What You Didn’t Learn About Homelessness — But Should Have.
Imagine a fourth grade girl on her way to school in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Let’s call the young girl, Sarah. Sarah eats a balanced, nutritious breakfast and packs a healthy lunch in her new lunchbox. Sarah arrives to school with her backpack, books, pencils, erasers and lunch and is ready for a day of learning. Throughout the day, Sarah’s teachers push her to be the best she can possibly be. She is given educational tools and resources within the classroom to help her understand concepts better. Sarah turns in her math homework, which was checked by her mom, and writes down her assignments for that night. Sarah looks forward to receiving a higher degree and finding a successful job one day. Sarah attends soccer practice after school where she learns teamwork skills, breaks a sweat, boosts her metabolism, and makes friends. After practice, she takes a long shower, eats a delicious home cooked meal, plays a board game with her brother, and reads a book with her dad before getting a nine-hour sleep in her comfortable bed.
Now, imagine another fourth grade girl on her way to school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Let’s call the young girl, Bridget. Bridget wakes up in an unfamiliar, smelly, crowded place, but then realizes she slept in the shelter on 28th and Locust. She shares a small bed with her mom and sister. Bridget looks at the clock and realizes she overslept…she’ll have to skip the breakfast the shelter is serving this morning. Bridget’s mom advises her to meet them at her co-worker’s apartment tonight, as she agreed to let them sleep on her pull-out couch for a few days. Bridget walks to school praying it’s not too cold this morning and that she can remember the directions this time. On the walk, Bridget worries about her little sister, Molly. Sometimes, Bridget’s mom can desert Molly, only five, for periods at a time because she can’t find anyone to babysit Molly. Bridget arrives to school tardy and is scolded by her teacher for forgetting her math homework. Bridget is sleep-deprived and hungry, therefore struggling to stay focused during class. Bridget’s classroom is extremely overpopulated and crowded. When she looks for books or other resources in the classroom to help her understand a concept, they are already being used by other students. Even if they aren’t, the books are in pretty bad condition — they are missing some pages and are words are faded. Bridget heads out right after school in attempt to find the co-workers apartment. A few hours later, she eventually finds her shelter for the night. Her mom is asleep from a long day of work and is scared to wake her. Bridget gives Molly a bath and steals money from the co-worker’s wallet to get she and Molly a Big Mac to split for dinner. Bridget struggles to fall asleep that night because the pull out couch is crowded, the apartment is loud, and fights are taking place in the street outside.
Although fictitious narratives, the accounts above could become reality for children born into poverty and homelessness. Students, such as Sarah, are set up for success. They are financially stable and have easier access to resources to aid their mental and physical health. On the other hands, students such as Bridget are set up for failure. They do not receive the proper nutrients and resources to give them any opportunity to break out of the cycle of poverty. This is most pertinent for children who are homeless or bouncing around foster care homes. Homeless youth are exposed to a harsh reality at a young age. To cope, many turn to substance abuse, as that is the only way they believe they can feel better. Homeless youth suffer from a variety of health issues, both mental and physical. Because of the pervasive poverty problem and our public policy’s inability to affect change for kids of low socioeconomic status, their chances to receive a quality education are hindered, therefore making it nearly impossible to break out of the cycle of poverty. It is imperative youth receive stable housing, supportive role models, a nondiscriminatory education, and access to resources to set them up for long term success. If they do not, we will remain to see statistics such as:
· One quarter of homeless people are children. Over 138,000 of the homeless in the U.S. are children under the age of 18.
· One in five homeless people suffers from untreated severe mental illness.
· 57% of homeless kids spend at least one day every month without food.
· In the United States, as many as 20,000 kids are forced into prostitution by human trafficking networks every year.
· More than 25% of former foster children become homeless within two to four years of leaving the system.
· Individuals who grow up in poor families are much more likely to be poor in early adulthood.
It is time to teach students in a position of privilege, such as Sarah, not to discriminate nor judge homeless men and women on the streets, as she or he could easily be in that position if it weren’t for the family he or she were born into. Strategies teachers can use to ingrain empathy into the minds of our students could include visiting a homeless shelter. In Mary Cowhey’s book, Black Ants and Buddhists, she discusses that although critiques may believe exposing young learners to this harsh reality may be seen as “too much”, her students were able to form a deeper perception of the inequality that exists just a few miles away from them during their visit. Another strategy teacher could utilize would be engaging their students into role play, using narratives likes the ones above. The students will gain an understanding of how unfair it is for children like Bridget when they step inside her shoes and embrace the injustice she deals with daily. By doing so, students will be encouraged to be active citizens as they get older and hopefully one day, affect change for students born into this inequitable and interminable cycle.