The 4 Mile Radius

This past week we went on a field trip to a large college campus.  This university is located in a rural area and basically it's a big college town.  The experience that I had with my students there was...how can I put this...truly eye opening.

"Ms. P It smells...clean.  Why?!"  

Such a simple observation really made me start thinking about the 4-Mile radius.  The 4-Mile radius is a term used by the teachers here that refers to the area that most of these students have not left all their lives. So they don't realize that there are places that are different than their hometowns, there are people that are different than those that live in their neighborhoods, and that there are cultures that are different than that they are used to. 

And so I said, "That's right!  You're not in the city anymore!".  

I wanted to take a group picture and so I found a random college student and gave her my camera to take the picture.  

"Ms. P! Why are you talking to strangers?  How are you just going to give her your camera!?"  

And for a second time I didn't really know what to say.  I mean I guess I didn't think twice about talking to a total stranger on the street and most importantly didn't think twice about making sure that she didn't steal my camera.  It never occurred to me and that's because I never had to grow up making sure to watch my back at all times, I never had to grow up around people that I couldn't trust, and most importantly I never had to grow up with my parents constantly reminding me to watch out for people.  It was never really needed and so I was taken back by that comment. 

And then I over hear another student saying, "Ohhh why is that white girl walking with those black guys!?"  

I didn't realize how much of a culture shock this whole experience was to these kids.  They're seeing things that they have never seen before and they don't know how to react.  How do I explain to them that this is what the rest of world looks, smells, and feels like. THIS is normal.  THIS is how you should be living.

I began thinking about the students whose parents decided that they didn't want to let their students go on this trip because they were "too scared" to let them go.  That's right they were scared to let their kids go from this 4-Mile radius.  I couldn't understand. You're limiting your child's experiences and most importantly you're making it harder for them to move up and away from the impoverished and gang infested neighborhoods.  They don't have anything to work for anymore because they don't know what's out there.  They don't know that there is this entire new world that they can work for.  They will never realize that there's more out there and that all the work that they do in school will one day be all worth it because success is only 4 miles away.  But they never will. 

They are imprisoned in this 4-Mile radius.  
Some will never make it out. 

-Ms. P