Over the weekend, I met with a TFA teacher who teaches at an at-risk grade school in
Las Vegas, and she pointed out that knowing English indicates social and professional
mobility. In the article "English--The Language of Global Business?," it says that English
is no longer just a "marker of the elite" but a "basic skill needed for the entire workforce,
in the same way that literacy has been transformed in the last two centuries from an elite
privilege into a basic requirement for informed citizenship.” (Forbes) This reminds me of
a link from the Guardian posted by Greta van der Merwe just recently (you can check her
out on here, but I will include all URLs at the bottom) regarding violence against women
in areas which aren’t classified as low-income. The point I found most striking was that
employers (by and large) don’t really seem to do that active in confronting this problem
because it isn’t profitable. As terrible as this sounds, it makes sense for the business, I
suppose. One solution, of course, is to become more educated. As the TFA teacher and
Forbes indicate, literacy—English especially—are vital for confronting this issue. In an
article by the Huffington post titled Study—Third Grade Reading Level Indicates
Student’s Chances of Graduating High School, it is evident that education is one of the
best ways out of poverty and unstable urban areas. The article says that a report “released
by The Annie E. Casey Foundation…found that students who don't read proficiently by
third grade are four times more likely to leave school without a diploma when compared
to proficient readers. The number rises when those kids also come from poverty”
(Huffington). It goes on to say that the third grade is the most significant point for the
young student because “it’s more difficult to [remediate]” a student that it would be to
have gotten them started off properly in the first place (Huffington). Now, this leads me
to my next point—the importance of children.
I will break off here for a moment’s tangent and add that the problem isn’t just in urban
settings, but the solution of education seems to be uniformly integral to this issue. My
mother, for instance, grew up in rural West Virginia, and she was a first-generation
college student. If it wasn’t for a support network that helped her navigate the process,
she likely wouldn’t have gone to college and been as professionally successful. I think
this shows the importance of two things—education and, most importantly, a support
network.
This leads me back to another instance—Constance Leto. Now, before you write this off,
I do think that she serves as an example of the support network. And, in her case, it also
has positive effects for the supporter as well as the supported. From the two sources
included at the bottom, I’ve gathered just a basic notion of her life. Jared, her son, says
that his mother was a high school drop out and a single mom who had her second child
when she was 19, but she taught them—he and his brother Shannon—to be “creative,”
“work hard,” and “reach for the impossible” (news.com). Constance was indeed “very
poor” living on “food stamps” and moving from place to place, but she found refuge in
her children (dailymail). The importance of her story is that while education is important,
it is vital to have a support network, especially for your children, because even if you
can’t move up as easily, they can.
I’m not sure if this will help anyone else out, and it might just seem like a few random
sources slung together to grasp at an unattainable meaning, but I do think there is some
importance to these, though they seem disparate. In any situation, especially if there are
children involved, education seems crucial to the problem. Education doesn’t just
empower an individual mentally, but it also makes them a valuable asset to any company,
which makes them all the more likely of getting the help they need. However, education
isn’t enough. Even for me, I didn’t really care about school or do that well in it until I had
a mission that was greater than just getting the grade and coasting. The importance is a
mission, whether that is escape or a better life for your children or even just something
small and personal that isn’t related to another person. So long as there is something—
whether it is a personal goal or supporting the education and success of their children—
that connects the individuals to something greater than themselves. They might have
given up hope on themselves, but hope for others could also empower them. The support
network can also reciprocate. In the instance of Jared and Shannon, or even my mother,
the success of the child has allowed the parents to receive benefits as well. While this
doesn’t give much of an answer, if there is anything to take away from this, it is the
importance of education and of a support network.
Also, if you haven’t already, take a look at this film. It’s brilliantly done and helps to say
what words cannot.
Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorieclark/2012/10/26/english-the-language-of-globalbusiness/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/05/violence-against-women-eu
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/10/third-grade-reading_n_846947.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2572505/Food-stamps-living-truckvagabond-hippy-single-mom-The-heartbreak-hardship-Jared-Letos-moving-Oscarstribute-mother.html
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/the-real-star-of-the-oscars-jared-letosmum/story-fnks7u94-1226844565758