By Vincent L. Hall
I Messenger Media
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men” – Frederick Douglass
There are two experiences in my childhood growing up in Dallas’s “Southern Sector” that stand out most to me. I learned to swim at Big L pool and then perfected my swan dive at Glendale Park, which was less than three blocks from my home. My two brothers and all our friends met up at least six days a week, sometimes more. The City of Dallas owned the pool, but the local 7-11 gave away free tickets.
We cooled off in the summertime and stayed out of mischief because of that outlet. Those wonderful memories of springboards and excessive chlorine all came to mind as I read a Dallas Morning News article recently. The State Fair of Texas was the subject, but for me, it was tethered to the summer swims that taught us lifelong lessons.
“Pre-K through high school students have previously been given one ticket to the fair for free under a long-standing admissions program. The program has become a tradition for schoolchildren to enjoy all aspects of the State Fair of Texas season, fair spokesperson Karissa Condoianis said in a news release. But starting this year, ninth through 12th-grade students will no longer get in for free.”
These three sentences instantly created angst and disappointment. The same logic that won’t support recreation for low-income kids has just withdrawn an admission-free trip to the state fairgrounds for Dallas’ high school students. It feels racially driven because most of these students come from the Dallas Public Schools, which happens to be 70% Hispanic, 20% Black, and 5% White.
Every time you engage in a conversation about the negative trends in public education, it ends up being a diatribe about the lack of funding and good teachers. However, what gets overlooked in the discussion is the lack of opportunities that lower-income children have to be exposed to life outside their own bubble. When childhood experiences are limited to the harsh realities of life in public housing projects, “barrios”, or in trailer parks, the outcomes are predictable.
Mama says, “If you don’t know much, you can’t do much.” Shamefully, many of our youngsters are restricted to a daily dose of poverty and all of its accouterments! Life on “Midway” enhanced my curiosity and thereby my education. Studying science and math made sense to me.
I was hungry to understand how a ride that spun rapidly in a circular motion could fasten me to the wall even after the floor dropped. That ride led me to discover the scientific concepts of inertia, G-force, and centrifugal force.
Too many inner-city children lack the hunger to learn because we stifle their appetite by setting financial limits on what they can see, hear, and touch. Too many of our children are confined to a world that is less than ten miles in diameter. Unfortunately, we don’t have public-private partnerships to provide summer excursions and field trips.
When kids are locked out of the mainstream, there are consequences. Some complain about rap music, but whatever happened to those free trips to the symphony orchestra? The Dallas Zoo is out of reach these days for lots of kids.
Poor children can’t afford to go to see the Cowboys, the Mavericks, the Rangers, or the Stars. Between ticket prices, concessions, and parking, too many of our children go lacking. And now our teens can’t see Big Tex! We only have one chance to build strong children. This State Fair ain’t Fair!
A long-time Texas Metro News columnist, Dallas native Vincent L. Hall is an author,
writer, award-winning writer, and a lifelong Drapetomaniac.
