Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ Many persons in Salisbury got a wakeup call when we broke the news that “Wall Street 24/7″ reported that Salisbury ranked 5th among cities with ”soaring poverty” in the United States. A week later this Wall Street 24/7 report of Salisbury’s 5th rank among soaring poverty cities showed up on Yahoo and in the area media. Soon that report spread to CNN, MSNBC, and other major networks. As to be expected city of Salisbury apologists started in with their denials about the 28% poverty statistics from the U.S. Census bureau. If you leave in the Downtown and the historic district and drive through Salisbury’s many poverty stricken neighborhoods and badlands you will know what soaring poverty is. It is unmistakable and it not going away. It is growing. Alternative realities spawned by city hall and area media can’t hide it. Just look at Salisbury’s ranking in cities and towns in North Carolina:
Top 100 North Carolina City and Town Ratings. Salisbury did not place in the top 100. It placed 107th.
http://www.areavibes.com/best-places/north+carolina/
Best Cities Ratings – Salisbury ranked near the bottom:
http://best-cities.findthebest.com/d/d/North-Carolina
Salisbury is far from the city it was decades ago. Our public education system has degraded rapidly over the last 10 years until we’ve reached the point where many illiterate youngsters inhabit the upper grades of our Rowan-Salisbury public schools.
Public schools (K-12), inside of Salisbury’s city limits, had poor composite scores on the State Education READY report. All are below the state and county scores:
http://www.rss.k12.nc.us/rssys/News/2011-12/12-13READYAccReportSummary.pdf
Educating the Poor
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Lao Tzu
Its pretty much accepted that educated individuals are less likely to fall in poverty. Its also a given that illiterate persons are destined for poverty. Further if a youngster can’t read, write, or do math at a third grade level by the time they leave the third grade, they will face major trouble throughout their time in school.
http://rowanfreepress.com/2014/02/06/sen-phil-berger-on-read-to-achieve/
To assist folks in transitioning out of poverty, great efforts better be made to teach literacy and math to youngsters during the first three grades of school. Adult literacy and math can be taught by voluntary organizations. Literacy groups, churches, public libraries, websites, and schools can assist in bringing literacy and math education to the adult poor. One such example:
http://www.rowancountyliteracycouncil.org/
After the adults master reading, writing, and math they can obtain G.E.D.s and go on to community colleges to further their academic pursuits or take up vocational training. The first doorway is literacy and math.
