Running head: GENTRIFICATION EFFECT ON CHILDREN

Gentrification: The Effect on Children Stephanie Annunziata Molloy College

GENTRIFICATION EFFECT ON CHILDREN

Throughout the course of this class we have come across the term gentrification many times. At first, I had a hard time understanding what it meant. After our tour of Spanish Harlem, however, it became clear to me. Gentrification simply means the change of a lower class neighborhood, by the migration of middle and upper class citizens moving in. I was not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Our tour guide Luke made it seem like long time residents of these neighborhoods were not happy about having new neighbors. If the long time residents were so dissatisfied with this cultural change, I wondered how the children of the neighborhoods were being affected by it. Gentrification has an effect on all people involved, for better and worse. With all this rezoning occurring and so much controversy surrounding it, the main question is who thinks this is actually a good idea? Someone has to believe that there is a positive outcome for gentrification of New York City. Mayor Bloomberg was asked about the changes occurring in Brooklyn: Cities have to evolve," the mayor explained. "We have a constant influx of people from around the world moving to this city, and the needs of the people who are here change. Today people are staying because the schools are better. Today we have a challenge because we need to provide more activities for more kids than we used to have. People from around the world want to come here. There's always a challenge how you have enough affordable housing, how you build housing when the marketplace says it's more and more valuable because more and more people want to come. We're going to keep changing, and that's what's great about New York (Nettler 2012, par.2). As gentrification continues, we begin to see more wealthy, affluent families living next door to

GENTRIFICATION EFFECT ON CHILDREN families with uneducated parents who live off of low incomes. A potential positive effect of gentrification is the mixed-income schools that are formed from these mixed neighborhoods. Low income parents should be pleased about these schools because they would provide extra support for students, in order to get them college and career ready. As these schools are integrated with children from various backgrounds, it is the belief that lower income students with less education will learn from their more affluent peers. Another positive point is that gentrified neighborhoods will capitalize on relationships toward a common good. Affluent neighbors may be uniquely positioned to share information about child centered resources with low income parents (Formoso, 2010 pg.401). Wealthier families may have better access to

public resources such as libraries, parenting materials or school systems, which they could assist low income neighbors with. Gentrifiers who come into these neighborhoods usually believe in ethnic integration and plan to advocate community affairs that will bring the neighborhood together (Formoso 2010). I believe students who grow up in gentrified neighborhoods will develop a sense of acceptance for all kinds of people. To me, a mixed income city means children who grow up and befriend others of different cultures and backgrounds, which makes for more accepting and able citizens. Neighborhoods all across New York City are experiencing gentrification, which force life changing events to take place for many of the residents living in them. As wealthier people show interest in these areas, property values go up. Many of the people who rent homes in these neighborhoods are being forced to leave their homes because they can no longer afford them. The displacement in the New York area is a big issue for children. Young students who are already struggling in school do not benefit from moving around. Changing homes and schools is a big step for young people, and many of them do not take it well. With increasing frustrations

GENTRIFICATION EFFECT ON CHILDREN and family stress, many of these childrens academic scores decline. Along with bad grades, these students may act out or develop behavioral problems, which affect their schooling. Some students who carry the burden of the economic struggles of their families engage in risky or dangerous behavior at a young age. Since money becomes a priority in low-income homes, students tend to drop out of school early in order to get a job to support their families. Gentrification causes financial stress for many residents of the neighborhood, which directly affects the children involved (Formoso 2010). In many New York City neighborhoods gentrification is affecting the school system. In Greenpoint-Williamsburg Brooklyn, the local schools are using ability tracking. Tracking is the separation of students into groups or classes by their abilities or level of education. The gentrifying context of the Lower East Side could be compared to tracking in supposedly desegregated schools, where the smaller gifted and talented programs have more resources, better teachers, and "better" students (who are often whiter and wealthier), while the rest of the school contains overcrowded classrooms with lower expectations(Cahill 2006 pg. 350). In essence, the actual neighborhoods and interactions in the gentrified parts of New York City act

just like the tracking system in public schools. Many people who have an issue with tracking say that it deprives underprivileged children of excellence and equity in education and separates them along racial and socio-economic lines. In so doing, it underscores the claims of social conflict theorists who contend that education is not always a meritocratic strategy for developing students' abilities and often serves to perpetuate societal inequality (DeSena 2009 pg.60). Parents in Greenpoint-Williamsburg are unhappy with the way these schools are being run and therefore are taking action to put their children in different schools. Many parents are putting their students in progressive type schools, which use a lottery to choose students. Some are

GENTRIFICATION EFFECT ON CHILDREN enrolling students in gifted programs, while others choose homeschooling their children. Gentrification is playing a huge role in the community system of New York. One major consequence is that by sending children to schools outside the local community, the community loses public education money for them (DeSena 2009 pg.73). As schools lose money, educational programs and resources are taken away from students. Also, mixed-neighborhoods do not necessarily have mixed-income schools. When affluent students attend different schools, there is a sense of class and ethnic segregation, which leads to ethnic inequality. Tensions develop between young people in the neighborhoods and children begin to act out against each other. As a future teacher I believe it is important to become familiar with the issues occurring in the neighborhoods around me. In this class we have seen many neighborhoods that are undergoing changes due to gentrification. There is a possibility that I could one day be teaching in one of these neighborhoods. It is crucial that I am aware of the social changes of the area so I can best understand and know my students. I cannot say that I have an opinion for or against gentrification. I believe that ethnic integration is a great concept, but I do not honestly believe

that it is achievable in New York City. The fact that so many parents are taking their children out of residential schools simply because of teaching methods proves that segregation will remain a factor. As of right now, there are more negative aspects to gentrification than positive ones. I believe that if a student applies himself in a classroom with a good teacher, he will achieve great things because all students have the potential to learn, despite the neighborhoods they live in.

GENTRIFICATION EFFECT ON CHILDREN References

Cahill, C. (2006). At risk? The fed up honeys re-present the gentrification of the lower east side. Women's Studies Quarterly, 34(1), 334-363. DeSena, J. N., & Ansalone, G. (2009). Gentrification, schooling and social inequality. Educational Research Quarterly, 33(1), 60-74. Formoso, D., N Weber, R., & S Atkins, M. (2010). Gentrification and urban children's wellbeing: tipping the scales from problems to promise. American Journal Of Community Psychology, 46(3-4), 395-412. Nettler, J (2012). Bloomberg to High Line Critics: Drop Dead. Retrieved from http://www.planetizen.com/node/58558