Response to "Harlem and This American Life"

Originally posted by Steve Kimes on the Mennonite Poverty Forum:
Interestingly enough, I am an avid listener of This American Life, but
I listen to it via podcast, at my own speed. This week has been
crazy, so I didn't get around to the program until just now.

That is an amazing program. I was uncomfortable with it at first,
because it is cultural highjacking-- but as long as it is done with
the parent's permission, that's great.


I guess what we need to realize is that no social class values are
perfect, or even completely moral. The lower class, as stated in the
program, tends to see violence as a solution. The middle class, on
the other hand, tends to see money as a solution. Both of these are
stereotype statements and is not true for everyone, but we can see the
tendancy in both classes.


When we talk about transfering kids to the middle class, on the one
hand, we are making them more successful in our society. This is
great, because it gives them more opportunity to have resources to do
good. But this does not benefit society unless they have the ethical
training to use the resources for others and not for themselves.


When I talk about middle class and poverty cultures, I am really
speaking of adults whose worldview and cultural outlook are already
formed. Not everyone on the street has a lower class cultural
outlook, but most people do. This means that we cannot expect to take
a fully formed adult and ask them to change their worldview when it
doesn't pertain to discipleship. Rather, discipleship should look
differently in different cultural contexts.


If you change the cultural perspective of children from the get-go,
then you are no longer dealing with people who are culturally middle
class. And that's no problem.


But no matter what, we will still have to deal with the lower classes,
even if we reduce them. Even under this program, 95% were up to their
grade in reading. That means that 5% were not. And it would be
difficult to measure how many of them learn self control or
gentleness.


There will still be a percentage of people who will grow up poor and
who have the values of the lower classes. And the church needs to be
prepared to meet their needs, in a way that it is not now.