Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Poverty, Education and the Social Worker's role

It is no longer news that United States is doing badly on the economic scale of developed countries. According to the 2015 Index of Economic freedom, the country is actually at number 12 and countries like Ireland and Estonia are on numbers 8 and 9 respectively. That was a surprise because the general belief is that United States is the greatest. Here in the country, the level of poverty has also grown and currently, the poverty rate has remained real high at 15% and one out of every 16 people are living in deep poverty. (www.nclej.org/poverty-in-the-us.php)
For many, the burden should be on the government to alleviate the situation. Policies and laws are supposed to be enacted by policy and law makers to help change the tide of things. The gap between the super rich, the middle class and the poor should be narrowed down as much as is possible. This is true in any way that you think about it. But at the end of day, the burden actually lies on us individuals to help make our lives better by taking advantage of the little opportunities that come our way. There are a lot of programs in our society that we can take advantage of to help turn things around for the better. Having established that we are in a world that is quite unequal, there is no need folding our hands and to continue to be counted as the 15% of the population in the country that are poor. And that is where the social workers come in. Not only should the social worker advocate for programs that will give cash and in-kind services to the poor in the society, they should also encourage them to take advantage of those programs that will help them survive when the cash and in-kind services are no longer available. This can be achieved through quality education. Education not only help individuals escape poverty by developing the skills they need to improve their livelihoods, but also generates productivity gains that fuel economic growth. While growth does not automatically reduce poverty, without it sustained poverty reduction is not possible.  As social workers, programs that will help improve the current school system should be advocated for and children and parents encouraged to take advantage of these programs in order to reduce the rate of poverty in our society which we hope will help narrow the equality gap that we are currently experiencing.  

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for your post.

    The failing economy and high poverty rates, especially for children, absolutely calls for emergency relief like TANF, SNAP and housing vouchers. These programs and the people who need them are demonized in our society as being lazy and freeloaders. While we need to carry on (and improve) these programs, I agree with you Maryanne, we need to address the broader problem that has caused such great income inequality and poverty in the first place! The unequal access to education has destroyed the opportunities for children living in lower socioeconomic communities. These kids are born into a system that does not want them to succeed. Those who are wealthy actually benefit from keeping the poor "in their place". All school districts, no matter where they are located, should be given the SAME amount of funding.. It is not a child's fault if they were born into a poor community! Let's give them a fighting chance!

    http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/05/debunking-bootstraps-myth/

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  3. Education is important to social and economic justice for many different reasons. I loved the video you posted not only the importance of education, but the type of education. The video discusses the importance of literacy and numeracy, but that education needs to be more than just that. Today in America I think that our education system is keeping teachers stuck in what they can and cannot teach. There is little to no time spent on what the education system calls extra curricula. Extra curricula, is important to education especially in today’s world. The video posted stresses the importance of education and the importance of keeping it diverse and have extra curricula added to topics that are discussed in a class room. Today American schools are too focused on standardized testing and not enough about what I call “real world problems.” For example, teachers are no longer having there student’s critical think about poverty. Schools systems in America are more focused on the numeracy and literacy that will allow students to pass standardized test. However, students are now lacking a vital skill of critical thinking.
    In class we discussed the issue of education not bring in as much money as prisons. Although, education seems to have a better outcome in the long run it does not have the immediate change that policy makers are looking for. Education however not only can help bring less of a gap in between the wealthy and poor but also lessen crime. Were as prisons are really only baby sitters. As stated above I agree that social workers need to advocate for the need of a better education system to help solve or begin to solve some of these economic injustices. Although, programs that provide temporary relief are needed to respond to the emergency of families especially living in poverty. I think we need to look more into the systems that are almost shaping poverty.

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  4. You make some great points, and touching up on what we was watching yesterday, it is sad that the United State is deteriorating. We once was this big dog, where everyone envy us, but today we are nothing compared to everyone else. Our nation was once ranked number one in graduation rate, but today we are number 12. There is an imbalance in the system, where the rich stay rich, and the poor stay poor. Everyone has an opportunity, some may have a head start, but at the end we all do have a chance. The rich would tell the poor to go out there and work for it, but little do they keep in mind of the barriers preventing that. Education is a gift, and it’s a right, but yet there is no justice in our education system. The poorer section will get resources for them, where as the rich will get more. There is this imbalance, and just because they are in this neighborhood, it should not mean you should deprive them from the best education there is. Like Emily said, no matter where you are located, everyone should be treated with dignity, equality and respect.

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  5. I think you made a very good point that education, while not solving the problem of poverty, can help society in reaching a point that is less poverty-stricken. I think that everyone deserves to receive a good education, and it is sad to think that there are people who have not received one because of their personal circumstances or some societal cause over which they have no control, such as lack of funding or over-crowding in schools. If everyone had access to the same quality of education, it would be reasonable to think that there would be less poverty since more people would have the education and skills to succeed in society. They would be able to pursue better jobs that could pay enough for them to actually support their families rather than jobs that do not even pay enough to support themselves. Unfortunately, I think that in order for a more equal education system to exist, it would need to be completely redesigned so that funding was not based on the taxes paid by the people in the district but rather on a collective fund for either the state or the country as a whole. This way all schools would be able to afford to provide a more equal education with the same resources.

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  6. How are nation went from being the leading nation of the global economy to a nation lagging behind in technology and global sustainability. Gap between those who are rich in those who are poor is very absurd. It seems as if our government is leading it's people down by my advocating for those who are in a cycle of poverty. We need to focus on programs that will bring those drowning in poverty to the surface and help them to help themselves. We need to get back on top where our nation once was before. We need to a greater concern for our citizens and the challenges that they face day to day. This is the only way to start changing things.

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  7. We all know that education within our country is lacking and we as citizens have little power to fix it. Our government keeps telling us how we are the strongest country in the world and how we are a force to be wreckened with. However, our public school systems are completing failing our younger generations. These blinders that we have on have allowed or government to stay as status quo. Slowly we have released through testing that we are not as advanced and have tried to challenge and change the system. The biggest problem when it comes to the education is how a lack of finances affects the resources to develop intelligence. Take Philadelphia for example, governor Wolf has yet to pass laws which have limited the amount of books students have access too. We constantly hear about the fight to keep public schools and the positions within it open, yet we never hear of salary caps for our representatives in our government. We have allowed people with too much power and ego to influence the future generations and our country and without challenging them, we will only continue to fall.

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