Poverty and Education

This last week's readings and discussion really had me focused on the issues of poverty and education. I thought the Donna Beagle reading was very eye-opening and informative about what is really going on for parents and children that deal with homelessness and poverty. One of her very first points  was that "the prevailing view is that education is there if you want it and you can get a good job if you work hard." I used to believe that myself. I now know that this is not always the case. For people in extreme poverty, they are worried about basic survival. Education is not in their realm of primary needs and something they simply cannot think about until those things are met. Children often go to school just so that they can eat or be in a warm place, not because they realize that education will help them in the long run. As teachers, it is our job to keep an eye out for these children. If we pay attention and ask questions and get to know our students we can find out who in our classrooms might be coming from this type of background. Once we know, we can then find ways to help. This might be by directing them to agencies in that area that work with the poor, by emphasizing the importance of education to them, or even just be a constant source of comfort and encouragment in their unstable world. We have to get below the surface level of our students, though, to really find out who is dealing with what.

This reading also inspired me to look into my local community to see what options there were for the homeless, as I really had no idea where I could direct someone who needed a place to sleep and food to eat. I found several places that looked to have very good programs that not only help people who are homeless by providing them with food, clothing, and shelter, but also help them to get health issues taken care of, job training, education, or even affordable housing. These programs are essential to helping people get out of poverty and stay out of poverty. As Beagle points out, the government is not all that helpful in funding projects to support the homeless, and so it is up to non-profits like the few I came accross to do so. In turn, that makes it up to us, the community, to support these non-profits because without donations and volunteers they cannot continue to exist. I would encourage all of you reading this to look into your own community for ways in which you might help out. I know that time and money are things that we all feel we lack extra of, but often it doesn't require much to help someone with so little.