Suburbia

Hello again.

Lets talk shall we? Lets discuss suburbia. Yes that quaint little part of the country, where the houses look the same, the people look and act the same, and everyone is "nice". That place where kids play in the streets and you know your neighbors name. Where everyone votes the same, speaks the same, and has the same type of family (A mom and dad (no two moms or two dads here) and 2 children, a fish, a cat, and a dog).Its a place that wants to be like a small town in the country, without the inconvenience of a long commute to work or nature.

Where to begin? The concept itself seems good. The suburbs are defined as residential areas on the outskirts of a city or large town. Large cities have many suburbs. The suburbs may also be referred to as the "burbs". The word is derived from the Old French "subb urbe" and ultimately from the Latin "suburbium", formed from "sub", meaning "under", and "urbs", meaning "city", therefore suburbis would mean under the city. The burbs first appeared outside of Chicago. Suburbia in itself is meant to be a leach on the city it surrounds. Suburbs often have strip malls and other such conveniences in the center. They could self sustain, just as a leach is a separate animal from the one it is attached to.

Suburbs draw the upper classes out of the city so they can "have a quite place to live" (a.k.a. get away from the poor, minorities, culture, and crime). This isn't completely bad. What parent wouldn't want to move their children away from overcrowded schools and high crime rates? This, however, could be fixed by moving the upper classes back into the cities. This would allow the cities to generate more revenue and collect more in taxes. This, without corruption in the system, would allow the city to open more schools and the upper class kids would be sitting in the same sized classes as they are in suburbia, the national level would then bestow more money on the school district (which normally encompasses the entire city). This money could be used to give raises to deserving teachers (this again is without the union that mandates raises). This would also allow schools to bring in better quality teachers, and with the smaller class sizes because of the opening of new schools, the students would get a better education with more individualized attention (this allows for learning disabilities to be caught earlier, this also allows for fewer gangs because students know people care about them, this also allows for more fun in the class room and less straight forward lectures).

None of this is happening though. Why? because the rich leave the city for suburbia. Suburbia gets the befits of this, and the poor kids are stuck in the city in overcrowded class rooms, with little attention, more gangs, and more drugs. But don't think for a minute all the negative effects of this suburban move are on the poor, there are many left on the upper class too. Lets look. With the removal of the rich kids from the cities the kids are losing diversity. Many suburban graduating classes only have an handful of non-white kids to speak of. There is also a decrease in culture. There are few museums, art galleries, and theaters in suburbia. Most of these are in the city, and the kids must commute to them, thus most go only a few times and most of those times are on class field trips.

Suburban kids also are ones to rebel. There are many ways to do so, but lets only explore a few. The first way is in music. Some kids form bands others just spend their parents money to buy angry music. Most punk rock is coming out of the garages of suburbia. This is easy enough. Really, no harm no foul (unless you are of the persuasion that rock music can lead kids to violence because of the violent music, and not the lack of parent involvement). The other way kids rebel is drugs. While drugs are prevalent in the cities, they are almost more so in the suburbs (this is portrayed by the Showtime series Weeds, great show). The drugs are hidden, however. In the cities people who do drugs really don't try to hard to hide the fact. Some of the common drugs in suburbia are pot, meth, speed, and cocaine. Most of these are proven to be detrimental to growth and development, and the brain itself.



We have already started to talk about the people of suburbia, lets continue with that shall we?

Suburbia in itself promotes looking at your neighbor, and finding flaws in yourself (i.e. the grass is always greener on the other side of the white picket fence mentality). This envy leads parents to work harder for promotions so they can have what the neighbors have. This sometimes times can lead to a neglect of children's emotion. This can lead to resentment from the children, thus the rebellion previously mentioned.

The removal of the family unit to the burbs can lead kids to lets just say it shall we? be stuck up. They have been removed and thus subliminally been told through money and gifts that they are better. While they can work to overcome this most never will. Most kids will be spoiled (cars, sweet sixteens, and other lavish presents) while this isn't a bad thing it is sometimes the only way that parents show love. The kids also never have to work so they develop no work ethic. This suburban life also can lead kids to rebel in a different way, the more hippie way. They want peace, and freedom because of their stifled life style. These kids however , because of the lack of effort they have needed in life, only commit half way. They go to one peace rally, and support one cause, and most of the time don't even recycle. They may see it as a way to differentiate themselves from the pack of other suburban kids. These kids like most of the others will attend college, use their parents or their parents friend to get high paying jobs, and move to suburbia and the cycle will start over. It was a life they once objected to, hated and struggled to get away from, and the majority of them will return happily to that life style.



Lets examine the other choices for life quickly (this blog is getting to long and Renae told me to hurry).

City

Pro:

Culture, class, diversity, a fun night life, never a dull moment

Con:

Crime, drugs, noise, pollution, litter, crowded schools and hospitals, and limited space for a high price

Country

Pro:

actually know neighbors, quite, more in tuned with nature, small class sizes, personal attention, promotion of family values, locally owned stores

Con:

lack of diversity, small hospitals, sometimes boring, no night life, lack of culture, limited access to outside world, red necks



All of the options have pros and cons. I can't choose for you. If you choose suburbia, the city or the country please pay attention to your kids, introduce them to diversity, teach them about nature, listen to them, don't teach them to always chase the almighty dollar and never slow down by doing that yourself, teach them work ethic (even if it means not getting someone to clean your house for you), and let them be kids when they are kids. If you do this any place you live will work. Some people do this already, some don't.



Also of note: the song "little boxes", its about suburbia and is divine.



This is all opinion. Not ment to offend, it was just an opservation. Please if you need to correct me please do. I am from a rural area. I claim to be dumb on this issue. I will edit if the need be. I do enjoy the company and views of people from the suburbs most of the time with the exception of the extreme cases. The ones listed above are extreme cases. Just as I am not fond of extreme cases of people from suburbs, I am not fond of extremes from the country or the city. My one request is that we all try to be well rounded people and show respect.



That's it for now,

Ta ta