5.2.1 Poverty

In the last topic the focus was on the types of curriculum modifications we should have in order to level the playing field for the non-academic students. The SCANS report and the basic curriculum outlined therein are really the wayto go for the 21st century. Students need to be taught how to figure out where things are going so they can do thekinds of things that will allow them to consolidate their view of the world and where they fit into it.

Today we are going to about some of the elements that create that forgotten half. What are some of the things that stand in the way of people getting themselves organized to go on to college?

One of the things that we need to come up with and understand is that the school needs to be aware of the social limitations students face. What I mean by that is that oftentimes teachers, because of our own backgrounds, will assume that all of their kids will have similar backgrounds. Teachers need to understand that their view of the world and their own experience is not necessarily the experience of
their kids.

One of the biggest social limitations people have to deal with is poverty. Today one of the things I want to convince you of is that people really don't understand poverty. I'll be delighted if I am wrong, but let me share with you my definition of poverty.

Financial Poverty

The easiest kind of poverty to understand is the poverty of dollars. People who just don't have enough money to make ends meet. If you don't have money there are a whole lot of things you can't do. The end of the line of that problem is that people don't have enough to eat, and often don't have a place to stay. Now please notice that financialpoverty is the easiest kind of poverty to solve. Our welfare
system has solved a big portion of this problem. My point is that even when people have enough to eat and a place to stay it does not necessarily eliminate their other kinds of poverty.

Poverty of Aspiration

Financial poverty can often lead to a poverty of aspiration. These peoples' attitude is that it really doesn't make any difference what they do, they are never going to have the kind of job that will allow them to participate fully as a citizen in society. That kind of poverty, poverty that causes people to give up and accept themselves permanently on welfare, is tougher to deal with than financial poverty. These feelings can often lead to a poverty of spirit because people tend to give up on life in general.

Poverty of Decision

The poverty of decision making is one type of poverty that can be seen most directly affecting the forgotten half in class. This poverty is when people just don't know how to make good decisions. This lack of decision making skills plays a major role in how many of these students get used to living their lives.

Poverty of Support Systems

Another type of poverty that is linked with the others listed here is poverty of support systems. This type of poverty makes solving seemingly simple problems quite difficult. For example, if I have a flat tire, I have a lot of choices in how to fix it. My first choice is that I can borrow my wife's car and ask her to get the tire fixed because we have triple AAA. Even if we didn't have AAA all we have to do is get out the jack, put on the spare tire and in fifteen minutes we're on our way. The net cost to anybody in terms of inconvenience is a maximum of a couple of phone calls and two or three minutes of time. Now, one of my students once had a flat tire and as a result he missed school for three days. That is the difference in support systems. He didn't have AAA and no spare tire around in a second
car. So he had to stay home with his little brothers and sisters while his mother went out to try and solve the problem of getting a spare. For the well-off person a flat tire is a minor inconvenience, but for a person in poverty it is a major disruption.

That poverty of support systems comes right up to you guys in college. If you have parents who went to college you have a better support system right now than if your parents didn't. The irony is that the people most in need of the support systems are the people who have the least support systems.

Poverty of support systems is a big deal, and where this influences teachers is that teachers have to understand that not all of their kids have the same support systems, and not all kids come from homes with the same aspiration level.

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