The distance from the Avalon Gardens public housing development in South Central Los Angeles to elite Smith College in western Massachusetts should be measured in more than the 2,900 miles separating them.
The housing project near Watts is a cluster of nearly identical pale orange one- and two-story buildings surrounded by a high metal gate installed to keep gangs out. It is home to about 440 low-income, mainly Latino and black, residents whose scramble for economic survival is eased by subsidized rents.
In contrast, Smith College, a women’s school where costs per student can top $69,000 a year, is one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation, dotted with Victorian architecture and its own pond. While Smith has enrolled a more diverse student body in recent years, its alumnae include such well-known and affluent figures as feminist icon Gloria Steinem, the late former First Lady Nancy Reagan and influential chef Julia Child.
[For more on this story by LARRY GORDON, go to https://edsource.org/2018/from...-that-journey/595951]
Comments (0)