Why Do We Need To Equip Students Living In Poverty?

Students use basic skills every day from looking at the clock to tell the time to handling money when paying and making change. Students who have jobs need to

Poverty is everywhere in this world especially in education. Poverty in education could come from the location of the school, the child’s home life, how the students feel about school and in many other ways. Poverty comes in all shapes and forms, “An appalling number of American Children live in poverty. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 14.7 million, or nearly 20 percent of children under age 18, live below the poverty line” (When Poverty…). The kids/students bring those debilitating effect with them to school every day.

As Laurence Powell Jobs once said, “It’s not that our high school system was not designed well, but that it was designed in 1906 when the country was just out of the industrial era. There hasn’t been a substantial systemic change the way we do high school since then.” It’s no secret that the current school system used in America is outdated and problematic. With a plethora of obvious issues in need of fixing, there are noticeable differences between America and other countries. Steps needed to improve the system can be implemented. Although times have changed, the American education system has become outdated and thus is riddled with faults. When compared to other education systems, it is clear that the American schooling system is in need of reform.

The American College Testing (ACT), 2010 concluded that a large number of high school students and high school graduates do not possess the knowledge and skills for college level work or career training. With the creation and implementation of common core standards, states and school districts have a clear set of student expectations to target

While standards and assessments tell us whether students are gaining the skills and knowledge they need, accountability systems say that if they aren’t, schools and districts have to take steps to improve. This expectation of action is critical if we want all students to graduate high school ready for whatever they wish to do next – be it attend college, train for a job that will allow them to support a

Education plays an important role in every person’s future. Not only does it enhance a person’s intellect, but it allows them to discover what they want to become. For the past years, high school students were having trouble graduating and when Texas ranked the lowest in the population that received a high school diploma, the state decided to minimize the amount of exams students had to pass. Although Texas students became successful in graduating, this way of graduating harms the student because they were unable to understand the basics in their education. The reduction of End-of-course exams from fifteen to five and later to three motivate students, but also teaches them that they don’t need to work hard.

Fifty years after the declaration of war on poverty, an increasing number of children still grow up in poverty in this country. Poverty is now more determinative than race as a predictor of student educational success (Reardon, 2013). The achievement gap between the poor and the more economically advantaged child has actually widened over the last three decades (Reardon, 2013). If we are to provide all children with equal and excellent educational opportunities, it is imperative that we utilize the most effective strategies and enhancements to overcome the educational disadvantages that poor children experience.

Lack of money, health insurance, and other poverty related issues have also led to lower academic performance among children in poverty. In David Berliner’s Letter to The President, he explains how “medical problems are harming student learning in our schools” (252). Since poor children may not have health insurance, or their families may not have the funds to see a doctor, poorer children miss more school due to illness. Also, more children in poverty come from single parent homes, which leaves numerous children on their own after school. In fact, “three fourths of all single mothers are in the labor force” which means there happens to be usually nobody at home to assist poor children with their homework, or help them study for tests

Hunger and poverty are global issues that American is not an exception to. As of 2012, statistical data provided by the government reported that "46.5 million people were in poverty, including 16.1 million children under the age of 18" and households with children are hit disproportionately with hunger (Feeding America, Hunger). This disproportion results in an equally startling deficit in the quality of education for our children. These alarming statistics attest to the fact that poverty has become an epidemic. Educating all students to ensure they become productive and successful citizens cannot just be a desire, but a need. The required reformation to fix this epidemic requires government and community assistance with teacher involvement.

Childhood poverty is a pervasive problem in the United States. Unfortunately, many children are affected by poverty, with young children being the most vulnerable. Some of the causes of poverty include lack of education, family composition, immigration, and unemployment. The government can help in many ways by promoting marriage and free and reduced school lunch programs. Poverty is a social problem because it’s widespread. People do not have the acquired skills needed to succeed in today’s society. Childhood poverty is even more challenging because children cannot help themselves and the solutions must come from social change in order to have a significant impact. To improve poverty, it is important to create enhancements in education

Poverty is an important issue in the United States. In fact, child poverty in the US is at its highest point in 20 years. [Flores & Lesley, 2014] The poor are at a disadvantage, because they have an unfulfilled right to a good education. A majority of children attending public schools come from low-income families. It is hypothesized that a low household income correlates with poor achievement in school. A solution to poverty is for everyone to have a good education so everyone can be equally prepared to take on a high-skill, high-paying job. It’s unfortunate, because the solution to poverty is a good education, but a good education is hardly ever available to children living in poverty.

Nelson Mandela once said, "Children are our greatest treasure. They are our future." (Nepaul). Yet, in 2014, 31.4 million American children lived in low-income households and 15.4 million lived in poor families (phys.org). By 2016, the number of children living in poverty still stay the same. In fact, it even shows sign of increasing when nearly half of children in America are living dangerously close to the poverty line, where their families barely make enough to afford the most basic needs (phys.org). Looking at these statistics, it is clear that we need to these children and their families. And in order to do so, we first need to change our attitudes towards the poor and create more effective plans, such as...

While the poor are barely protected by a frayed social safety net and often disengaged from the decision making processes that structure their lives, confronting the root causes of poverty is discouraging and increasingly urgent (Abramsky, 2012). Dramatic changes in the family, society, and the economy have altered the lives of children. Children are now more likely to live with a single parent with low levels of schooling and work experience making it more difficult for parents to support a family above the poverty level (Corcoran and Chaudry,

It 's the rock bottom of a student 's educational career: The day a student drops out of high school. From there, the world may seem to go down in a spiral. Today, 16% of dropouts are unemployed and 32% live below the poverty line. Dropouts with jobs earn an average of only $12.75 per hour (Messacar 55). Students who do graduate from high school have an unemployment rate of only 7.6% (Bureau of Labor Statistics). While the graduation rate may be improving, there are still some out there who find it hard to adjust to the high school atmosphere after leaving their cozy little middle school. Sometimes, middle school poorly prepares their

Since the children are the future of the nation, officials decided to change the curriculum to evoke critical thinking and better problem solving skills. While that is true, there is nothing done. There is only more demand and more work piled on students’ backs. Standardized testing becomes the creator of distress amongst America’s young adults (Wilde). Students are expected to solve for mathematics problem with a certain method and interpret a dense reading passage excerpt in one way. The ability to be creative is taken away because schools want to focus on the academic aspect of a student’s life to not get reprimanded from the No Child Left Behind Act. Time that could have been used for recreation is used to take notes from college level textbooks and create essay outlines for AP U.S. History. In today’s society, college is seen as the glowing finish line after graduating high school. However, colleges do not only want to see a transcript full of honor classes and AP courses but also extracurricular activities and awards to distinguish a potential applicant from an entire pool of candidates. To satisfy those expectations, students enroll into four AP classes and join all sorts of volunteer activities (Dwyer). This ultimately lead to the struggle of time management. Adolescents in high school are pressured the most from deciding on a career to pursue to