After part two of The American Way of Poverty was easier to read. I actually enjoyed it, but there were many things that I stuck out to me. One aspect of the second part was the stories that portrayed the different levels of poverty. The author mentioned many stories of people living in poverty and how they became impoverished. Many people expected people who are poor to be terrible people, but the passage revealed that there are people who qualify for food stamps and medicaid, but not cash. As a result, they may have committed crimes or fell behind on their rent. However, they were not bad people.He also mentioned Vicenta, who was received thirty-four dollars in food stamps, was battling cancer and lived in poverty. In addition to battling cancer, she was on four medicines for depression, had high blood pressure, had diabetes, chronic back pain, and could not drive. All of those conditions made her dependent on someone and did not help her situation. Her conditions complicated her situation. Another story that stood out to me was the story of Cruzanta and Paul. They were living in a closet with a bed basically. They were living without a toilet, without running water, without heat, and without electricity. They used a commode, which involved a trash bag, to use the bathroom. They also washed their dishes in rainwater. I can only imagine how difficult it is to wash dishes in rain water. Yes, they were living in poverty, but they were considered undeserving poor. Undeserving poor means that they are poor due to poor decisions or communal dysfunction. Cruzanta and Paul both went to juvenile halls as teenagers. Cruzanta assaulted a girl at school; Paul was involved with drugs, assaults, and grand theft auto. Despite their lives not being amazing, they were awesome parents to their three year old son. It's easy to stereotype them, but they were trying to make it and that's all that matters. There were other stories that stood out to me like this one, but I cannot explain each story he hinted on.
"At that level of poverty. the basic realities of daily life become so difficult to navigate that people end up facing not just temporary hardships, but permanent handicaps."
"The kids are feeling like they're not learning what they need to learn; the teachers aren't doing what they are supposed to be doing; the administrators aren't doing what they are supposed to be doing; the adults aren't taking care of the kids in terms of education; the parents aren't involved in the schools."
These two statements relate to my life. I cannot exceed like a student who lived in the suburbs all one's live because I did not have quality education all my life. In high school, I went to Hyde Park Academy in Chicago ; then I transferred to Downers Grove South in Downers Grove. I struggled at DGS because I was handicapped from my temporary hardships at HPA. HPA's curriculum was behind academically compared to DGS, so I was behind academically. The second statement was literally my life. When I attended HPA, I felt just as the author described in that passage. I did not feel like my teachers cared, so I did not care as much as I should have. I did get good grades, but I did not have someone cheering me on like I did at DGS. DGS's approach was "we know you will succeed and go to college." HPA's approach was "we do not care if you pass or not, if you are here or not, you probably will not pass or go to college,so we do not care whether you do the work or not."
There were many efforts to help and destroy the impoverished community. Politicians and law makers fail to realize that they are many reasons why people fall into poverty. Some people fall into poverty and commit crimes to survive. Some people make bad decisions like Katie to escape one's harsh reality. Some people who appear to be criminal might not have been a criminal if they were not poor. If I was living in poverty and my children needed food, I probably would steal to feed them if I did not have any help. When you are living in poverty, you do not think of every rational thing because you are only thinking of that moment. One reason people have multi-generations impoverished is because they were never taught to think of the future and to save money. Yes it's hard to save money when you have nothing, but once you start it gets easier.
Question: Does being poor make you not value education? Why or why not?
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