The wealthy in Chicago, versus elsewhere (bars, office, donating)

[chet everett]

I heard that if you drop a mentee into two liter bottle it makes a huge geyser...

It is kind of creepy to consider a school aged kid in some crummy school as a "protege" to somebody that grew up in a beige place, finished college and managed to end up living in a really pricey part of the same city that the poor kids grew up in...

Doesn't really help all that much to say "I volunteer and the needy kids are stuck thinking they have to get blue collar jobs" becuase a) there have been tons of scholarships for actual talented needy kids way longer than anyone has ever used the word "mentee" (the websters online site pegs that at about 1965, pretty sure Catcher In The Rye mentioned how scholarship kids were a thing back in prep school well before, and no point having scholarships in prep school if there not also college scholarships & b) anybody who thinks blue collar jobs are easy to get ain't really all that bright / talented ...

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by chet everett

It is kind of creepy to consider a school aged kid in some crummy school as a "protege" to somebody that grew up in a beige place, finished college and managed to end up living in a really pricey part of the same city that the poor kids grew up in...

Yeah, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Mentoring is about relating to someone - you may not be able to do it 100% but there's always ways to relate. And in the end, assuming that someone with a nice job now grew up in a nice situation is frivolous. I may not be able to relate to my kids who live in a poor neighborhood, but there's other things I can relate to them about, and I can be a good example. I will admit that some people are not great at this as they can't relate to them too much, but I have found some very common ground with the kids that I mentor.

The point is that you realize that some kids do not have much to look forward to after HS. There's plenty of bright kids in families that can't afford to send them straight up to college - and there are ways to get them to that next step. There's plenty of people in the US though who've gone to college but were from poor families. Yeah, you aren't going to get to that point by just being a mediocre student, but it's definitely possible with hard work for them to get there.

[oak317]

Originally Posted by marothisu

By the way, this is the article about the Chicago school on the south side that offers kids an associates degree for free basically in conjunction with the city colleges:

The School That Will Get You a Job - TIME


Another cool thing which is in the second year and has grown (1 school last year versus 10 this year) is the CPS Invention Convention. It's for students K-8 and promotes critical thinking, creativity, and innovation. Then I think there is a fair where kids actually invent stuff and show it off like a science fair. I know it was actually held this past weekend at a school just a little south and west of the United Center. Small scholarships are given out to winners too.

Chicago Public Schools Invention Convention

Thanks for the articles!

I agree with you about the deep-rooted issues. I think there's an idea on the south side that people need to obtain a gun simply to protect their loved ones.

There's also a problem with prostitution & gambling. I think they are popular pastimes among young adults in these areas.

I learned this from a community outreach program I took part in a few years ago. I became friends with some twenty-year-olds and, after we developed a rapport of common interests, they told me specifically about the gambling & prostitution.

[oak317]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I heard that if you drop a mentee into two liter bottle it makes a huge geyser...

It is kind of creepy to consider a school aged kid in some crummy school as a "protege" to somebody that grew up in a beige place, finished college and managed to end up living in a really pricey part of the same city that the poor kids grew up in...

Doesn't really help all that much to say "I volunteer and the needy kids are stuck thinking they have to get blue collar jobs" becuase a) there have been tons of scholarships for actual talented needy kids way longer than anyone has ever used the word "mentee" (the websters online site pegs that at about 1965, pretty sure Catcher In The Rye mentioned how scholarship kids were a thing back in prep school well before, and no point having scholarships in prep school if there not also college scholarships & b) anybody who thinks blue collar jobs are easy to get ain't really all that bright / talented ...

How is that creepy???

In college, some of the best people I knew were people who volunteered on the south side and, after graduating college and moving away from Chicago, continued to volunteer with underprivileged kids in their new cities.

There's a whole science to volunteering, some people do it for compassion, others for egoism, but either way the end-result is good.

[chet everett]

Big time!

Gambling, pimping, whoring. All major pastimes...

[marothisu]

Interesting - that's the type of stuff I like learning more about in those areas. I've met a lot of smart people from some poorer areas who never got a chance to go to college. Just makes me wonder sometimes, and when you get to know teenagers or people in their young 20s, some of it starts to make sense. Peer pressure plays a big role too. One guy I mentor is really, really smart and into a lot of educational things, but when he gets with his friends, he acts like he doesn't know ****. I get it, but I worry it may hinder him if he does it too much.

The whole thing can be changed, and not all of it will be of course, but not overnight. I would love to see it progress though. I think the more important thing is the volunteer aspect more than money. Money doesn't necessarily mean things will be changed, though it gives a chance. And in the end, I think it's very naive and ignorant to judge people on the street and label them as not helping out. You really have no idea what they do.

By the way, I was wearing a cashmere shirt today (got it in Italy for $50) ;-) - It means absolutely nothing about if I'm helping out or not. Cashmere, while not cheap, doesn't mean you have tons of money.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Doesn't really help all that much to say "I volunteer and the needy kids are stuck thinking they have to get blue collar jobs" becuase a) there have been tons of scholarships for actual talented needy kids way longer than anyone has ever used the word "mentee" (the websters online site pegs that at about 1965, pretty sure Catcher In The Rye mentioned how scholarship kids were a thing back in prep school well before, and no point having scholarships in prep school if there not also college scholarships & b) anybody who thinks blue collar jobs are easy to get ain't really all that bright / talented ...

I was giving you a perspective from their point of view - these are the words and ideas they shared with me about their situation. They told me they think they can't afford college and the path to life after HS is working at jobs that don't necessarily need a college education (and sometimes don't even need a HS education). It has nothing to do with how hard or easy the job is. I never said anything related to that - that is in your head.

And yeah, there is all that stuff out there, but they didn't know about it before I and some of their teachers educated them about ways to extend their education beyond high school. Just because something exists doesn't mean you're going to automatically know about it.

[chet everett]

Pretty sure Wal~Mart is the biggest seller of cashmere...

[mjtinmemphis]

I saw an article listing Chicago as one of the top 10 most charitable cities in the nation. I can't find it now.

Just in my travels, I can definitely tell the difference between upscale neighborhoods in Chicago vs New York City. There is a higher level of sophistication with New Yorkers. There seems to be a connection with the world that the yuppie demographic in Chicago doesn't have.

I would also agree with the Chicago defenders writing that you can't judge an entire city on one or two neighborhoods. Especially Chicago.

[Bucktownbabe]

Originally Posted by oak317

No one has responded to my main points though. The two problems I feel are ignored are crime on the south side (and west side) and the poor quality of public schools. What are we doing about these issues?

Neither of these problems has been ignored. If anything, both have been over-reported to death. What is being ignored is the role that poverty plays in both of these and many other societal ills.