The social impact of privatization has been an appendage rather than being built into the design of public sector reform programs and particular measures from start to finish. The objectives and the process of privatization has to be rethought because democracy requires the fullest participation of all people in American society, not just those deemed to live in the “public sector”.
What is happening is not only increasing fear of the poor, but also the privatization of public space, which is given an added push by government cut-backs. Public streets are moved indoors into malls and become private preserves. Parks and streets in gated communities are barred to anyone who does not live there. User fees are charged for the use of other parks and public facilities so that, in practice, they become the property of those who can afford the fees.
Privatization of the home sector begins with high fences, heavy gates and barred windows, then proceeds to the hiring of private police to patrol the neighborhood. When that still does not produce the attitude of security, the next step is gated communities: whole subdivisions, entire condominium developments, or apartment complexes protected from the outside world by armed guards or electronic security.
Ironically, the gates only provide an illusion of security, as the authors of “Fortress America” demonstrate both through the testimony of interviewees and by demonstrating the penetrability of gates by sneaking through them. Moreover, while residents idealize the gates as a means of creating community, they find that gates can actually promote divisiveness, as residents argue about gate policy and homeowner's association policies. More ominously, Blakely and Snyder argue that gates lead to increasing polarization, us-vs-them attitude of citizens, leaving cities deprived.
Among the deprived and polarized are children. They are usually denied a variety of culture as many gated communitites tend not to be richly diverse in class or ethnic standing. This deficiency of being raised surrounded by diversity can play a key role in the increase of feelings of apathy toward those of different ethnic or social background; and in extreme cases, can lead to school violence.
Young people who grow up together in the streets and in the poorer neighborhoods are more likely than others to develop attitudes based on respect, and on the pleasure of being together. Gated communitites have a tendency to become inward-looking, withdrawing into itself, combined with a rude, exclusive and stigmatizing attitude with regard to particular groups or individuals who are perceived as threats; or increased social control by one population group over another.
Chicago’s Cabrini-Green public housing project is notorious in the United States for being the most impoverished and crime-ridden public housing development ever established. Originally established as inexpensive housing in the 1940’s, it soon became a vast complex of unsightly concrete low and high-rise apartment structures. Originally touted as a giant step forward in the development of public housing, it quickly changed from a racially and economically diverse housing complex to a predominantly black, extremely poor ghetto. As it was left to rot, so to speak, Cabrini-Green harbored drug dealers, gangs and prostitution. It continued its downward spiral of despair until the mid 1990’s when the Federal Government assumed control the Chicago Housing Authority, the organization responsible for this abomination. Cabrini-Green has slowly been recovering from its dismal state of affairs recently, with developers building mixed-income and subsidized housing. The Chicago Housing Authority has also been demolishing the monolithic concrete high-rise slums, replacing them with public housing aimed at not repeating the mistakes of the past. Fortunately, a new era of public housing has dawned from the mistakes that were made, and the lessons that were learned from the things that went on for half a century in Cabrini-Green.
3. Delpit, Lisa D. Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. New York: New, 1995. Print.
“The Deeper Problems We Miss When We Attack ‘Gentrification’”exhibit their opinion on the positives of gentrification and the potential of “revitalization” in low-income urban communities. Badger argues that gentrification brings nothing more than further opportunities for urban communities while integrating citizens of different social classes.Furthermore , she continues to question if gentrification is in fact the monster that brings the prior expressions against gentrification where she says “If poor neighborhoods have historically suffered from dire disinvestment, how can the remedy to that evil — outside money finally flowing in — be the problem, too?”(Badger) Stating that the funds generated from sources external that are brought into these communities can’t be problematic. This concept is further elaborated in the article “Does Gentrification Harm the Poor” where Vigdoor list the potential positive enhancements gentrification can have on an urban area in America ,stating that gentrification can
...r of inequality in America, with so much poverty located within such a close proximity to the White House. That being said, gentrification efforts in DC appear to be focused on removing poor people, or at the very least, the visual image of crime, poverty, and corruption as it relates to the most powerful city in the country. Community activist groups have tried time and time again to stop gentrification from affecting their community, but often times, to no avail. What is truly sad is that while this cycle is continually perpetuated as a matter of “haves versus have nots” the way in which this system seems to always disproportionately marginalize one race of people in favor of another, does raise the question as to whether or not gentrification was orchestrated to operate in such a manner; and if so, what are the affected groups going to do about it.
For the past decade, Irvine California has been among the nation's safest cities to live despite its rapid expansion. Despite being one of the safest cities in the country, Irvine invests a good amount of time and money to design and,nonchalantly, implement security mechanisms that seem a bit excessive. Without prior knowledge about the city, one can easily find themselves going around in circles (literally), or going in the complete opposite direction. The architects of the city planned out the layout to match the one of the University. We don’t normally see just one location with these security measures in place, rather an array of buildings and “public” spaces that are barricaded or concealed away from people who aren’t residents of the area. Steven Flusty argues that cities like Irvine are built by either people who are paranoid of others breaking in or they become paranoid by the buildings that surround them. The physical boundaries that are put in place prevent any
In 1995, Delpit published Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. Although the excerpt analyzed in this paper is from a larger work, it was written by Delpit (1995) as a self-contained speech. This excerpt includes many of the concepts Delpit believes to be the basic cultural conflicts in the classroom, which are stereotyping, child-deficit assumptions and student isolation and invisibility. Delpit's goal is to "remove the dynamic of oppression that are inherent in any classroom…that come together when (primarily white) teachers spend time with 'other people's children'" (Delpit, 1995, pg.69). Through Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom, Delpit lays the foundation for multicultural education and details ways teachers can solve the inherent problems that arise as a result of many cultures interacting in the classroom. The purpose of this paper is an analysis of this text through an analytic, interpretive and normative reading.
Municipal control or an alternative delivery method? This is the question that has intrigued all levels of local government and created intense debates between taxpayers across municipalities. The services that municipalities provide are often vital to the existence of a local area. The issues of accountability, cost savings, quality of service and democracy often arise when choosing the best options to deliver services to a municipal area. In recent years the concepts of privatization, alternative service delivery and public-private partnerships are often promoted as ways cut down on overburdened annual city budgets and promote a higher quality of service to citizens. Municipalities have historically always provided basic services such as fire protection, water purification/treatment and recreational facilities. However, would private companies or another municipality be able to better deliver the same services more efficiently or at a lower cost? The city or town often provides a political grass roots approach to most local problems. Municipalities are better positioned and have a wider scope to provide services to their constituents in order to ensure quality of service that does not erode accountability and transparency, or drive the municipality deeper into debt.
Peering in from the eastern border of St. James Park, in the city of San José, you begin to get an essence of American life. From the upper echelons, to the lowly scum of society, St. James Park is known for its diversity. With the church at your back, you can observe the people pacing the station, glancing at their cell phones every other second as they wait for the train to arrive. An elderly man takes a leisurely stroll with the support of his cane. Kids playing soccer score between goal post marked by homeless bunker tree forts. Police reprimand a vagrant man for being naked while changing at his park bench. A used dirty tissue and old worn-in hooker boots lay carelessly on a picnic table inside the deserted playground area. The thugs make a quick score of some coke from their local street pharmacist. In the distance, bordering the western end of the park, are the steps leading to the Superior Court House: an everlasting symbol of justice and security presiding over American life. The frequenters of St. James Park are a part of a unique and complex subculture, in and of itself.
Very few people would want to live in a place where they don’t have security. Whether it be in cities or subdivisions, Jacobs, if alive, would ascertain that there needs to be a sense of connectedness to maintain communal safety. Public living “bring[s] together people who do not know each other in an intimate, private social fashion and in most cases do not care to know each other in that fashion” (Jacobs 55). Now that families typically center themselves around suburban lifestyles, residents should understand that the same connections that Jacobs says were to be made in cities need to now be made in subdivisions. Jacobs was scared that with houses being spread out in the suburbs, little interaction between neighbors would take place. In order to avoid this, neighborhoods need to promote a sidewalk lifestyle that they currently do not (Jacobs 70). With Kotkin stressing how urban areas are no longer preferable places to raise a family, saying only seven percent of their populations are children, he lacks compassion for the transients that now inhabit cities. Undoubtedly, those who now inhabit the city should also feel safe in their environments. Nowadays, members of a city isolate themselves from interactions with other citizens making it difficult to establish a social
“Positive intergroup contact is a necessary condition in prejudice reduction and the development of positive racial attitudes among ethnically and racially diverse groups of children and adolescents.” (Pica-Smith, Poynton). By growing up in interracial groups it lessens the probability of being prejudiced. “In an increasingly global and multicultural society, interethnic and interracial friendships offer important opportunities for children to learn about how children of differing ethnic, racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds make meaning of the world. These relationships provide spaces in which children can explore and appreciate both the similarities and differences of their identities and experiences.” (Pica-Smith, Poynton). Without these interracial friendship groups the future generations will be extremely prejudice and will not succeed like they need to. With this one simple task people will be more educated and be more aware of their words, if they have friends in different cultures, races, and religions. Interracial groups promote child development without
Recently, urban development has become increasingly vulnerable to the growing impact of gentrification. Our nation’s capitol, more commonly known Washington, D.C., unfortunately has been heavily affected by gentrification. Gentrification is the process of renovating and improving a house or district, so that it conforms to a certain middle-class taste. This certain exchange of private land is a continuous competing claim between public and private owners. In addition, Kathryn Howell, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University claims, “In the most recent wave of urban redevelopment, the change has been led largely by public–private partnerships in a market-driven process. … this type of redevelopment represents a perceived ‘win-win’ for
...react to fear within the context of the physical environment (i.e. local neighborhood). The implications of land use controls are explored through conservation policies, environmental injustices, and greenhouse gas emissions. For example, suburbs push for aggressive land-use control in order to increase minimum lot areas, preserve open space and/or reserve extensive tracts of land for residence. Sprawl and the problems that comes along with it are also attached to land use controls. The mechanisms that perpetuate and/or reinforce such “exclusionary residential policies” include codes, covenants, and restrictions (e.g., intensive building codes, anti-tenant zoning, higher tax), enacting the most restrictive land-use controls, home prices and “drive until you qualify,” developers incentive in building spacious subdivisions, and the middle class to upper class sprawl.
Though it can be prevented, students at a primary school level are known to less likely to see race and gender as something inferior. Students also accept what is being taught without formulating personal opinions or political views. According to the Census Bureau, “by the year 2100, the U.S. minority population will become the majority with non-Hispanic whites making up only 40% of the U.S. population” (“How important is cultural diversity at your school?”). It is crucial for students to develop cultural awareness and are engaging in the acts of citizenship, not only within schools and surrounding areas but as active members of the global community. Students being culturally aware comes central when interacting with individuals out of the norm. Also, influencing global awareness leading to a better perspective and relations towards one another generating tranquility
Public sector reforms adopted in a number of countries such as USA, UK and New Zealand in the last fifteen years and characterised by efficiency units, performance management, contracting out, market type mechanisms, and agency status have come to be known as the New Public Management or NPM. Appearance of the NPM as shifting the paradigm from the old traditional model of administration has been promoted by a remarkable degree of consensus among the political leadership of various countries and is presented today as the major tool for public sector management reforms.
The world is currently undergoing a cultural change, and we live in an increasingly diverse society. This change is not only affect the people in the community but also affect the way education is viewed. Teaching diversity in the classroom and focusing multicultural activities in the programs can help improve positive social behavior in children. There is no question that the education must be prepared to embrace the diversity and to teach an increasingly diverse population of young children.