From Working Poor For Elite Scholar Essay

In recent years there has been much debate on the subject of work and is work the true route out of poverty? This piece of work will show both sides of the story as in how people look at the topic from government officials to the common person. It will look at policies that government have set to get people back to work. This piece of work will look at a number of different sources. There are many that still believe that staying on benefits is the best choice for them and there is much evidence to support this point as well, this point can be seen more and more in the last 7 or 8 years,

According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), all employers must abide by the minimum wage policy which states that they must not pay their employees a wage below the set minimum wage. It is often believed that it serves as a protection for the citizens. Though the minimum wage law benefits employees because employers cannot pay them below the minimum wage, the minimum wage, however, does not "protect" them from the struggles and hardships they will most likely encounter. Rather, as millions of Americans work in full-time minimum wage jobs, several of them discover that their wages are insufficient to survive in today's society. In the book Nickel and Dimed, the author Barbara Ehrenreich, a journalist with a PH.D, does undercover

Nevertheless, I turned this inconvenience into a stronger motivating force which drove me to earn my bachelor's degree in less than two and a half years, thereby becoming the first college graduate in my family.

Having a teenage daughter is another top impetus in my desire to complete my education. My example to her as a strong confident and self-motivated woman is more valuable than anything material or monetary. When she was younger I felt hopelessness, shame and fear, when I had to be away from her for school and work. Now that she is older I think she will be inspired by and understand the decisions I am making to change our lives.

given me a reason to do well in school. I believe in order for a successful

As a child, my father taught my siblings and I lessons that had been passed down from generation to generation. It is important for us to always remember the person who lost everything in their life, just for us to succeed in the future. In my case, that’s my father. He went through so much so that I can get to where I am now, a senior about to graduate high school. My father started out with nothing when he was a child and now he’s an owner of 4 coffee farms in Nicaragua and I’m a proud daughter.

One of my proudest accomplishment was to become the first person in my family to earn a master’s degree. I was born in a large family of seven, six boys and one girl. I thought I was lucky to be in the middle of the chain, but soon realized I wasn’t that lucky anyways when my parents decided to keep me home in the mornings to babysit my younger ones while my older brothers went to school.

Writing down all the jobs I have had over the years was an eye opening experience. I have done things from janitorial, fast food, grocery store cashier, personal assistant, executive assistant, paralegal assistant, and my current job as a legal assistant.

According to Suki Kim, the author of “Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s habits, learning how to survive physically, emotionally, and educationally in a world that was far removed from the style of life she was accustomed to was one of the biggest challenges of her life. Kim went from having a father who was considered a millionaire, living in a mansion complete with a governess to living in a small apartment in another person’s home within a short period of time. While reeling from the shock and devastation of losing all that was familiar to her, she also had to learn English, how to do everything for herself that

My parents instilled within me a great appreciation for my education. My father, who never finished high school, traveled thousands of miles with my mother away from their rural villages in India to come to America, the fabled land of opportunity. Having this upbringing has motivated me to make the best of the situation that my parents never had. As a result, I made it my mission to excel in school and my extracurricular activities, so that they may help me to achieve my aspirations in life.

For the first years of my life I went to a private school a place where my father knew I would succeed a place where I would have gone on to the best of the best, consequently the best was 20,000 dollars a year. In turn instead of private school, he gave me books, I cherished it, it allowed me to escape reality and find

My Italian grandfather had came to America for an opportunity to improve his standard of living. The American Dream facilitated

It’s difficult to imagine how some people hold multiple jobs to support their family and still live below the poverty line. The saying “the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer” has never been so evident in today’s society. With a growing percentage of people living below the poverty line, one has to question the government policies enacted to elevate the living standings for its people. Government policies great influence the everyday life of its people. It is difficult to enact common ground policies to satisfy the entire public since not everyone is on same financial level. Strategic plans should be sought out to ensure effectiveness to its targeted group by considering all the interests of the stakeholders and the impact that will

Stories and factual experiences provide insight to readers that explicate the reality of any situation. The solutions to poverty become more attainable when accounts from others’ experiences are brought into consideration. In Jo Goodwin Parkers’ “What is Poverty?,” Lars Eighners’ “On Dumpster Diving,” Peter Singers’ “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” and Barbara Ehrenreich's’ “A Step Back to the Workhouse, ” each author expands on personal experiences and situations that depict various viewpoints on how poverty is perceived by society. These scenarios and experiences provide an accurate portrayal of the crushing effects from those who face poverty daily in order to illustrate its brutal

Being the first generation college student in my family is one of my greatest achievements. Living with my single mother in a low income neighborhood in Colombia and then moving to the United States at the age of eight has given me the opportunity to change the lives of the