Gonzalez 1

Educated the Disadvantaged into their Future

Poverty is a cycle that never ceases under the impressions of a bettering society. As Commented [gh1]: Maybe change this first sentence to
something that is more attention grabbing.
everyday people, we act under the influences of what we think makes us a good person. Many

people that are affected by poverty, or born into poverty, endure this cycle of never-ending

disappointment. The reason for disappointment is that poverty is becoming normal:, it’s not just

a loose term to describe Tthird-Wworld countries anymore. We need to find a long-lasting Commented [gh2]: I get a little confused when you say
reason for disappointment
solution to the effects of poverty without trivializing its actual impacts it has on our

communities. According to Slade, poverty is affecting many aspects of life including education, Commented [gh3]: More background information on
Slade?
the economy, and the future. “Poverty is one of the many things that can affect the way students

learn and play a part in determining their success in learning environments. There are many

factors on how poverty influences education. These effects can start at a very early stage in their

life and can get worse if nothing is being implemented in stopping the process. Kids that live in

poverty already start at a disadvantage to their apparently “equal” counterparts.

Poverty has been a pressing issue in the US for a long time. According to the Assistant

Secretary for Planning and Evolution (ASPE) “, poverty thresholds were originally developed in

1963-1964 by Mollie Orshansky.” OrshanskyMollie was a was an American economist and

statistician that was part of the Social Security Administration when she developed the

thresholds. These thresholds determine the minimum level of income deemed adequate by the

government. When it comes to poverty people in middle or upper doclasses do not really

understand the effects it can have on people in the cycle. People only see poverty in a statistical
Commented [gh4]: Could you combine this together into
way. They just focus on the numbers and data that come with poverty. What people do not know one sentence? Maybe talk more into detail on why it is
statistics. What are the statistics?
 Gonzalez 2

is that poverty is a never-ending cycle that will not change if nothing is done to fix it. One of the

biggest things that we can do to change the cycle is to focus on the education system in

communities that have a high rate of poverty. According to the US Census Bureau, the poverty

rate in 2017 was 12.7 %. There were 39.7 million people that lived in poverty around the US.

Most of these people will not be able to get out of the cycle because they lack the education

needed to end the cycle.

Poverty has a noticeable impact on education. Many people say that education might be a

“cure” for poverty and I agree. Growing up, I lived in a neighborhood that had high rates of

poverty and I attended the schools that I was zoned to base on my residence. I attended school

every day like any child would and learned new things. I went through elementary and middle

school under the impression that I was getting the same education as everyone else was. This
was not true. When I started high school, I realized that everyone received a different education
based on the schools that they previously went to. I realized this because I went to a high school
Commented [gh5]: Is this your story you are going to
refer to later in the paper?
Commented [gh6]: I like how it breaks it clearly pushes
your argument. Although it does feel a little award when
reading it outloud

that was more advanced and opportunistic than my zoned high school that I would’ve attended. I

noticed the difference because I would talk to my friends that went to that high school about all

the things that my school had and the things that we were learning at the time. They were all

surprised because it was so different compared to their high school. At my high school, people

came from middle schools positioned all over the county that prepared them for high school

differently. Throughout the first few weeks of high school, I noticed that some kids were better

prepared than others. When I started to talk to the other kids they would tell me about the middle

school that they came from. They would talk about all the projects that they worked on and the
 Gonzalez 3

methods the teachers would teach them the material. I was caught by surprise because I did not

experience any of that.

There are many factors on how poverty influences education. Primarily being that people Commented [gh7]: I feel as though maybe some of your
topic sentences may be to simple. Although if that is the
style you were going for
living poverty do not get the same level of education as people with better financial

circumstances receive. Another factor is that children in poverty “typically have a smaller

vocabulary than middle-class children do, which raises the risk for academic failure.” (Walker,

Greenwood, Hart, & Carta) According to Hart Children from “low-income families hear, on

average, 13 million words by age 4. In middle-class families, children hear about 26 million

words during that same time period. In upper-income families, they hear a staggering 46 million Commented [gh8]: I would go into more depth into the
difference in lives of the chain of poverty-middle class- and
upper class.
words by age 4—three times as many as their lower-income counterparts”. With this being said, There are even subdivisions of poverty classes I believe

children in poverty have a narrower vocabulary range than their counterparts. Based on the

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, a child's vocabulary is part of the

brain's tool kit for learning, memory, and cognition.” Having less vocabulary puts these children

at a disadvantage because they are not as prepared. Having started at a disadvantage, they will

have a hard time learning and being caught up with the lesson. Another factor is that children in

poverty commonly have cognitive problems. For example, short attention spans, and problem

solving.

Talk about the point before based on researchers Commented [gh9]: Is this finished?
If you are going to put topic headers make sure to bold
them
According to the American Psychological Association “poverty and dropouts are

inextricably connected in the three primary settings affecting healthy child and adolescent

development: families, schools and communities.” Students drop out because of the toxic
 Gonzalez 4

stressors that are associated with poverty. For example, homelessness, domestic abuse and absent

parents. Students aren’t finishing high school, not because they want to but because they have Commented [gh10]: Including more detail of the life long
effects can also push your argument. A counter argument
could be the people who did succeed afterwords
to, based on their economic standing.

We as a nation, really have not done many things to reverse poverty. It has been 51 years

since the nation declared poverty unacceptable. The last time the nation declared poverty

unacceptable was when Lyndon B. Johnson was in office and he launched the War on Poverty in

1964. We need to start focusing more on poverty and trying to improve it. Poverty does not just

affect the people experiencing it, poverty affects everyone in the US. It affects everyone Poverty

affects our economy and our future. It takes more than one person to fix the problem. Based on

children internationally, “the government spends just 10% of the national budget on children —

a fraction of what other developed countries spend.” The government needs to spend more Commented [gh11]: Go back and try to summarize this
and add to it so you do not need the quotations. Same as
the other ones you have in the paper
money on kids in poverty. These children are the future of the US and some of these children do

not have a choice. Some of these children are born into poverty Commented [gh12]: Is this a finished sentence? What
parts of the US or is it just everywhere no escaping it.

There are many things that we can do to fix this problem. Oneproblem, one being

providing more help to the students in neighborhoods with high rates of poverty. Another Commented [gh13]: What about these neighborhoods,
what kind of aid. How do we keep them from falling under
again
solution according to Sean Slade is “improve Access to Advanced Coursework.” By this he

means “students in poverty should receive just as much access to relevant and challenging

coursework through multiple pathways (e.g., Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate,

dual-enrollment programs) as their wealthier peers. Simply offering them the same number of

rigorous courses isn’t enough. They should also be provided with the academic supports they

need to thrive and succeed in those courses.” In other words students that live in poverty Commented [gh14]: Not a finished sentence?
 Gonzalez 5

In conclusion, poverty has a huge impact on education. Poverty is something that needs

to be fixed. Like Slade said “poverty affects our education, our economy, and our future. It is

becoming the norm, and we appear reluctant to address it. We have the steps in place to change

it—and we’ve had these steps for over half a century.” Poverty affects everyone and not just the

ones in poverty. We already have steps in place to fix poverty, but we don’t implement them. We Commented [gh15]: Go back and revert backto your own
experience and how it could have affected your future
maybe?
as a nation need to start addressing this problem. The first step we need to do is fixing the

education system to help the disadvantaged into their future.

 Gonzalez 6

Works Cited
Ascd. “How Poverty Affects Classroom Engagement.” How Poverty Affects Classroom

Engagement - Educational Leadership, www.ascd.org/publications/educational-

leadership/may13/vol70/num08/How-Poverty-Affects-Classroom-

Engagement.aspx.Accessed 19 Oct. 2018.

Children International. “Facts About Child Poverty in the U.S.A. | Children International | US

Poverty Facts.”, www.children.org/global-poverty/global-poverty-facts/facts-about-

poverty-in-usa.Accessed 19 Oct. 2018

Fontenot, Kayla, et al. “Library.” Income and Poverty in the United States: 2017, US Census

Bureau, 12 Sept. 2018, www.census.gov/library/publications/2018/demo/p60-

263.html.Accessed19 Oct. 2018.

Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young

American children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

Slade, Sean. "Poverty Affects Education--And Our Systems Perpetuate It." The Huffington Post.

TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 July 2016. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-

slade/poverty-affects-education_b_7861778.html.Accessed 18 Oct. 2018.

 Gonzalez 7

Walker, D., Greenwood, C., Hart, B., & Carta, J. (1994). Prediction of school outcomes based on

early language production and socioeconomic factors. Child Development, 65(2), 606–

621.