Personal Statement: Beyond Stereotypes Of Poverty

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”.

When I was little, I heard stories of Third World countries where people lived in complete poverty. I would hear of how they had dilapidated domiciles, contaminated water, deadly diseases, and shortages of food. I was always told how blessed I was to live in a country where I was free of these situations, but I always took this truth for granted. I would go along every day, not worrying about where I was going to sleep or what I was going to eat, when people all over the world were facing these situations as problems. It wasn't until I was sixteen that I realized how blessed I was, when I was given the opportunity to visit San Jose, Costa Rica.

Adults and peers have described me as dependable, fair, honest, trustworthy, intelligent, empathetic, respectful, and friendly and I do my best to live by these characteristics. One of my main mottos is to treat others the way you want to be treated. I am by no means a perfect person and I try to accept help and criticism whenever it is offered in an effort to keep improving upon my character. I am a reliable student, sister, daughter, and friend. I believe I would learn a lot from being a member of this program because being surrounded by peers with similar moral and academic character would allow me to do even more to make my community a better place. This would be a perfect opportunity to benefit from any experiences this program has to offer me and make a positive impact on my school and

Although I loved all of my at home volunteer work, I especially loved doing good in countries that needed more help. I sponsor a six year old girl in Bolivia named Reina through Compassion International, she is one of the most spectacular kids I have ever met. She lives in a barely livable cinder block house and yet she is beyond proud of every tiny detail of it. Reina lives with her 4 brothers, her mother, father, and her aunt in this two bedroom structure and yet they don’t complain one

Back in 2014 and 2015, the school I used to attend in the Dominican Republic organized trips to orphanages in Haiti. 80 percent of the 32 000 orphans across the 760 orphanages have parents who want them, but they are not able to support their children. The organized trips were crucial in forming me as a caring and loving person. Before, I wouldn’t have been able to imagine how heart-breaking watching these starving, cheerless children would be. I always visualized kids as playful, blissful, and joyful creatures. However, looking at the Haitian orphans I realized how cruel reality can be to people. It was the first time I’ve faced such conditions, and I strongly rejected the fact who there are people in the world that may deserve even a little part of it.

In “The Singer Solution to World Poverty,” Peter Singer urges all Americans to donate any money not being used for sustenance to help children overseas. When I read this article in my AP Language and Composition class last year, I realized the duty I had as a privileged individual, to help these underserved communities. However, this was not something my friends and I could engage in-- we were all broke and didn’t even have jobs, not to mention the harrowing expense of future college tuitions haunting our dreams. But this didn’t mean we couldn’t help save children’s lives. I found three other colleagues who shared my goal of helping kids globally and we collaborated to co-found our high school’s own UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) club.

We live in a world where every day we wake up trying to make a living and get onto the next day repeating the same thing over and over. Waking up each day and realizing that you are not able to survive in this world without any money can have a huge impact towards any goal you are trying to reach. In some cases we tend to set the bar high but there is only one problem, how are we going to get enough money to pay for our future goals? Growing up in the working class has been a ride to remember. Experiencing poverty can also have a great affect in your life. After reading three amazing articles one by Richard Rodriguez the second by Barbara Ehrenreich and the last one by Bell Hook, I have learned that there is so much more than to be classified into a class (working class, middle class, and poverty).

In America, millions of people are reported to be living below the poverty line each year. To be exact, in 2014, about fifteen percent of Americans, or forty-seven million people were considered to be in poverty (Poverty). However, in 2014, countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa, seventy-two percent of people who lived in rural areas, and fifty-nine percent of urban households lived in poverty (Rural Poverty Portal). One of the main reasons for this alarming, high number is caused by the constant political wars and the effects it has on the civilians. In the photograph,“The Starving Boy and the Missionary”, Mike Wells captures a starving Ugandan boy resting his hand on that of a healthy

I grew up being accustomed to the inequality in Tanzania. I witnessed the injustices faced by the underprivileged society. Through a shielded upbringing, I never understood the severity of these issues. Seeing children in Tanzania being denied fundamental human freedoms opened my eyes to appreciating my fortunes. Regardless of my many fortunes, I felt powerless. Each morning as I drove to school I would see impoverished children not being granted the same freedoms as I had. What troubled

As an educator I believe it is just innate to make deposits to individuals in poverty. Most of the withdrawals listed are made only by educators whose heart is not truly into supporting the student coming from poverty, middle or upper-class. That being said, I am guilty of passing judgment on the value and availability of recourses. I have a difficult time understanding how a child’s needs do not come above and beyond anything else. When a student receives free lunches and pay no school fees how it is possible that a parent/caregiver cannot purchase a 50¢ box of crayons and a 10¢ glue stick. There is definitely something that I am missing when it comes to understanding living in poverty in that aspect. So, I will make one of my goals for

One can easily identify the fact that poverty is generally considered as one among the most serious problems in human life. But the mainstream society provides less importance to this serious problem because human life did undergo transformation from empathy to disinterestedness. The western nations are comparatively safe from poverty and related issues, but the third-world nations are under the threat of the same. The problems related to global poverty is unimaginable because it forces human beings to do anything, just for survival. Still, world nations, especially the developed nations, can play the most important role in alleviating poverty from the world. Thesis statement: Global poverty, the most serious problem faced by humanity primarily

is a cause of deviant behavior such as crime, and also causes the poor to be marginalized from

Poverty and inequality exist in every developed culture and often are only patched in order for society to continue upwardly. Poverty and inequality in the United States exists for many reasons; reasons that very from the prospective lens. Interpretive theories in particular ask us to question our reality and its constructs. Interpretive theories require us to looks at the world as a social realm, one that we created and constantly change. Interpretive theories study the relationship between power and the construction of social roles as well as the invisible collection of patterns and habits that make up domination, (Delgado & Stefanic, 2001). Susan Kemp argues that the view of the world is dominated by the experiences of white western

A social problem, is “a general factor that effects and damages society”. It can be used to describe an issue or a problem within a certain group of people or an area in the world. Examples of contemporary social problems today include anti-social behaviour, drug abuse, and sexual abuse. Poverty is an example of a social problem that exists all over the world, and to different extents. In the UK, poverty has effected at least a third of the population, as shown by the Office of National Statistics, providing evidence that it is a massive social problem in the country. Tameside has a big poverty problem. 1 in 4 children in Tameside are born into poverty, and workers in Tameside earn significantly less than other workers in the rest of the North-West area. In addition, Tameside has the largest proportion of people claiming unemployment benefits compared to the rest of the North West of England.

People are dying every minute because of this terrible disease. No antidotes have been found to eliminate it. Poverty is like an epidemic with no antidote affecting the entire world. It has already killed billions of people, and will continue killing unless we do something to stop it. Have you ever thought what living in poverty is like? Seeing a shocking picture in which people were trying to survive gave me a whole different perspective. That image showed me one of the poorest areas of the planet where people were living under despicable conditions. They were working in sweatshops, collecting garbage and living in broken down huts in order to survive. A polluted river passes across from their humble homes, causing incomparable complication to their lives. I could observe the terrible conditions in which this people are working, fishing and collecting garbage. Not only pollution is shown in this photo, above of the photograph a bridge could be observed. I imagine the noise, and the dust that this little detail brings to their lives. That photograph made me feel angry at politicians because they could do a better job helping the needy. Since they were almost dying, I felt sad for the circumstances they live in. A sense of admiration for the way they are able to survive, gave me the strength to fight against this global scourge. The author of this picture is trying to convey a message, showing us poverty in all its faces and inviting us to be part of his fight against