A Hope In The Unseen By Ron Suskind

The second obstacle that Junior overcame was poverty. Being an Indian and living on the reservation he grew up with little to no money, and any money they did have his dad drank away. One common thing that Junior heard when he asked his dad for a ride to school in Reardan was, “’Don’t have enough gas,’ (Alexie70).” Junior never let the fact that his parents didn’t have any money stop him from going to school. He would either walk or hitchhike his way there even if he would be late. Junior was very determined to get to school to create that future he was dreaming of. He didn’t want the kids at Reardan to think of him as any different as they were. One way he did this was by pretending he had money, “My parents gave me just enough money so that I could pretend to have more money than I did, (Alexie119).” He knew he was poor, but he didn’t want his friends to know he was too. Junior wanted to be like everyone else and just fit in. He didn’t want the kids to think just because he was poor he couldn’t hang out with them. Eventually his friends discover that he has little money. They didn’t even think about not hanging out with him. They actually offer to help him and give him rides. If anything the fact that they knew more about him made him more popular with them. Junior would walk to school when there was no gas, he would hang out and go places with friends even when they knew he was poor. When Junior lets loose, he becomes a better person an overcomes his poverty with

The author demonstrates many values of education throughout the story. Gary, the author, shows that school isn’t the only thing that makes people smart. He also shows the reader that family has to stick together. Blackwood also makes it clear to take pride in your family because they will always be there for you when the times get rough.

In the novel, “A Hope in the Unseen” written by Ron Suskind explains the journey of Cedric Jennings from the Inner City to the Ivy League. Throughout his journey Cedric Jennings has had to navigate many challenges first at Ballou High School, then MIT in the summer, and finally at Brown University. During his High school career at Ballou he received many backlash from his peers because of his devotion to his studies. In Ballou High School, “the school’s dropout/transfer rate at nearly 50 percent, it’s understandable that kids at Ballou act as though they’re just passing through”(Suskind 3) but not Cedric. He had a determination like no other to succeed academically where he would often stay after to finish his homework and work on SAT practice

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I currently teach 90 sixth grade students. By communicating with them on a daily basis, I have developed a positive student/teacher relationship with them on a personal level. My students shared their background information as to who they are in an autobiography assignment that was given the first week of school. I learned additional information through communication with their fifth grade teachers and their parents. After reading the book, Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, I could see parallels between my own childhood and Jeanette’s. I too grew up in a lower income family, as did my parents before me. Ruby Payne points out throughout her book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, that “the cycle of poverty often repeats itself” (2005), however my parents

A Framework for Understanding Poverty is a book, written by Ruby K. Payne for the purpose of helping educators impact their students in poverty through opportunities. This book examines experiences from all economic classes in order to evaluate the differences in education among each class. Payne talks about the different types of poverty and the resources needed to be a stable and educated person. Poverty is “the extent to which an individual does without resources”.

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Everybody loves a good success story. When the underdog, usually a lower class high school age student, defies the odds and comes out on top, beating his circumstances to get where nobody thinks he should go, everyone goes crazy for it. So crazy that Hollywood gets in on the act, with movie productions such as The Blind Side, Life of A King, and Slum Dog Millionaire. Sadly, these stories are not commonplace, in fact, they are very few and far between. More often than not, students from lower class families struggle to get by, as a result putting school to the back burner. Less than 75% of students in lower income households graduate high school, and even fewer go onto college (http://nces.ed.gov). From this group, excuses began to come out, the main reason underlies them all; they have become a product of their circumstance. The position they were in restrained them, forcing only one path, a

Unfortunately, the school's lack of appropriate education results directly from poor government funding. So even with hard work, the lower-class student is still held down by his socio-economic status. Poverty-stricken parents are unable to offer their children the same attention and motivation as parents of a higher-class can, therefore never providing these children with the mindset that they are able to accomplish the American dream. According to Mantsios, 40 million Americans live in poverty, and the mental and physical affects the low standard of living has on them is undeniable (Mantsios 328). Citizens who live in poverty work long hours for little pay, yet return to a household that in no way symbolizes the hard work put forth. Within this environment, very few people have the positive outlook to mentor children successfully.

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In the U.S., low income students who live in high poverty neighborhoods do not receive the proper funds for school. The schools that they attend do not get enough of the state’s money in order to get the education they need. Students that come from wealthier families can get the help they need outside of school, if they cannot get it in school. Low income students have to take what they are given and that is not always a lot. Every student might not get a textbook that they can take home and that leaves them with no help to do their homework. This can push the student behind the rest of the class and may take them longer to catch up because

Teaching children of poverty can be very challenging. These children are more likely than their peers to experience poor nutrition, parents with low educational attainment and underemployment, broken families, child abuse and neglect, drug abuse, teen-age pregnancies and high rates of dropping out (Holt & Garcia, 2016). It has been my experience that these students are a little rough around the edges which may cause an educator the inability to see beyond the exterior of the child thus treating them more harshly than their peers. Being employed in a Title 1 school, I have had the pleasure of working with students and families whose major source of income is welfare. They often came from a single-parent household and arrived at school improperly dressed and usually hungry. I found that meeting the child’s basic needs helped them focus on school and took some of the stress off of their parents as they knew their child was in a safe, caring place. One thing that was vital in our classroom was firmness and consistency. Unfortunately, many teachers and schools do not possess the knowledge and experience required for success in these more challenging schools. Impoverished students often do not care about their education nor did their parents seem to care how their children perform in school (Holt & Garcia, 2016). I feel this can be attributed to distraction from just trying to survive. In order to have greater success in the classroom of impoverished students, teachers need to