Turn to the NJRCL report and pay specific attention to the information provided about Essex County, and the concerns, challenges, and recommendations in the report. Review the six families in Unequal Childhoods, and make connections between the NJRCL report and the realities these families might face if they lived in Essex County, NJ.

After looking at the Self-Sufficiency Standard for living in Essex County I realized that each of the families in this book would have a very different living situation here. The annual cost of living in Essex for only a single adult is just over $20,000 which does not prove well for many of the families. A family such as the Tallinger's would survive just fine in Essex. With two adults, two school age children and one preschooler their cost of living would be $57,983, and since both parents work full time they would have no problem paying that kind of money. On the other hand the Taylor and Brindle families would not be able to survive in Essex County. Miss Taylor earns $20,000 annualy which is enough for her to get by on her own, but with two school age children to look after she would not be able to live in Essex. The Brindle family would never be able to get by in NJ. They live on public assistance, food stamps, and medical assistance as it is, and having them live in an expensive state such as New Jersey would not be ideal for them.

Look at the two reports from the LSNJ on living in poverty. What further information can you glean from the reports regarding the struggles the poor families in Unequal Childhoods might face if they lived in NJ?

Some of the information that I saw in "A Desperate and Widening Divide" was pretty surprising. Although most of the information in this report was taken from 1989-1999 it still shows how much of a problem poverty is in the state of New Jersey. During that decade NJ saw a gain of 125,000 people living in poverty, and 49% of the states poverty are living in sever poverty. I would have never guessed that percentage to be so high. In regards to the book we see a couple of single mothers raising families, and the numbers for those situations were interesting as well. Here are some of the statistics for single female-headed households: they make up for 53% of all poor families, and 60% of NJ children living in poverty reside in these types of households. For mothers such as Miss Taylor, Miss Brindle, and Miss McAllister this helps to show how difficult it would be for their families to live in Essex County.

Finally, turn inward and think about who you are as a budding urban educator. In what ways is this information useful (or not) for you? In terms of better understanding a community? What do you need to learn, or what skills and dispositions (frames of mind) do you need to develop related to demographics and economics to be a successful urban educator?

The information really opened up my eyes to the cost of living in New Jersey. Growing up in Bergen County I never thought of how difficult it can be for some of the families trying to make a living in NJ, especially those which are composed of single working parents with multiple children. New Jersey is a really expensive state to live in, and after reading through information I understand why many families move out of the state once their children are through the educational system. This information is really important to know because one of the most important parts of teaching is understanding where your students come from. It is easy to sit back and put the blame on the children, parents, neighborhood, etc..., but the great teachers are the ones who put forth the effort to get involved with the community so that they have a better understanding of their students and the community in which they live. This is something that would be of major importance for myself teaching in an urban community since I have little experience in working in this type of environment.

Inquiry Project

When people think of the risks of living in an urban environment they typically think of issues such as gang related fights, shootings, drug overdoses, or other risks that are related to the negative stereotypes connected to urban areas. What people don’t realize is that there are numerous health risks that urban students face, and these are not connected to any stereotypes. Health issues such as obesity, lead poisoning, and asthma are very popular in urban areas, and it is my goal to see how these issues are affecting the Newark School system.
I feel that gathering information on the health of urban students would best be done by asking them. I intend on creating a questionnaire with general questions about the students’ lifestyle (I will disclose the topics of these questions below). This will give me direct answers to some of my questions and can either support or rebut some of the information that I have gathered from research studies online. Another source that I will look to for answers will be the school nurse; I know I will not be able to get private information about students, but I am hoping that general information such as number of students with asthma or any other diseases may be revealed to me. These will be my two main sources of information on the student’s health risks. I may look for other sources in the community but these will be the first two that I seek out.
The first risk that I will look to gather information on is asthma. With heavily polluted air and cigarette smoke the risk of developing asthma has increased in urban populations, and I intend to put some questions about the in home lifestyle of these students in the questionnaire. By asking if the students have parents, siblings, care takers, or even they smoke inside the home will let me know if the exposure to cigarette smoke is daily for these students. This is important to know because second hand smoke contains the same amount of deadly chemicals as direct inhalation, and exposure in a contained environment is not what children need.
The second risk that I will look at will be lead poisoning. Lead poisoning, although not popular, is also a health risk that urban students face. What many people don’t realize is that children can get lead poisoning from many objects, including soil. Many children do not wash their hands after playing in the park and if there is direct hand to mouth contact without washing off contaminated soil than children can obtain lead poisoning. I may not be able to find out whether the soil itself or other easily reachable items in the city are contaminated, but I will ask the children if they routinely wash their hands after playing outside. This will give me a good idea whether their chances are higher or lower.
The final risk that I will be looking at is obesity. African Americans have the highest percentage of contracting a heart disease at some point throughout their lives. With the majority of the urban population being African Americans I felt this was an issue that I may take a look into. One major contributor to heart disease is obesity, and since the percentage of people who are labeled obese is increasing in the Unites States I felt this would be a good studying point. I intend to ask students questions about their diet (eating of fast food, fruits/vegetables, whole grains), physical activity inside and outside of the school, and family history (if known) to gather some basic information. These questions will help to see if basic changes can be done in their daily lifestyle that will decrease their risk of obesity, which in turn can have a direct positive effect on the issue of heart disease.
Most of the information I intend to gather is direct from the students or the school itself, and I will look to make possible graphs to display this information. I hope to learn more about the risks that urban students face, and I hope that even by answering simple questions that these students may seem more interested in their health habits.