Poverty Destroys Education in America Essay

Poor people do not have weaker work ethics or lower levels of motivation than wealthier people (Iversen & Farber, 1996; Wilson, 1997). Although poor people are often stereotyped as lazy, 83 percent of children from low-income families have at least one employed parent; close to 60 percent have at least one parent who works full-time and year-round (National Center for Children in Poverty, 2004). In fact, the severe shortage of living-wage jobs means that many poor adults must work two, three, or four jobs. According to the Economic Policy Institute (2002), poor working adults spend more hours working each week than their wealthier counterparts Low-income parents hold the same attitudes about education that wealthy parents do (Compton-Lilly, 2003; Lareau & Horvat, 1999; Leichter, 1978). Low-income parents are less likely to attend school functions or volunteer in their children’s classrooms (National Center for Education Statistics, 2005)—not because they care less about education, but because they have less access to school involvement than their wealthier peers. They are more likely to work multiple jobs, to work evenings, to have jobs without paid leave, and to be unable to afford child care and public transportation. It might be said more accurately that schools that fail to take these considerations into account do not value the involvement of poor families as much as they value the involvement of other families. one particular content area that’s of their interest, and everything that’s in it has to meet certain standards *These conditions are the result of a tremendous growth of social inequality, combined with a governmental assault on social programs in recent decades by politicians of both big-business parties. For society’s youngest members, this finds expression in the growth of poverty and hunger, attacks on education and welfare programs, and an increase in violence and abuse What the government failed to do was enact a basic income guarantee for all citizens. Free-market economist Milton Friedman had recommended a negative income tax in his 1962 book â€Å"Capitalism and Freedom,† and in 1967 a National Commission on Guaranteed Incomes confirmed the idea. In 1969, President Richard Nixon announced a Family Assistance Plan that would pay $1,800 a year to any family of four with no outside earnings. The program passed the House of Representatives with two-thirds of the vote but was rejected by the conservatives who controlled the Senate Today, poverty is becoming a national catastrophe even while the highest income brackets prosper. From 2002 through 2006 the economy was floated by the housing bubble, with many lower income people getting into homes of their own through the proliferation of subprime mortgages.