Comments on: Busing Programs…are they worth the trip?

By: Selena

Selena — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:04:06 +0000

You write very well.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:57:27 +0000

Hi Sherrie…thanks for the post and your perspective. You emphasize the dilemma that i attempted to highlight, “Busing…is it worth the trip?”

I think we all want our youth to go to the best schools possible, but the consequence of busing to external communities to achieve this goal is the essence of my question? Does the end justify the means?

The outcomes you mentioned for your one cousin isn’t unique–many students in my program fell victim to similar circumstances. How much of this is attributable to feeling isolated, humiliated or simply a result of their existing inner city environments–i don’t know. But i do believe that being a part of the community that you receive your education is a critical success factor and is something that I advocate as we continue to seek innovative ways to deliver quality education to youth who reside in the inner city.

By: Sherrie

Sherrie — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:49:39 +0000

This article is interesting. I have a different perspective. I was not a part of project concern but had 3 cousins (2 female and 1 male) who were. My parents moved from Hartford to East Hartford in 1975 where I wound up being 1 of only 2 black kids in the school so therefore I didn’t get bused anywhere but experienced a much better education. Back to my cousins. All 3 were from Hartford, 2 attended schools in Simsbury and 1 in Canton. All 3 suffered humiliation from thier own communities for talking like “white kids”. This severely affected 1 of my cousins. To the point that she felt she had to “keep it real”. She even made fun of me and the way I talked even though we both went to school in the suburbs. She clearly suffered an identity crisis as she chose not to go to college and got a job, got pregnant a year later, married the baby’s father 5 years later who was a huge drug dealer, divorced the father after he decided to stop selling drugs and is now shacking with a drug dealer 15 years younger than her. My other 2 cousins became very successful, obtaining advanced college degrees and have successful lives. They did not care what anyone said about them and took advantage of the opportunities presented to them.

Overall, I would say success depends on the person. I lived in my suburban community so it was easy to build friendships with the kids I went to school with. To this day, I have several white friends who I am very close with. This comfortable level with people outside of my own race has helped me progress in business.

These programs are great for those who were picked, but I feel we need to do more within our inner cities to teach education responsibility to avoid the cycle of poverty for the next generation.

By: Chantelle (Sykes) Hall

Chantelle (Sykes) Hall — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:44:24 +0000

I too am a Project Concern alumnus that rode the bus with Jim everyday. I attended Westport Schools from 2nd through 12th grades. I think we can all agree that the education we received was of the highest caliber. There is no way to deny that and for that I am truly grateful. The impact on our ability to socialize with peers is another story.
While I do beleive the experiment (oops I mean experience) allowed me to hone the skill of adaptability at a very early age, I personally feel that the trade off was too great. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret having been a part of Project Concern. The woman that I am today is the sum of all my experiences and I wouldn’t change a thing. But as a mother I would not want my son to go through what I went through. It is important to me that my son develops into a well rounded man. Someone that is true to himself and sees the value in people from all walks of life. I want him to experience everything that each stage of his development brings as “normally” as possible. I don’t want him to ever feel like he lives in two opposite universes where he has to choose an alliance and that’s what it felt like for me at times when I was going to school in Westport.
The need for peer relationships is vital to the social development of a child. So imagine the obstacles you face when you don’t fit in at home or school. Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t find any of the children from Westport to be cruel. They didn’t exclude me or make fun of me, they just could not relate to me so for the most part I felt invisible. For me, it was the children and some adults in my neighborhood in Bridgeport that were mean spirited and hurtful. They were the ones that would repeatedly ask me, “why you go to that fancy white school, what you think you better than me?” or my personal favorite, “why you talk like you think you white?” They too were focused on what made me different. Most of my friends were the other Project Concern children. Due to our long commute, I spent more time with them than I did with my family. Plus no one else understood what we were going through. We could comepletely relate to one another because we were all in the same boat. Heck, we were all each other had. If I did manage to make a friend at home it was usually during the summer, but it was short lived once we returned to school. Because we no longer shared a parallel experience during the day we would soon run out of things to talk about and my friend would eventually find a new BFF in school to share things with.
We were children that lived in two very different worlds, and for me I never felt truly “at home” in either. Right now on Facebook our high school class is planning our 20th reunion and I still feel like there are two worlds. There is a part of me that would love to see everyone because school is such an essential part of your life but the other part wonders. Does it really matter? Do they even remember me? Will we have anything to talk about now, or will I still be invisible?

By: Phillip Cuffey

Phillip Cuffey — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:36:30 +0000

I had a similar experience to Jim’s as I attended Gilman School, an all boys private schools in B’more in the 70s (for 6 years). I took 2 transit buses across town about an hour each way.
It was a struggle and well worth it. The days were long as I did not return home until 5:30 or 6.
I took the heat from the neighborhood fellas because I went to a “white boy fag school” but that’s how you get thick skin. To offset the feeling of living a double life as W.E.B. DuBois so accurately defines, I started a Black Awareness Club” for all students (yes, a couple of white guys joined). Our request for a black history class was approved- we felt good about it!
The doors of Penn opened next as my commitment to mentoring at risk youth led me to recommend Big Brothers as my fraternal group’s community service project. My commitment to helping at risk youth transition to independent living with productive careers continues with the recent launch of Zoeza Institute (www.zoeza.org) I look forward to exploring any collaborative opportunities with KP scholars.

By: sara

sara — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:06:27 +0000

I was one of the students from Westport that went to school with Jim. For me the program started in the 1st grade. I have to admit that years later I realized how hard the program must have been for the students from Bridgeport. I know my family and I discussed it and felt badly years later that it hadn’t occurred to us to offer rides to my friends for things like birthday parties and other activities. It certainly wasn’t intentional because I was good friends (or at least I thought) with two of the girls in my class. But I would also like to add that the Westport students were exposed us to a culture we would not have otherwise experienced. Westport was (and is) a very homogenous town. I’m really grateful for that and for not seeing people as different but as people.

By: JOE BROWN

JOE BROWN — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:01:59 +0000

I WAS A STUDENT WHO EXPERIENCED THIS BUSING SYSTEM. THEIR WERE A LOT OF THINGS WE AS INNER-CITY STUDENTS HAD TO DEAL WITH WHILE IN THIS PROJECT CONCERN PROGRAM. FOR ONE; WE WERE PUT IN AN ENVIRONMENT THAT WAS VERY DIFFERENT THAN WHAT WE WERE USED TO. WE HAD NO WAY TO PREPARE FOR THIS SO WE HAD TO ADJUST. FOR ME, I FELT GRATEFUL FOR GETTING THE OPPORTUNITY IN HIGHER LEARNING. BUT AFTER SCHOOL, I FELT OUT OF PLACE IN MY OWN NEIGHBORHOOD BECAUSE I DIDN’T KNOW ANYONE WHO I COULD RELATE TO. BY THE TIME I GOT BUSED BACK TO BRIDGEPORT FROM WESTPORT, MUCH TIME ELASPED FROM THE TRIP AND LEFT LITTLE TIME FOR SOCILIZING AT LEAST WITH MY PROJECT CONCERN PEIRS.
AGAIN, I AM THANKFUL FOR BEING A PART OF A HIGHER LEARNING PROGAM.I FEEL THAT I POSSESS GREAT PERSONAL SKILLS AND AN IDENTITY THAT HELPS ME COMMUNICATE AND INTERACT WITH ALL WALKS OF LIFE ON AN INTELLECTUAL LEVEL.

I JUST BELIEVE THAT PROGRAMS LIKE PROJECT CONCERN SHOULD STRENGTHEN THEIR FOCUS ON HELPING THE STUDENTS PREPARE FOR OR ADJUST TO THE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES THEY MAY FACE WHILE IN THESE PROGRAMS.

By: Zulei Thomas

Zulei Thomas — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 03:33:38 +0000

This article was very interesting. I think what has captured my attention was the limited extracurricular activities after school due to lack of busing programs. Going to school in Panama there were not many busing programs for after school activities. It was required for the student to have their parent or guardian to pick their child up. However, it became a challenge for some parents/guardians because it meant they would have to sacrifice their time at work to get off early and try to beat traffic. Sometimes the parents may have other errands or prior engagements that needs to be taken care of. There were some parents who were clearly not supportive of the idea of coming after school to pick up their child which then created another problem. The student becomes discouraged wanting to participate in an activity but they couldn’t because of their parents priorities or other prior engagements.

After school programs allowed some students to interact other students of all different of cultures and race. As a student they can develop social skills and awareness. You become more of a “people’s person,” stepping outside of the box, relating to the community, and seeing another part of the world that you don’t only have to dream about, but you can be a part of. As student who was once bused from 15-20 miles from home, with a community of majority Hispanics to a school where the majority were whites, I would say that busing programs are important and worth the trip.

By: Eneida

Eneida — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:45:29 +0000

This experience opens our eyes to the positives and negatives of such programs that are ever present in the educational community. Educators are constantly looking for new ways to close the achievement gaps among minority students. I’ve had first-hand experience of being bused 15 miles daily to and from school across racial and cultural lines. I grew up in a West Indian/Hispanic dominated community in Panama and my k-12 education was at Department of Defense Schools on U.S. territories overseas. Talk about cultural awareness!! I remember the unconscious change of our West Indian English dialect change to the “Standard” American English dialect as we arrived at school. This experience enhanced my level of comfort to interact with different cultures with ease, throughout my social, college and professional experiences. It has been invaluable and the positives certainly outweighs the negatives. Creating a close circle of childhood friendships and close-knit family relationships helped me remain true to the uniqueness of my diversity. I certainly think my busing experience was worth the trip.

By: jam donaldson

jam donaldson — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:38:36 +0000

Great post. I think you make some great points–one would look at your academic and professional success and think that it is a no-brainer that these types of programs are beneficial but you’ve really caused us to look at what is loss in addition to what is gained. But its such a hard concept to grasp because the social costs are soooo intangible. How does one measure the opportunity costs when we are talking about socialization, self-esteem, world view? But one thing is certain, you’ve given us a lot to think about and I thank you for that. Welcome to the blogosphere, your voice is a welcome one.