COMensarations
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Analyzing the Y Zone Analysis
The poor you will always have with you,--Matthew 26:11.
An editorial in the Pueblo Chieftain on Sunday discusses the so-called “Y Zone” and compares it to the rest of the city. The editorial is written by The Poverty Study Group, and the names of several well-known citizens and officials are given. The PSG is “an informal consortium of community leaders committed to understanding and reversing intergenerational poverty in Pueblo.”
First, let me say the article does present some interesting data, but data are not necessarily the same things as information. The article cites three sources for the data: the 2000 Census, data from the state Department of Public Health and Environment, and a book called “Missing Class” by Katherine S. Newman and Victor Tan Chen. The “progressive” nature of the book is signaled when the PSG says “the “Missing Link” {sic} authors, Newman and Chen, see universal, high-quality, early childhood education as key to improving the situation of the working poor. They also advocate universal health care. Also on their list is maintaining access to higher education, something we work hard at in Pueblo.”
My problems with the article are varied. The article is about the Y Zone, but recent changes in the way CDBG (Community Development Block Grants) determines eligibility mean that almost the entire City of Pueblo is now “Y Zone.” You might as well be writing about the entire city, not just a select portion of it.
Further, the Poverty Study Group says it is about “intergenerational poverty” but nothing in the article proves that intergenerational poverty is a serious problem. The article cites births to young and uneducated mothers, but nothing they cite proves that these mothers themselves grew up in poverty, or that their children will not grow up be economically successful. Or even that the mothers will remain poverty stricken. (Yes, I know it may be likely. However, none of their statistics said that a woman who is poverty stricken at 17 will still be poverty stricken at 37, because none of their statistics compared the same people over time.)
So, the article establishes that there are poorer than average people in Pueblo’s older neighborhoods, and that this has been the case for a number of years. The article goes on to explain:
The Pueblo nonprofit sector serves the Y Zone with a wide spectrum of social, educational and cultural services. Local government has had a long-standing commitment to the assistance of the Y Zone through the Community Development Block Grant and Community Services Advisory Council funding mechanisms, although these resources are shrinking.
What this paragraph says is that Pueblo has been trying the remedies recommended by Newman and Chen for a number of years. Apparently those remedies are not working, since even more of Pueblo is now eligible for the shrinking CDBG moneys.
Newman and Chen may have just published their book, but they are trotting out all the old liberal cliches. The need for early childhood education is cited, implying institutional programs, without noting that mom can educate her child at home and that when it comes to instilling values for education, discipline, hard work, etc., that these are imparted to the child from the family, not preschool, and the fewer hours the child stays in contact with family, the less likely the child is to establish these values needed for future economic success. It also fails to note the phenomenon that children do fine until they hit the middle school years, when suddenly gulfs in achievement between different groups open up.
Newman’s and Chen’s belief that universal health care will be beneficial is noted, without noting the odd correlation between early childhood health problems and higher IQ scores. Nor does the PSG acknowledge problems with universal health care in other countries.
The last argument cited from “Missing Class” is the one about access to higher education. If by access we mean that it is available, it is. However, in order to take advantage of that access, people need to value, want and be prepared for the work required for higher education. Having a university in town is not enough. Last year the news trumpeted the fact that too many college students needed to take remedial classes before their real college educations could begin. It is obvious that they and their families and schools did not value or want higher education enough to make sure that they were prepared. Considering someone warned me not to mention my master’s degrees when I went looking for work here, I would say that higher education in Pueblo is not just undervalued, it is actually scorned or regarded with suspicion in some circles.
The Poverty Study Group needs to broaden its reading and start analyzing the data in new, more thoughtful and intellectually challenging ways. I suggest they start with Thomas Sowell’s “Race and Culture.” Dr. Sowell points out how the different values held and practiced by different cultural groups have an impact on the economic success of those groups. Analyzing Pueblo’s data against Dr. Sowell’s research may provide some real clues on how to address poverty here.