The deprived city Part II

Michael Boulton-Jones
An alternative culture

If deprivation is cultural, then alternative cultures may offer a solution. Music and sports are powerful and attractive cultures which could be used to break deprivation. Early experiences of the Big Noise Orchestra of Raploch, a deprived part of Stirling, have been encouraging. Similar projects of classical or modern music could be set up in primary schools using part time or retired musicians.
     Sport could be used in a similar way with local school or club teams participating in competitions in a wide variety of games, success in which could lead to significant prizes. Recently retired or even active sportsmen could provide role models which are more likely to be followed because of their charisma and expertise. This approach has even been piloted and shown to work by Terry McLernon who introduced table tennis to Drumchapel 20 years ago. The club now fields seven teams in various West of Scotland leagues and has even won the British championship. He assesses the effect of the club thus:
     'The club has saved many kids from heading to Barlinnie. They are doing things kids have never done in Drumchapel before, like going to university and college. Some of the kids around here have parents who have never worked, and grandparents who have never worked. That life was all they knew. But sport gives them discipline. It gives them self-respect. We try to give the kids a bit of meaning and structure in their lives. And hope. It enables them to travel to see other places and meet other people, to see that there is a world of opportunity out there. And it gives them a sense of belonging. We're a real community here.' (Observer, 31 May 2009)
     Imagine the effect if clubs like this sprang up in every district of the deprived parts of the city. Every child should be assessed in primary school and encouraged to join one such club, band or even orchestra all subsidised by the council. Thus the next generation of citizens would grow up in neighbourhoods with teams rather than gangs.
     Can the rate of teenage pregnancies in the socially deprived be reduced? Changing behaviour is and always has been a difficult task. Reward is more effective than punishment – as B F Skinner pointed out 50 years ago. At present, teenage girls are rewarded for their pregnancies by being re-housed. Some think this has been a major contributing cause of the problem.
     Yet relevant rewards could be a powerful tool if clearly targeted. Assuming that children of two-parent households do better and assuming that couples are more likely to stay together if married, for both of which there is good evidence, could it not be encouraged in areas of the city where social deprivation is most marked? Could the city fathers reward good families? An award of £5,000 to couples who are married and over the age of 21 when they have their first child would be a powerful incentive. A further £5,000 could be given to a father who was still in the family home when their child goes to primary school and had not been in prison during those five years.
     Another bounty could be given for every Higher passed at Grade C or better. In this way, parents would have a major financial stake in the well being and development of their children. The parents might even seek advice on how to manage their lives in order to keep their family together. These rewards would be given for families living in defined areas of deprivation. Of course, other families would want to move into these areas to reap the rewards and they should be encouraged to do so as they would accelerate the change in the prevailing culture. Schools, in particular, would benefit if they could accumulate enough interested pupils to improve the standard of all. All these goals chosen are easily understood and monitored. It would be difficult to cheat except perhaps in assessing whether the father lived regularly with his wife and child, but even that is relatively straightforward.
     Others outside the selected areas would doubtless wonder why they should subsidise families who are only doing what they themselves are already doing. The answer is self-interest. At present, they subsidise the expensive programmes which are little more than dressing on a festering wound in their city.
     These programmes may actually save money, certainly in the long term. Instead of employing exhorters, the council would have to find individuals willing to help set up sporting clubs or musical groups. The infrastructure would have to be provided whether cycles for cycling clubs or tennis courts and equipment for tennis clubs and instruments and locations for bands and orchestras. Some extra teachers of music and sport will undoubtedly be needed. Prizes to act as an incentive for raising standards would have to be found but are likely to come from the companies and societies keen on ensuring success of the projects. The Olympics in London in 2012 and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 will surely lead to local enthusiasm and thus this may be a particularly good time to implement the programme.
     The second proposal, namely that rewards be given to families at key stages of their children's development, would not be particularly expensive. There are about 3,600 births in the city every year. If a third were eligible for the bounty and half of those actually qualified, then it would cost £3m a year. Assuming that the project were very successful and that the number of highers achieved per qualifying family was four and the council offered £1,000 per higher, then the total cost is unlikely to rise above £10m a year which is a minute proportion of what is spent at present so ineffectively. Furthermore, should the programme fail, it will be inexpensive because no-one will apply for the bounties. Surely it is worth a try.

[click here] for Part I

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Michael Boulton-Jones was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and Guy's Hospital. He was a physician and nephrologist in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 1975-2003. He is the author of a book, 'Glasgow Works' (2009).