Economic disparity is one of the greatest challenges facing the society today. More than half the world’s population live in poverty, unable to manage basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter leave alone have that opportunity to attain education. Extreme poverty entails living below a dollar a day. Poverty has a wide range of effects which ripple from social isolation and lack of access to opportunities of growth such as education and social amenities, which again creates a vicious cycle. This paper offers a reflection on the effects of poverty on children as gained from my reading of class texts.
Children born to poor families face a plethora of problems which are psychological, physical, social as well as educational. The psychological turmoil of poverty is even worse when you come from a minority community such as African –American. Being black and facing racial discrimination as Smith (2013) describes is has a huge toll on a child. Racial discrimination not only occurs in school but also outside school in the communities. A child from a poor background shuns from establishing friendships, staying in isolation or making only a few friends of their own race. Issues of identity also stem out of poverty as a child fails to identify with their family or poor parents as Allen (2013) explains. Poor children experience discrimination even in classrooms and their inability to access certain learning materials even makes it more difficult for them to withstand the academic demands in school. High rates of attrition are evident among children from poor backgrounds. Inability to acquire an education results in a vicious cycle of poverty of that is passed on to the next generation as Allen (2013) describes it happened with his parents.
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Academic excellence is difficult among children from poor families. First off, these children are unable to attend the best of schools and end up attending public institutions that are greatly underfunded as Briones et al (2013) discuss. If lucky, poor children who attend good schools face numerous psychological effects due to their inability to afford some of the commodities possessed by rich kids. Economic differences make poor children feel like outsiders, people who do not belong. Such commodities include packed expensive meals for the well-to-do children and expensive reading materials. The questioning by the other children about why one does not possess some of these expensive commodities exposes the disparity further and exacerbates the psychological torture (Starnes, 2013). For poor children who lack adequate supportive materials and environment for learning, academic excellence is a huge challenge. Most of them end up dropping out of school, joining gang life ad crime as well as indulging into drug and substance abuse (Briones et al 2013). The accounts by Gali and Diamond on their precarious school experiences only reveals the hardships of a poor child.
Poverty limits the quality of social interactions. A poor child is never able to interact freely with peers, especially those from a higher economic status. There is always the fear of being looked down upon and being branded names. Smith (2013) describes the difficulty of having to deal with his white counterparts, who as a child branded him names based on the torn clothes and outdated fashion of his outfits. Black students were also called the offensive word “nigga”. Creating associations and positive relationships with teachers is also a difficult task for poor children. Allen (2013) describes that he never recounts a positive memory-forming experiences that he ever had with his teachers. For poor students, parental involvement with school is most of the times lacking, making some students cruise their entire academic lives alone. Lack of communication between parents and teachers, which is common place for poor families is detrimental to the academic progress of a child.
References
Allen, S. (2013). Alone at School. The Poverty and Education Reader: A Call for Equity in Many Voices , 6.
Briones, I. G. et al (2013). Low income, Urban Youth Speaking up About Public Education. The Poverty and Education Reader: A Call for Equity in Many Voices, 7
Smith, B. (2013). CLASS, RACE, AND THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM OF SCHOOLS. The Poverty and Education Reader: A Call for Equity in Many Voices , 3.
Starnes, B. A. (2013). On Lilacs, Tap-Dancing, and Children of Poverty. The Poverty and Education Reader: A Call for Equity in Many Voices , 2.
