{"id":156,"date":"2018-03-12T01:44:22","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T01:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage\/?page_id=156"},"modified":"2018-12-06T18:47:24","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T18:47:24","slug":"walker-jones-elementary-school","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage\/education\/walker-jones-elementary-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Walker-Jones Education Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dealing with Education and Money<\/h3>\n

\u00a0He gave her twenty dollars. What had worried him most about the hunger he felt before the salt was that his sister would somehow suffer the same, and he could not abide that. (“<\/em>The Sunday Following Mother’s Day,” Lost in the City, <\/em>124)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"A<\/a>
Used with permission from T.D. Ford (Grundlepuck) via Flickr. https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/grundlepuck\/145526043\/in\/photolist-dRRPH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

African-American Populations and Education in the Late 1900s<\/h4>\n

Edward P. Jones\u2019\u00a0Lost in the City\u00a0<\/em>is set in Washington, D.C., mainly around the 1970s and 1980s. Accordingly, we can gain relevant background information from a 1967 article in The Journal of Negro Education<\/em><\/a>\u00a0states that \u201cmobility, on the economic scale, is greatly affected by the possession of academic credentials\u201d (Cangemi 424) In that era (and even moreso today), school opened up novel career paths for students\u2014and economic success directly correlated with education level. For example, lifetime earnings for those with no education equaled $58,000; four years elementary schooling $72,000; eight years $116,000; high school diploma $165,000; and college graduates $268,000 (Cangemi 425). Indeed, the article emphasizes: \u201cMoney is power, and this power is obtainable through school\u201d (Cangemi 425).<\/p>\n

The intersection between education and economic success was clear for Americans in general but even more prominent in African American populations\u2014especially in terms of economic disadvantages for Black students. Even though education was crucial for economic development within family units, many young Black students did not even hope to afford higher education; these students represented a \u201cCatch-22,\u201d as they essentially did not have enough money to earn it (\u201cMoney\u201d 16). As the line graph below communicates, the income disparity between Black and White students severely<\/em>\u00a0impaired Black students\u2019 academic performances, with 26.1% of Black families earning less than $16,000 (below the poverty line) and median Black family income only 60% of the median white family income (\u201cMoney\u201d 14).<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Data collected by The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education from the U.S. Census Bureau. (See sources for more information).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Present Day Walker-Jones<\/h4>\n

Walker-Jones Education Campus teaches students in grades PK3-8. A community-based school, the campus facilitates relationships between the school and families\u2019\u2014and community\u2014engagements in their children\u2019s academic pursuits.\u00a0 Composed of primarily African American students, Walker-Jones states that 100% of its current students are listed as \u201ceconomically disadvantaged.\u201d Walker-Jones is a part of the DC Public School (DCPS) system; the famed Dunbar High School is its destination high school (\u201cWalker-Jones\u201d).<\/p>\n

Walker-Jones in\u00a0Lost in the City<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A snapshot of Walker-Jones Education Campus in red, the unnamed child’s home in blue, and Maddie’s house in green. Created using Google Maps.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In\u00a0Lost in the City<\/em>, Walker-Jones is mentioned twice: once in \u201cThe First Day\u201d and once in \u201cThe Sunday Following Mother\u2019s Day.\u201d In both instances, Edward P. Jones positions the campus in terms of not only education, but also physical manifestations of financial resources\u2014money.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe First Day,\u201d the unnamed child\u2019s mother cannot read or write; as a result, on the child\u2019s registration day, her mother must explicitly ask for help from another parent to fill out school forms. Because the child\u2019s mother has \u201clearned that money is the beginning and end of everything in this world,\u201d she offers fifty cents to the woman for her help (31). By outing herself as illiterate, our mother character places herself in a lower position of power\u2014her female counterpart in this exchange is suddenly much \u201chappier, so much more satisfied with everything\u201d (30). The smug parent realizes her situational influence\u2014in this instant, she is the gatekeeper to the unnamed child\u2019s education. Notice the word \u201ceverything\u201d in both quotes. If money is indeed \u201ceverything,\u201d being \u201csatisfied with everything\u201d implies that the smug woman is satisfied with her money, a fact highlighted by the paper money curlers placed into her hair. Her appearance is literally augmented by cash. In an ideal society, on the first day of school, each student would be at the same stage of learning\u2014perhaps, even, with equal levels of worldly advantage. However, money, or especially the lack of it, has irrevocably shifted the balance.<\/p>\n

Access, money, and Walker-Jones are entwined again in \u201cThe Sunday Following Mother\u2019s Day.\u201d In that story, after their father murders their mother, 4-year-old Madeleine and 10-year-old Pookie (Sam) begin living with their aunt, Maddie. However, at age 15, Sam leaves for the navy. Before he leaves, he stops Madeleine while she is on her way to school (Walker-Jones), handing her most of his stolen emergency cash: twenty dollars out of twenty-one. As Pookie walks away, Madeleine is reminded of a \u201chungry man who went down to the river one day to fish for his supper\u201d (Jones 124). From the introductory quote on top of this page, we know that Pookie was afraid that Madeleine would \u201csomehow suffer the kind of same\u201d kind of \u201chunger\u201d he had felt earlier that day (Jones 124). Their resulting paths, then, represent two possible ways of ensuring hunger-less futures: Madeleine continues through higher education, while Pookie gains maturity through the navy\u2014and indeed, Pookie is referred to as \u201cSam\u201d for the rest of the story. Sam\u2019s decision to gift his sister with most of his taken money, then, may signify his giving Madeleine the financial access needed to continue in school. Sam is the \u201chungry man\u201d that fishes for own supper; with financial resources, Madeleine continues her path towards Walker-Jones, benefited by a brother who will not \u201cabide\u201d her \u201chunger.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its use of Walker-Jones, Lost in the City<\/em> illustrates the ways in which access to education, and therefore access to careers and other opportunities, is shaped by money and social capital, even before a child is old enough to enter kindergarten. \u201cThe First Day\u201d and \u201cThe Sunday Following Mother\u2019s Day\u201d both illustrate ways in which a Walker-Jones education, in spite of being nominally free and public, nonetheless raises issues of cost and access for many of its students and their families.<\/p>\n

References<\/h3>\n

Cangemi, Joseph P. “Life-Chances: A Comment on the Dynamics of Education and Money.”\u00a0The Journal of Negro Education,<\/em> vol. 36, no. 4, 1967, pp. 424-427,\u00a0http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/pdf\/2294263.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A0f2af40e16a959bee01f2842939c3f7b. Accessed 15 March 2018.<\/p>\n

The JBHC Foundation, Inc. “Money and Higher Education: Blacks Continue to Have a Steeper Hill to Climb.”\u00a0The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, <\/em>no. 26, 1999-2000, pp. 13-14+16,\u00a0http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/pdf\/2999124.pdf?refreqid=excelsior:7050edad3be7be6db26b5699c668419f. Accessed 15 March 2018.<\/p>\n

Urban Institute. “Rising demand among higher-educated families.”\u00a0Urban Institute,\u00a0<\/em>http:\/\/apps.urban.org\/features\/OurChangingCity\/schools\/index.html#demand. Accessed 15 March 2018.<\/p>\n

“Walker-Jones Education Campus.”\u00a0District of Columbia Public Schools<\/em>,\u00a0http:\/\/profiles.dcps.dc.gov\/Walker-Jones+Education+Campus. Accessed 13 March 2018.<\/p>\n

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Dealing with Education and Money \u00a0He gave her twenty dollars. What had worried him most about the hunger he felt before the salt was that his sister would somehow suffer the same, and he could… <\/p>\n

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