IN LITTLE WAYS
“Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” —Garrison Keillor
Take any large group of people and test their intelligence. About 10 percent will score poorly. About 10 percent will do astonishingly well. The rest of us will cluster in the middle. Make a graph of the results, and you’ll see a drawing that looks like a bell.
After 20 years of teaching public school, I can confirm that the bell curve is no statistical fantasy. Ten to fifteen percent of human beings do not reason, calculate or communicate well. Without help, they will likely spend their lives in poverty.
That’s a fact few politicians will address. It sounds too much like saying, “All poor people are stupid.” However, any successful antipoverty program must include an awareness of the bell curve. Any successful jobs program must include positions that offer a living wage to workers of every ability level.
I grew up in Detroit in the Fifties. The automobile industry had jobs for workers all along the bell curve, and the ablest could advance. Detroit had miles of small single family homes bought with factory salaries. My husband’s plantation stories sound similar. You didn’t need a high IQ to pick pineapple or burn cane, and bright workers didn’t have to stay in the fields. My father-in-law, for example, rose from machinist to managing engineer.
Hawaii’s plantations and the Rust Belt’s factories have disappeared, and nothing comparable has taken their place. Now workers at the edge of the bell curve work in the “service economy.” It’s hard, though, to raise a family cleaning hotel rooms or washing dishes. The weakening of America’s labor unions has definitely harmed manual laborers.
Professor Mark Rank is a leading expert on poverty in America. He likens our economy to a game of musical chairs. We have 10 players but only eight chairs. Washington, he says, concentrates on promoting chair-grabbing skills. But 10 players and eight chairs means two people will always lose. If those two are able-bodied, they will not qualify for any government assistance, even if they cannot find a job that pays a living wage.
Economic inequality has concerned several popes. During his visit to America, Pope Francis urged lawmakers to remember, “Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving the world. It can be a fruitful source of prosperity for the area in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good.”
My oldest grandchild has autism. Thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act, Jeffrey received 12 years of special education. After graduation, he received social skills and job skills training. Then his social worker found him a job as a stock boy. Jeffrey far prefers a paycheck to drawing disability.
I compare Jeffrey’s experience to that of my slower students. They didn’t qualify for special education because their achievement scores were normal for their intelligence. They received no special job skills training or assistance finding work after graduation. Indeed, there were few positions for which they were qualified. Many are now unemployed or incarcerated, and they all have children.
A common symbol of American freedom is the Liberty Bell. It’s always had a small crack, which reminds us that no society is perfect. Today, though, a big hunk of the base is missing. Forty-five million Americans, 14.5 percent of us, live below the poverty line. That percentage isn’t going to change much until we create well-paying jobs for everyone along the bell curve. Any political candidates listening?
Kathleen welcomes comments. Send them to Kathleen Choi, 1706 Waianuenue Ave., Hilo 96720, or email: kathchoi@hawaii.rr.com.
