How Living in Decatur Changed My Life
Well, I have grown up in the suburbs of Decatur that is endowed with great a diversity of cultures and resources. I pronounce that quality of life here in Decatur shaped my success; attributed to the resources that I acquired while growing up. I attended suburban middle-class schools that offered quality education, therefore, allowing for my development in terms of education, health and social life skills. Over centuries, debates have risen to whether individuals’ success relies upon kind of experience they receive in neighbourhoods as an entirety. It is a decisive argument, which studies have supported and reflected in my life through what I call multiple factor influence on success. My experience in Decatur from childhood through to youth was amazing, and I managed to attend better elementary school and to attain grades, which qualified me for top-performing suburban high school. The relationship that I developed with my peers through elementary to college has helped become a prosperous individual who focusses on working for the betterment of the Decatur community.
The suburban life is one such fantastic experience that has helped me gain essential skills in life, for entrepreneurship, which turned out to benefits the community by offering flexible services. When I graduated from university, I secured a well-paying job at a recreational centre that has helped with the sustenance of my family. Moreover, better security within my neighbourhood meant good hospitals that offer affordable and quality healthcare, which translate to more improved wellbeing. Decatur suburbs is vastly populated by middle to upper-class income individuals that make up a well-integrated community with support programs that have given liberty to freedom to practice art. Decatur offers an excellent opportunity for learning and practising art, and the community appreciates much of local production in terms of music and acting. I grew to become a sharp and intellect individual that understands diverse cultural values attributed to a variety of races living together in our suburb.
Besides, the community access social amenities that are much basic in every modern society in America. Life as a dweller of Decatur has offered the best experience that helped shape my career and personality. Since childhood, I wanted to create a perfect community where people would enjoy natural scenes and art, which defines my career decision to be a recreational worker. My life would not have much success if lived in Kirkwood that is known for gang-related crimes, deplorable life and youths are prone to drug charges. In this area of Atlanta city, the community is experiencing rampant cases of homicide, thuggery and other gang crimes that reduce levels of security. The neighbourhood has government’s subsidized-housing programs become prevalent in these zones. Increased movement of poor people to suburbs by people from various parts of Atlanta city encouraged by affordable rent rates contributed to high standards of drug trafficking, crimes and poor education in the suburbs, therefore, constant violence in these neighbourhoods would have negatively affected my satisfaction in life.
Owing to the prevailing conditions of poverty in Kirkwood, drug abusers and violence-related gangs would have influenced my youth ages to become a drug user and interfere with the career path that is subjective to typical values of individuals living in Kirkwood. The recent trends in poor people moving to the suburbs of Kirkwood have fueled crime rates and drug peddling. As a resident in this suburb, obtaining good education would have been a challenge, and probably, this could attribute to my failure in school. Growing up in Sugar Hill would have a different influence on personality in a particular, which could develop because of interacting with people of middle-income whose characters have developed out of positive behaviour accustomed to affluent communities. Therefore, my experience in Decatur has been different in terms of influence on habits and social life competencies related to the relationship. The personality I developed as a Decatur suburban dweller is distinctive from other behaviour of individuals from zones that are more populated with low-income families, and are prone to deficiency in social control, low social cohesion, and high spatial mismatch.
Moreover, peer interaction within the congested zones would influence children’s behaviour model since these suburbs are composed mainly of poor Latino and black Afro-American. A study reveals that incessant stress prevalent amongst youths within the sprawled Kirkwood neighbourhoods is attributed by a lack of good jobs and unsatisfied life amongst dwellers (Hellerstein et al., 2008). The style of parenting in the Kirkwood neighbourhood would significantly influence me through harmful norms developed as cultures within the region, which is perpetrated by neglect to the community. Social networks established amongst people living within Decatur significantly contribute to families’ from affluent backgrounds to develop cooperative approaches to life. However, Kirkwood suburban witness inequality that attributes to distress among the minority communities, a factor that contributed to crime and drugs use, and if I had grown up in Kirkwood, I would become a criminal perhaps. Poverty is a leading factor for high rates of inequality in the Kirkwood suburbs, and crimes that threaten social integration of communities contribute to unsatisfied life facilitating crime as a sign of abject suffering and feeling of neglect from the government and inequality from superior wealthy suburbs.
A study reveals that people who grow up in poor suburbs that experience drug abuse cases and gang crimes, their culture and behaviours develop responding to the interactions with these processes in life (Florida, 2015). I would perceive life in a different way if I grew up in Kirkwood, where violence is a common practice of the neighbourhood. An individual who grows up in Kirkwood, where violence and drug-related crimes top the news, are more predictable, becoming violent and often engage in unlawful acts is common. Contrary to life in affluent suburbs such as Decatur and Sandy Springs, people develop desirable and responsible personalities. Illegal behaviours amongst peers growing up in weak suburban areas are critical influences on the personality development of people within specific neighbourhoods (Florida, 2015). Neighbourhood activities that influence behaviour are accredited to social control and spatial mismatch, which define social problems.
Demographic distribution of jobs and race is becoming a problem for poor suburbs such Kirkwood; therefore, different zoning approaches should be developed to reduce the inequalities (Hellerstein et al., 2008). New laws should be provided to ensure affordable and secure living within the suburbs, which would affect both poor and wealthy families. The municipal zoning patterns in America must now focus on solving neighbourhood problems through regulation of residential housing. Suburbs should be mandated to develop new zoning policies that ensure that, the poor, as well as the rich, acquire affordable housing, health and education irrespective of the social classes. The high cost of living in the suburbs has led to the movement of poor people to government-subsidized housing projects that consequently lead to overpopulation and increase crime rates (Florida, 2015). If all Americans living outside cities received a fair share of housing cost, people would be able to achieve success levels never witnessed. I believe that new zoning policies would provide equal resources to affluent and poor neighbourhoods in Atlanta city and other American cities.
References
Florida, Richard (2015) What Your Personality Has to Do With Your Neighborhood Bloomberg Retrieved on July 15, 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-13/what-your-personality-has-to-do-with-your-neighborhood
Hellerstein, J. K., Neumark, D., & McInerney, M. (2008). Spatial mismatch or racial mismatch? Journal of Urban Economics