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While I can agree with this article, don't you see similar changes in other large cities? When I lived in DC (granted, this was before more stops were added), traveling on the green line, about 2 stops before the Howard University area, there were no white people. But if I'm traveling to transfer to the blue line or red line, the demographics change dramatically. If I'm in NYC, the stations and demographics in Jamaica, Queens, are way different than what I'd see the closer I got to Manhattan. Is it based on race, socioeconomics, etc? IS there anything that can be done? Should there be? These are cities that don't rely on cars nearly as much as Atlanta. (Yet traffic is still a mess in those places too!.
The OP of this thread has some pretty keen insight in to the whole MARTA situation. I only wished I had that sort of mindset as a teenager. MARTA had been undermined from the start. But there is still hope. We need more bargainers at the table in this state, not ideologues who wish to force their world view on everyone regardless of the damage it does.
While I can agree with this article, don't you see similar changes in other large cities? When I lived in DC (granted, this was before more stops were added), traveling on the green line, about 2 stops before the Howard University area, there were no white people. But if I'm traveling to transfer to the blue line or red line, the demographics change dramatically. If I'm in NYC, the stations and demographics in Jamaica, Queens, are way different than what I'd see the closer I got to Manhattan. Is it based on race, socioeconomics, etc? IS there anything that can be done? Should there be? These are cities that don't rely on cars nearly as much as Atlanta. (Yet traffic is still a mess in those places too!.
So Atlanta only has 2 sides ? North and South ? I guess East and West doesnt exist.
Did you even read the student-written article quoted in the OP? It was an assignment given to a Mays H.S. student "ride the north/south line of the MARTA and describe what you observe." It's not that the East/West doesn't exist, it's just, for the purposes of this assignment, the North/South sides were being compared.
One of the things which jumped out at me when I first read this article was:
Quote:
The project excited me because it gave me a chance to see a side of Atlanta that I had never seen.....
We say fewer of the corner gas stations and buffalo wing places we have grown to love. They were replaced by very tall buildings and restaurants we had only heard of, but had never visited.
The fact students living on the South Side of Atlanta never see the North Side of Atlanta, and I am sure this is also true vise versa, is significant to me... I want my children to grow up with not only an understanding of racial diversity, but also an understand of socio-economic diversity.
The student who wrote this article is quite articulate, the fact she is in AVID means she has college aspirations and is striving to make something of her life. Yet she had not been exposed to the diversity of her own city.
It's not only the less advantaged students who often miss out on this type of exposure and education, a friend of mine told me of her son's reaction when he found out a classmate lived with his parents in an apartment building. Her son was in shock, horrified even, he had thought only single people lived in apartments, and all families lived in single family homes!
The fact that this student lives on the south side of Atlanta and goes to Mays High School doesn't automatically mean that she is less advantaged...and you seem surprised that she is articulate, intelligent, and motivated to further her education.
Many people that live in a particular area of Atlanta don't have a reason to travel to other parts of the city.
The fact that this student lives on the south side of Atlanta and goes to Mays High School doesn't automatically mean that she is less advantaged...and you seem surprised that she is articulate, intelligent, and motivated to further her education.
Many people that live in a particular area of Atlanta don't have a reason to travel to other parts of the city.
Oh, no... I am not at all surprised this student is articulate, intelligent and motivated to further her education. Not at all!
My oldest daughter attends Arlington H.S. in St. Paul... 89% of the students at her school receive free and reduced lunch & the student achievement, overall, is quite low. However, we keep our daughter at that school because she is in the AVID program, which provides support and encouragement for students who are college bound.
The AVID program has proven to be a God send for our daughter... prior to our family making the decision to move into the city, from a well-to-do suburb [Shoreview], my daughter attended one of the top 3 or 5 schools in the state... she was assigned to mainstream and remedial classes, while her friends were placed in Advanced Placement classes, and she thought she was, in her words, "stupid". AVID is designed to help B & C students reach their full potential. My daughter, now a junior, is now doing very well in her studies, including scoring 22 on the ACT this spring [she wants to get a higher score, so she is planning on studying through the summer and retaking it in the fall] and she took 3 Advanced Placement Exams this past week... she thinks she did well on 2/3 of the AP Exams. A friend of hers, who graduated from the same school and was accepted at Harvard, is telling her she probably passed all 3 of the exams, based on what she told him of her essay question responses. Regardless, just the fact she is getting As in AP classes and feels confident about her performance on 2/3 exams she took, is MILES ahead of where she was 3 years ago.
AVID has made ALL THE DIFFERENCE in our daughter's life.
Okay, with that background info....
I was trying to make the point that the fact the young woman who wrote the North/South Article is in the AVID program proves that she is articulate, intelligent and motivated to continue her studies. Just reading the article indicates the first two, her enrollment in the AVID program proves the third point. Not that I was surprised, but in reading some of the responses to this thread, since the beginning, many other posters seem to be dissing this author and it made me mad.
However, the fact this young woman is in AVID also indicates that she is likely in the category defined as "economic disadvantaged", because this is one of the criteria required for admissions into the AVID program. Our family is currently living on one income while I finish my bachelor's degree, therefore our kids qualify for reduced lunches and our family is considered "economically disadvantaged." Until I finish my degree, neither of my daughter's parents have obtained a bachelor's degree, which is also a criteria for acceptance into the AVID program. Minority student is yet another criteria... I think students need to meet 2/3 of these criteria to be accepted into AVID. My daughter meets 3/3 of the criteria.
BTW, Mays HS, by comparison, has a much lower number of students receiving free and reduced lunch... 61% compared to the 89% at my oldest daughter's current high school in St. Paul. [Arlington High School has the highest number of immigrant students taking ELL/ESL classes, so this significantly plays into the school's overall achievement scores.]
I am only trying to make the point this Mays H.S. student apparently has not explored the city outside her immediate neighborhood, and I find this both interesting and revealing.
This is something that happens quite frequently - young people are not exposed to the world outside their immediate community. Since we have moved into the city, our kids have become friends with many inner-city kids who have never been outside of St. Paul - not even over to Minneapolis.
My 2nd daughter will likely attend Mays HS when we move to Atlanta next year, we plan to roll into town the summer of 2010 and she will be a freshman the next fall... so I am doing the research before hand to make sure we have schools and all that figured out before we arrive in town.
Researching Mays High School is how I stumbled upon this school newspaper article in the first place.
As for your last point, which I highlighted in bold... nonsense! The High Museum of Art, and many other cultural attractions, are located north of downtown Atlanta. Just the experience of exposure to a world outside the neighborhood where she grew up is reason enough to take an occasional trip to visit places elsewhere in the city.
A friend of mine volunteers with inner-city youth, she mentors a group of five girls who are now in 9th grade. This next weekend she is taking them to Duluth and the North Shore of Lake Superior. Without my friend's involvement in their lives, most, if not all, of these girls would never experience the beauty, serenity, and magnitude of a Great Lake.
It's important for young people to know that there is a world "outside" of their immediate communities... whatever their community happens to be... experiences such as these inspire imagination and ignite futures!
Last edited by StPaulEastSider; 05-11-2009 at 08:47 PM..
Reason: added supporting arguments :)
Oh, no... I am not at all surprised this student is articulate, intelligent and motivated to further her education. Not at all!
My oldest daughter attends Arlington H.S. in St. Paul... 89% of the students at her school receive free and reduced lunch & the student achievement, overall, is quite low. However, we keep our daughter at that school because she is in the AVID program, which provides support and encouragement for students who are college bound.
The AVID program has proven to be a God send for our daughter... prior to our family making the decision to move into the city, from a well-to-do suburb [Shoreview], my daughter attended one of the top 3 or 5 schools in the state... she was assigned to mainstream and remedial classes, while her friends were placed in Advanced Placement classes, and she thought she was, in her words, "stupid". AVID is designed to help B & C students reach their full potential. My daughter, now a junior, is now doing very well in her studies, including scoring 22 on the ACT this spring [she wants to get a higher score, so she is planning on studying through the summer and retaking it in the fall] and she took 3 Advanced Placement Exams this past week... she thinks she did well on 2/3 of the AP Exams. A friend of hers, who graduated from the same school and was accepted at Harvard, is telling her she probably passed all 3 of the exams, based on what she told him of her essay question responses. Regardless, just the fact she is getting As in AP classes and feels confident about her performance on 2/3 exams she took, is MILES ahead of where she was 3 years ago.
AVID has made ALL THE DIFFERENCE in our daughter's life.
Okay, with that background info....
I was trying to make the point that the fact the young woman who wrote the North/South Article is in the AVID program proves that she is articulate, intelligent and motivated to continue her studies. Just reading the article indicates the first two, her enrollment in the AVID program proves the third point. Not that I was surprised, but in reading some of the responses to this thread, since the beginning, many other posters seem to be dissing this author and it made me mad.
However, the fact this young woman is in AVID also indicates that she is likely in the category defined as "economic disadvantaged", because this is one of the criteria required for admissions into the AVID program. Our family is currently living on one income while I finish my bachelor's degree, therefore our kids qualify for reduced lunches and our family is considered "economically disadvantaged." Until I finish my degree, neither of my daughter's parents have obtained a bachelor's degree, which is also a criteria for acceptance into the AVID program. Minority student is yet another criteria... I think students need to meet 2/3 of these criteria to be accepted into AVID. My daughter meets 3/3 of the criteria.
BTW, Mays HS, by comparison, has a much lower number of students receiving free and reduced lunch... 61% compared to the 89% at my oldest daughter's current high school in St. Paul. [Arlington High School has the highest number of immigrant students taking ELL/ESL classes, so this significantly plays into the school's overall achievement scores.]
I am only trying to make the point this Mays H.S. student apparently has not explored the city outside her immediate neighborhood, and I find this both interesting and revealing.
This is something that happens quite frequently - young people are not exposed to the world outside their immediate community. Since we have moved into the city, our kids have become friends with many inner-city kids who have never been outside of St. Paul - not even over to Minneapolis.
My 2nd daughter will likely attend Mays HS when we move to Atlanta next year, we plan to roll into town the summer of 2010 and she will be a freshman the next fall... so I am doing the research before hand to make sure we have schools and all that figured out before we arrive in town.
Researching Mays High School is how I stumbled upon this school newspaper article in the first place.
As for your last point, which I highlighted in bold... nonsense! The High Museum of Art, and many other cultural attractions, are located north of downtown Atlanta. Just the experience of exposure to a world outside the neighborhood where she grew up is reason enough to take an occasional trip to visit places elsewhere in the city.
A friend of mine volunteers with inner-city youth, she mentors a group of five girls who are now in 9th grade. This next weekend she is taking them to Duluth and the North Shore of Lake Superior. Without my friend's involvement in their lives, most, if not all, of these girls would never experience the beauty, serenity, and magnitude of a Great Lake.
It's important for young people to know that there is a world "outside" of their immediate communities... whatever their community happens to be... experiences such as these inspire imagination and ignite futures!
The High Museum is in Midtown...part of South Fulton County. Midtown and Downtown are central to the entire Metro area - I wasn't talking about places like those.
The High Museum is in Midtown...part of South Fulton County. Midtown and Downtown are central to the entire Metro area - I wasn't talking about places like those.
Fair enough... I suppose there is not much need to go all the way out to North Springs MARTA Station. Personally, I would be happy if I rarely to never went OTP... I am a city girl. I love the city. I have never felt comfortable in suburban or rural areas, of the two, I'd take rural over suburban any day.
Some pure loss of brain cells working with that one. Just shake ya head and keep strolling down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gaflsc
I don't quite know how to respond to this.....
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Me either?!!!!!
