receiving, as they do not know things that most kids do, or even should. This can be seen on pages 8 and 9, again with a conversation with the little boy and the author:
"Have you read about George Washington?"
"I don't even know the man," he says.
How can a child not know the nation's first president? Either there is no emphasis on American History, or there is something preventing the child from retaining things like this, perhaps he has learned it and merely forgotten because there is not much put into remembering the information.
3. There are various quotes to suggest that children are subjected to drugs and prostitution daily, and perhaps this could be teaching them that this is merely a part of life, and they are accepting that there is nothing better. There are multiple quotes to suggest this:
"The pastor tells me that the place is known as 'Children's Park'. Volunteers arrive here twice a week to give out condoms and clean needles to addicted men and women, some of whom bring their children with them. The children play near the bears or on a jungle gym while thier mothers wait for needles." (p. 12)
"I went to the clinic last week with my mother. Out in front there was a table set up on the street. On the table there were paper bags with condoms and clean needles. I saw the prostitutes lined up waiting for the condoms. I saw drug users lined up waiting for the needles. It was like seeing a line of ghosts. It looked like all the people there were dying." (p. 23)
The children in the Bronx are used to seeing this type of behaviour. They also see that there are people who are willing to help the addicted and the working women and they see that it is ok to do this. So for many, they see this as a way of life.
Comments:
Ok, honestly this article scared the living buh-Jesus out of me. To think that kids see other kids getting shot and killed or over-dosing on drugs, and bodies and pieces of bodies being put in incinerators (which they consequently live near) is completely morbid... not to mention depressing. I would never want my children to grow up in this sort of environment, and I honestly can't believe that the people with power, you know... the big people with power in the big U.S. government, can't see this and want to fix it... No... instead they are worrying about putting our country into debt to fix things overseas. That bothers me a lot... I support our troops, but I do not support the cause of why they're there. There are many problems at home that need to be solved, and this article clearly shows many of them.
2 comments:
Hey Jessica,
Great job with this post. While you didn't name the same argument we did in class, you were able to find clear and compelling evidence to support the argument you chose. Great job making connections between argument and evidence here. (Ad you even hinted at the idea of people with power neglecting their responsibility in your comments at the end.)
LB :)
Oops. I just posted and my computer froze... Maybe it will post twice. Anyway, great post. While you didn't name the exact same argument we did in class, you found clear and compelling evidence to support the argument you do name. Excellent connection between argument and evidence. And you even got to the point about the culture of power in your comments too!
LB :)
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