Dealing with Social Issues ...

On a day when the announcement comes about DACA being rescinded, here are a few comments on a couple of titles dealing with social issues …

TALES OF TWO AMERICAS is edited by John Freeman and contains essays and poems from thirty-six contemporary writers such as Larry Watson, Julia Alvarez and many more. Each author has contributed to these “Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation.”   They often write of their youth and what they know, with Sandra Cisernos (“I changed my name from sand-druh sis-narrows to sohn-druh seez-neh-ros”), for example, contrasting Chicago neighborhoods, describing her childhood and her reasons for leaving. Timothy Egan asks “Was It Better Then?” when he attended University of Washington and worked part-time as a longshoreman in a past where he says “people without college degrees … could live well, in the same neighborhoods as the swells.” Exploring current politics, Richard Russo writes, “Losing your job makes you scared; losing your work makes you angry” and he notes the importance of seeing people, of valuing and respecting their work.  Annie Dillard uses a two paragraph entry to describe a good day’s work, calling to mind Emily Esfahani Smith writing recently in the New York Times: “a good life is a life of goodness — and that’s something anyone can aspire to, no matter their dreams or circumstances.”  TALES OF TWO AMERICAS received a starred review from Booklist and deserves consideration for inclusion in our Senior writing classes since it offers students short introductions to quality writing by authors they may not have yet read.

DESIGN THINKING FOR THE GREATER GOOD by Jeanne Liedtka, Randy Salzman and Daisy Azer is published by Columbia University Press and discusses applying design principles from the business sector to non-profits and government.  It is split into three parts: first, an introduction which defines design thinking (“a problem-solving approach that is human centered, possibility driven, option focused and iterative”); then, the majority of the book which contains ten stories of its application; and a third part which offers insights for adopting design thinking in the reader’s organization.

The authors note that we are seeing the democratization of innovation from trained experts to everyone and argue that their case study participants “used the tools of design thinking to reduce risk, manage change, use resources more effectively, bridge the communication gap between parties, and manage the competing demands of diverse stakeholders.”  One example involves “turning debate into dialogue” at the FDA. Another describes the “power of local thinking” at the Community Transportation Association of America in order to better meet needs of low-income workers. The tone of this book is rather academic, but the message is powerful:  “have a passion for exploration and learning and the courage to try” while focusing together on key questions like What is? What if? What wows? and What works?

Exploring Income Inequality

Our Sophomore English students currently read The Other Wes Moore and use that non-fiction narrative as a springboard to research projects.  Several teachers have asked for ideas of more recent titles dealing with diversity which could eventually replace or perhaps supplement that text.  We developed a list with a few dozen names falling into rough categories dealing with economics (and social class), race, gender, immigration, disability, and military experience.  Here are two very new titles which, while not narratives or memoirs, would definitely inform the current discussions about class divisions and inequality.

WHITE WORKING CLASS by Joan C. Williams expands upon her essay in The Harvard Business Review which appeared shortly after last November’s election.  Williams, an award-winning author and Distinguished Professor of Law and Hastings Foundation Chair at University of California, describes what she calls “class cluelessness.” She argues that “among Americans progressives, there has been a very, very insistent focus on the poor, on gender, on race, but there has not been a focus on the white working class.” In addition to incorporating results from formal research studies, I especially like how she draws on personal examples - although those do make for uncomfortable reading at times. WHITE WORKING CLASS is very accessible for our students and seemingly offers a conversation amongst scholars, referring multiple time to J. D. Vance’s comments in Hillbilly Elegy (another text in the curriculum).  The first half of this book is particularly insightful; both content and Williams’ writing style deserve exploration and class discussion.  I would further supplement readings with selections from Robert Putnam’s OUR KIDS and links in that post, including Pew Research Center findings and Anand Giridharadas’ 2015 Ted Talk.

“How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live and Die” is the subtitle for THE BROKEN LADDER by Keith Payne, a professor at the University of North Carolina.  He, too, intermingles personal stories (e.g., experience with subsidized school lunches) with statistics or quotes based on research, often from the fields of neuroscience and psychology.  The book’s sections are varied, such as one on the corporate world, one on race, including a discussion of implicit bias, and one on emotions and political ideologies. Payne aptly uses numerous graphs and other visualizations (a human sized income distribution figure or a status ladder) to illustrate his arguments.  His new book explores inequality in the US and around the world. Payne notes, for example, “the striking global consensus about how much pay inequality people would accept was exceeded only by the astonishing global ignorance about how much inequality actually exists.”

Published by Viking (Penguin Random House), Payne’s book is extremely well-researched and contains over 200 footnotes. In its review, Kirkus says that the author “provides valuable psychological insights into our daily behaviors.”  Our new copy of THE BROKEN LADDER will certainly be used by AP Psych and other classes.