Child Poverty
Holes in shoes, empty stomachs, clothes that do not fit, and low academic success are four characteristics of a child living in poverty. These are features many people don’t see on a day-to-day basis if they are not working with kids. Even if you are working with kids, poverty is not always easy to identify.
Poverty is invisible for a variety of reasons, and as an education major still in school, I am unsure why this is. The reason for making poverty invisible could be an aspect of embarrassment for the child or it could be for reasons completely different. Childhood poverty is not openly talked about enough and is something you do not physically see until you are working one-on-one with a child. I was blinded to the idea of children living in poverty until I pursued a career in education.
Throughout my high school years, I kept my career options open. I have always loved kids and constantly received career advice from outsiders. “Become a teacher, you love kids and it is the best profession…you even have summers off,” was the most common piece of advice I received.
I began my college academics as a declared nursing major, hoping to one day end up in pediatrics helping children. After one semester of spending almost every waking moment in the school library, I came to the realization that I was not thoroughly enjoying the content I was putting all of my energy into learning. I decided having summers to myself and drawing rainbows every day sounded like a much better career path.
While completing education courses, education majors are required to have a certain amount of “field experience” hours. These hours vary depending on the course you are enrolled in, but generally each class averages thirty field experience hours in a childcare facility or school setting per semester. While completing my field experience hours, I realized teaching isn’t just drawing rainbows and having summers off.
The education field holds many unknowns. There are not nearly enough semesters for professors to teach education majors everything there is to know about navigating through the obstacles of teaching. During my first semester of being an education major, I was required to spend two hours a week at Kids First, an after-school program serving students who come from low-income families living in Winona. It is from my field experience at Kids First that I learned children are struggling in a multitude of ways, the number one way being poverty.
When I began my field experience at Kids First, I felt as though someone had taken a blindfold off my eyes. I was immersed in a community that I never knew existed in the small town of Winona. The staff at Kids First explained to the volunteers that many of the children do not receive meals when they go home at night, so a nutritious snack is put out every day and children are welcome to eat as much as they would like. I attended Kids First once a week and felt guilty thinking about the warm delicious meal I would scarf down once I got home, knowing most of the children only receive warm meals at school. As the semester progressed, the weather changed. I started observing children walking outside in single degree weather with no jackets. To assist, there is a clothing closet at Kids First and the staff provide the children with proper clothing for the given season. Homework help is provided during the after-school hours at Kids First. I first began to notice academic struggles through homework help, when a second-grade boy could not recall how to spell his four-letter first name. From not eating adequate meals and not having jackets to having holes in the bottoms of their shoes and performing poorly academically, some children living in Winona neighborhoods are struggling to say the least.
What qualifies one to be living in poverty? According to Children International, a family of four is living in poverty if their yearly income is below $24,000. However, this is contradictory to the U.S Census Bureau, who claims in order to achieve basic financial stability, it would take double that amount.
Poverty is a prevailing issue across the United States, specifically for children, and is not always seen by the public eye. Poverty can be defined by hunger, lack of shelter, lack of medical attention, and improper education. These can all be invisible characteristics of a visible person. Among industrialized countries, the United States has one of the highest child poverty rates, falling right behind Greece, Turkey, Israel, and Mexico. One out of every seven children born in the United States will be born into poverty. Poverty creates significant issues in the lives of many and has the greatest impact on children for a variety of reasons.
“Let’s begin by writing your name at the top of your paper,” I instructed a second-grade boy while starting his homework assignment. He struggled to remember the first letter of his name. Low academic success is one characteristic of a child living in poverty.
When a child lives in poverty, he or she will often perform at a lower academic level than his or her peers. If a child is not receiving proper attention and care at home, such as eating healthy and nutritious meals, he or she is at greater risk for physical and mental health problems, as well as more emotional and behavioral issues. If children are not succeeding in their academics and maintaining a healthy life, they will face greater issues than not getting a job. Poverty is an issue that needs attention from the community because children are our country’s future.
In Minnesota, 32% of children are living in poverty, which is right below the nation’s 41%. Compared to other states, Minnesota is ranked low for poverty rates, which is extraordinary. However, one in nine Minnesotans are living in poverty, meaning it is still a prevailing issue affecting the people of our community every day. Why does this matter? Child poverty matters because poverty acts as a domino effect. If a child is raised in a low-income household with no motivation to succeed, odds are he or she won’t. The cycle of poverty will continue for generations, creating the issue of low graduation rates, low employment, and poor health for many Americans.
Winona is a small town flooded with children and young adults. From daycares and the Winona Area Public Schools to Winona State University, child poverty is something the Winona community needs to be proactive about. Brittney Steine is a first-year middle school teacher for WAPS (Winona Area Public Schools) who has invested hundreds of hours with children in the Winona community. I had the privilege of interviewing Steine to get some insight on what it is like to be a teacher for children of varying demographics. Steine informed me that although Winona teachers are not informed about a student’s demographics before the school year begins, teachers are quickly informed through the first few weeks of get-to-know-you activities. Steine explained that several of her students are enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program which means they also receive discounted physical education clothing for P.E. class. Steine explained that this is usually the greatest indicator of a child that is coming from a low-income household.
Behavior issues are very common in children who come from low-income households often because they are not fueling their bodies with energizing food to support their minds throughout the day. Behaviors displayed could include vulgar language, physical harm to others, or the inability to control anger. I asked Steine if she experiences any behavioral issues from the students who come from low-income households. Steine says that some of the low-income students “have a tendency to show more aggressive behaviors,” but she explains that the larger behavior issue is the lack of behavior at all. Most students that come from low-income households are rather quiet and cause no disruptions. This could be due to a variety of reasons. If a child is quiet and reserved he or she might just be an introvert, however the student could also be tired, hungry, or at a loss for energy and emotion due to a lack of stability at home.
There is a strong correlation between household income and parent involvement in their child’s academics. Research gathered by writer Jessica Lahey shows that “By the time these children are 5 years old, the poor ones will have heard 30 million fewer words than their wealthy peers.” When I questioned Steine about the differentiation in test scores between social classes, she explained that there is a definite test score gap. She explained that this is not simply due to the lack of motivation from her students but the lack of knowledge and education level from their parents. Often times if a student is struggling academically it is because they’re not getting assistance with homework instruction at home. Studies through the NCCP of Minnesota shows that 82% of low-income parents do not have a high-school degree. This statistic shows that the domino effect was implemented in the parent’s life, causing them to be a high-school drop-out. Steine expressed that often times the high academic performance from a child reflects on the “social and emotional skills that children learn from their families.” Social and emotional skills are not always provided to a child living in poverty.
From interviewing Brittney Steine and researching about poverty in not only the United States, but Minnesota specifically, I have confirmed that poverty is a prevailing issue that needs a solution. Although a solution will not present itself overnight due to the complexity of the problem, there are a few ways to be invested in the children in our community. One of the ways is Kids First.
Kids First began in 2008 when retired teacher, Carol Merchant decided she was not finished leaving a positive impact on children. Merchant had one goal when starting this original “reading program.” The goal was to provide a safe place for low income children and to offer these children mentorship through volunteers and students from Winona State University. Through my interview with Merchant, several black and white aspects of Kids First were made colorful. I questioned Merchant about the one-on-one mentoring and tutoring that is provided at Kid’s First and questioned the increase in test scores and reading levels. Merchant replied with, “As a teacher, I have witnessed children make extraordinary progress in their academics through the homework help we offer, but unfortunately I do not have documentation and data to support those observations.” Merchant expanded that response with reasoning to her statement. “Several variables contribute to inaccessible test score data. These variables include the turnover in children.” Public housing has a drastic turnover rate, about 50% to be exact. Merchant explained that because of this turnover, they do not have constant children entering Kids First, which makes it hard to gauge progress throughout an entire academic year.
Behavioral issues at Kids First are consistent with the research that supports Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES). ACES include poverty, inadequate meals, improper clothing, unstable housing, abuse, incarceration, drug abuse, etc. Merchant addressed that almost every child that enters the Kids First doors have been exposed to at least one ACE. Merchant said that “When you are dealing with children under stress, behavior issues are manifested.” Although Merchant was unable to disclose specific behavioral situations due to confidentiality, she made it clear that the staff at Kids First handles an abundance of behavioral issues that stem from poverty and ACES. Many of the behavior tendencies that I observed while at Kids First were related to vulgar language and the inability to control frustration. From interviewing Steine and Merchant and researching behavioral tendencies in children that have been impacted by poverty, it can be concluded that children who come from poverty-stricken homes demonstrate different behaviors than those raised in households that do not contain the variables of a poverty-stricken home.
The complexity of child poverty and poverty in general is exponential, making it a hard issue to solve. The factors that contribute to this issue are far too vast to pinpoint the root cause. The constant dilemma of whether to expose poverty or cover it up is a reoccurring question. Is the best solution for these children to hide their struggles and pretend they are non-existent? Or to be more attentive and expose their daily struggles for everyone to see? The truth is, there is no balance between these two options. From the interviews I conducted, both experienced educators made it known that there is no middle ground; either you expose the students struggles, or you choose to bypass them. Many educators and people of authority in the education system are faced with this struggle and are unsure whether to keep the blindfold on, or to remove it, creating the invisible reoccurring issue of child poverty.
When I first decided to pursue a career in teaching, I was blindfolded; blindfolded by the issue that is being covered by confidentiality laws I was not aware of the severity of many issues that arise in schools today due to poverty. After being exposed to several different school environments, my blindfold has been untied. I have learned that poverty is a prevailing issue in every community. In order to raise our future generations to be the best they can be, our nation, and even more importantly our community needs to be more tuned in and aware of the struggles our children face in schools today. Being aware of the ways to assist these children is important in ending child poverty. Even though the issue is complex and constantly evolving, if we can raise this generation of children to be more motivated and successful than the previous generation, our future generations won’t have to make the invisibility of child poverty, visible. Through my interviews and research on poverty, I have become much more aware of the everyday struggles but am far from being an expert on the topic. The first step to becoming more knowledgeable about a suppressed topic is to remove your blindfold.
