Video Response Worksheet: The Real Slumdogs

When people hear the words “child poverty” some assume that this term may refer to homeless children who are living on the streets. This isn’t necessarily true, in fact some children who go to bed every night with a roof above their head still suffer from some form poverty. According to National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP), 21% of children throughout the United States live in families who are considered poor. It is crucial for society to be more aware of this issue and to take part in contributing to help reduce child poverty within our country.

This causes discrimination of the low-income student against a higher-income student. This discrimination more than likely causes a negative mental attitude towards his/her peers, which then causes a struggle with the student’s education. Student’s education thrives when the student is placed in an environment in which he/she feel safe and protected. The bullying and harassment is caused by the separation between low and high income families. The student now feels disconnected with their environment and stresses their social life rather than their education. Another example is that many children discontinued their education so they could work to provide for their families. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the Cunninghams are considered the “working poor”. Their family farm is the family’s means to survive, thus the whole family must contribute to the farm. Farm

The documentary demonstrates how these cliques, to many students, are in a social hierarchy. Where one is on this hierarchy isn't just based on personality, but is strongly tied to "the way you walk" or the "clothes you wear", meaning that those at the top are the people with "proper" mannerism and the most money, which grants you social capital. Some, particularly students of color, dismiss these notions and believe the upper class to be generally snobbish, as they think that the upper class believes themselves to be better. One teen, who has a working-class mother that is too proud to get welfare, is ashamed of his trailer home and family. Meanwhile, his mother takes 10-mile walks where she is subject to harassment to work at burger

In most if not all cases, the class you are born into will determine how you will be raised, and who you will grow up to become. Whether you can speak up for yourself, if you are humble with what you have or you have a more hectic schedule or not, it all plays into what class you are from. No two childhoods are equal and Annette Lareau in her book, Unequal Childhoods explains why this is the case. I will be examining chapters four, five, and seven. These chapters examine poor and working children and teenagers and how their childhoods differ and relate to each other based on the class they were born in whether that be lower class to the poor. What can be learned from examining these three kids, Harold McAllister, Katie Brindle, and Tyrec Taylor is the advantages and disadvantages of having a childhood in the class of the poor or working class.

One of the most important things affected by class is education. People who are part of the low-income class have to overcome obstacles that people in the high-income class don't have to worry about. High-income families have access to the best private schools and tutors money can buy. Low-income families have to either settle to send their children to the assigned neighborhood school of apply to have their children bussed to better school districts. In the novel The Color of Water by James Mcbride, we meet a child named James. James and his siblings are part of

In the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, embarks on a story of a young boy Greaser, his gang, the rivalry with the Socs, and how it all ended. The main theme of The Outsider was social class. Socs have wealth that helps them through life and their parents have enough money to do anything for them Greasers do not have an education, and that’s true because they don’t have enough money and the privilege to get a good education. On the other hand, Socs don’t have to worry about not having a bad education because they can afford an education. Although greasers can the opportunity to stop and smell the roses, Socs have everything in life needed, they don’t have the cherishable life they wish for. Hinton notifies, through the text, the main reason for the gang’s separation is because of their social class and expectations.

Jonathan Kozol, in the chapter entitled “Other People’s Children, discusses and justifies the kinds of limitations placed on children who must attend poorly funded, educationally inferior school. Kozol argues that children in the inner-city schools are not fit to go to college and that they should be trained in schools for the jobs they will eventually hold, even though these jobs are less prestigious, lowest-level jobs in society. Kozol’s argument is based on the fact that students from the inner-city or rather from the societies that do not have enough job opportunities are not supposed to learn much because their society cannot accommodate most of the courses that are often found in the urban settings. For example, there is a point where Kozol cites one of the businessman’s statement which says, ‘It doesn’t make sense to offer something that most of these urban kids will never use.’ The businessman continues to argue, ‘no one expects these ghetto kids to go to college. Most of them are lucky if they are literate. If we can teach some useful skills, get them to stay in school and graduate, and maybe into jobs, we’re giving them the most that they can hope for’ (Kozol 376). This statement clearly indicate that the society should accept the inequalities and exercise the same inequalities even in education.

The axis of inequality that will be focused throughout this paper is the social class. Social class is defined as a group of individuals who are categorized according to class (i.e. poor, middle, and upper) due to their income, wealth, power, and occupation. Social class is socially constructed by the way we view how much income and wealth a person possess (Ore, 20011a, 10). In reality it is much more than that. According to the text, poverty is not only the shortage of income, but it is the rejection of opportunities and choices that leads a person to a standard way of living (Ore, 2011a, 10). Stereotyping also contributes to it being socially constructed. These stereotypes influence us by defining who is who based on their principles in each class category. This can cause some to feel worthless.

The more education a person acquires throughout their life-time means they are more-likely to find high paying jobs. So, the amount of education a person receives correlates with if they live in poverty or not. “None of Crystal’s siblings finished high school. Instead, they became adults when they were teenagers” (Potts 598). Without a high school diploma the chances of any of the family members attaining a job that makes above minimum wage was almost impossible. The desperation of not being able to make an adequate amount of money for basic needs, lowers the life expectancy for poor women. “The more educated among us are better at forgoing pleasurable and possibly risky behavior because we’ve learned to look ahead to the future” (Potts 595). In the case of Crystal, she dropped out of high school because she married Possum. In today’s society a majority of women want to continue their education before marrying, because marriage is risky with possibilities of children, or their spouse may

The first key idea from the materials is that social inequities and capitalism are intertwined. In the TEDTalks, while the upper class, or plutocrats, are typically living large, the lower classes are struggling to live. Additionally, due to the unfair system, the lower-income people are more likely to drop out

Throughout The Lesson economic class was deal with among the children in F.A.O Schwartz toy store. Sylvia mentions what Miss Moore have been saying about the economic barrier she states “how money ain’t divided up right in this country. And then she gets to the part about we all poor and live in the slums, which I don’t feature” (643). Even before the children were on their journey they were being made aware of the economic gap. A gap in which there were those who had more money than others. This was a reminder of the conditions in which they lived compared to others who had the money. Some of the children on the trip identified with the economic gap among themselves. While some had a desk and a stationary “I do…I have a box stationary on my desk” (644) says Mercedes other did not even have a desk. June bug states “I don’t have a desk” (644). Some of the kids had things that the others did not though they were all from the average working class family. Economic class was then identified as Sylvia was

Income inequality plays a major role in the education disparity present in communities such as West Chelsea. The economic hardship several families experience affects the way a child grows up and the certain education they receive. As seen in Class Divide, more privileged children can attend schools such as The Avenues where they are given opportunities to grow and learn, while less privileged students are

In the beginning of the movie one can tell that the less developed, or "slums",

All families want their children to be happy, healthy, and grow. Social classes make a difference in how parents go about meeting this goal. In Annette Lareau book, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, she promotes middle class parents as concerted cultivation. Middle class parents encourage their children’s talents, opinions, and skills. For example, engaging their children in organized activities and closely monitoring children’s experiences in school. According to Lareau, middle class children gain an emerging sense of entitlement through this pattern of converted cultivation. This causes a focus on children’s individual development. There are signs that the middle class children gain advantages from the experience of concerted cultivation. However, the working class and poor children do not gain this advantage.

These people are all close-knit but are really working hard to be able to provide for their families. They try to pick as much trash as they can so they can so they can make ends meet. They do not care about the conditions they work in they just want their families to to be okay and thrive. 85% of Dharavi’s residents have jobs, they work from the time they wake up in the morning until they go to bed at night. There is only one toilet for 1,400 residents.