The Street Lutie Johnson Quotes

In the novel, The Street by Ann Petry the main character Lutie Johnson, a black woman is a single mom raising her son Bub in 1944 Harlem. Lutie, separated from her husband Jim faces many challenges including poverty, sexism, and racism. Children, like Bub living in poverty in the 1940’s cared for themselves while single moms like Lutie were working; the same is still true today. Bub, at eight years old, was raising himself while Lutie was trying to earn a living and get them out of Harlem, and into a neighborhood where Bub would have a better living environment including school. Bub was afraid to be alone in their apartment so he spent a great deal of time on the street around external influences that were not the ideal. In Harlem, in

Miss Rinner felt that all she could do was keep the children under control and no one would expect any more than that from her.
“She regarded teaching them anything as a hopeless task, so she devoted most of the day to maintaining order and devising ingenious ways of keeping them occupied. Because the school was in Harlem she knew she wasn’t expected to do any more than this.” (Petry 330)
Today many schools in impoverished areas have the same policies for poor ethnic children, these policies are hidden under the pretense of closing the education cap between wealthy and poor students. Poor Teaching for Poor Children …in the Name of Reform, by Alfie Kohn, is an article about the difference in the educating of wealthy, middle class and poor children. In his article and on his web site, alfiekohn.org, he sites educators and researchers who have studied the difference in teaching styles in different social economic

According to a study conducted in late April 2013 by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy, 32 million adults in the U.S. can’t read. That’s 14 percent of the population. 21 percent of adults in the U.S. read below a 5th grade level, and 19 percent of high school graduates can’t read. (Huffingtonpost). In reading these articles, it seems that children keep passing through the system without being able to read or write at a functioning level, meaning that they may be able to indentify letters and signs but not read enough to get from poverty to middle class. There are schools across the country that have the same problems as the school in Harlem did in 1944, not enough money or teachers willing to go against the system and make