Does this look familiar? It should. We were going to do this last Friday until my volcanic Nose decided otherwise.
Chapter Ten suggests some rays of light in the pretty gloomy picture we’ve been considering to this point. (Remember that Chapter Three was entitled Work Doesn’t Work). Shipler suggests here a number of factors which separate work experiences which make a difference from work experiences which don’t make a difference. You'll also learn about some enlightened companies making a difference through their employment policies.
Shipler recounts successful (though perhaps underfunded) government programs as well. One of them is the Job Corps Training program, represented in The Working Poor by the program in Cleveland, Ohio. Learn more about the Job Corps at the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Website devoted to it. Reach it by clicking on the picture at the left: two successful graduates of the program
Chapter 11 is the capstone to the book. (The Epilogue just reports what happened to some of the more central characters between the period of the first and second editions of the book). Shipler uses Chapter 11 to synthesize and present his best thinking on the problem of enduring poverty in the United States. The title suggests two necessary components: skill and will. Understand what he means by both, and recognize that he sees both the individual and the community need both components.
I began our study of Shipler with a quotation. I’ll conclude it the same way:
The Dining Room at SOME, the not-for-profit orgaganization through which "Peaches" made her way back from the brink.
Mission: SOME exists to help the poor and homeless of our nation's capital. We meet the immediate daily needs of the people we serve with food, clothing, and health care. We help break the cycle of
homelessness by offering services, such as affordable housing, job training, addiction treatment, and counseling, to the poor, the elderly and individuals with mental illness.
Visit the SOME (So Others Might Eat) website by clicking on the picture. Some has job openings. Some of you might find fulfilling careers working for non-profit organizations like SOME.
Idealist.org is a clearinghouse for non-profit organizations and those interested in working for them. When I prepared this the first time, (March 16, 2006) thewebsite listed
5,312 jobs available, and just about double the number of volunteer opportunities, as well. This time, (October 17), the number is 5680, up from the bottom of the recent recession which hit not-for-profit organizations sector severely. There are, 17,679 volunteer opportunities. Click on the logo above to explore the many resources available there (including many studies related to issues of poverty and class)
Opportunity and poverty in this country cannot be explained by either the American Myth that hard work is a panacea or by the Anti-Myth that the system imprisons the poor. Relief will come, if at all, in an amalgam that recognizes both the society’s obligation through government and business, and the individual’s obligation through labor and family–and the commitment of both society and individual through education.
Workers at the edge of poverty are essential to American prosperity but their well-being is not treated as an integral part of this whole. Instead, the forgotten wage a daily struggle to keep themselves from falling over the cliff. It is time to be ashamed.
For Wednesday, October 24
No New Readings.. I very much enjoyed reading drafts which were sent to me, and I’m going to enjoy reading the final versions as well. We’re going to be transitioning out of Shipler, and begin investigating Class Matters, in combination with other books for the course. From now on, we’ll be reading parts of books, rather than the whole thing, and I’m going to attempt a thematic approach when doing this.
The first theme I’d like to have us explore is class mobility. In some ways, this seems a natural following our readings to date, especially the novel, Samaritan.
This day we’re going to watch parts of another wonderful examination of issues related to class provided by PBS. The video is People like Us: Social Class in America. Walking the edge of the cliff, I’m going to try to have us watch this in segments. I hope my guardian angel is on duty. There is a fantastic website associated with this program. Here are the parts I hope we get to watch this first time around. I also hope you see the logic in the choices.
OPENING SEQUENCE
[Running Time: 9 minutes]
People viewing photographs and commenting on the class of the subjects
Brief introductions to people of various classes
A. Fallen Gentry - an upper-class man who lives in his ancestral home
B. Social Climber - a snooty woman who puts down the middle-class
C. Working Stiff - a blue-collar business owner who criticizes salesmen in suits
D. Social Critic - a high-school teenager who decides who's in, who's out
Reacquaint yourself with an old friend, Richard Price. pp.237 - 240
I’m hopeful that you’ll read both the material in the book and look at the material online. Make sure you notice the interactive opportunities and click away at them. What we’re specifically looking at here is “class mixing” or “inter-class penetration”. In the video we watched on Wednesday we saw a woman taking lessons on how to “marry up.” The story today explores some of the differences which occur when people marry across class lines.
You’ll see a connection between Dana Felly’s story in the video and the experiences of Della Mae Justice in the second reading today. Thomas Wolfe wrote the classic novel, You Can’t Go Home Again. We’ll see some of the challenges here. Remember Shipler’s emphasis on Kinship. Can Kinship cross class boundaries? And yes, there realy is a Greasy Creek Hollow.
Reminder: The due date for the final version of the Sameritan Paper is now Sunday at 12:00 noon.
