How to Overcome Child Poverty with Education

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About one in five children in the United States has the misfortune of living in a family whose income is below the official poverty threshold (Borman and Reimers 454). Poverty has harmful effects on a child’s academic outcomes, general health, development, and school readiness. The impact of poverty has on a child depends on many factors for instance community features ( crime rate in neighborhood and school characteristics) and the individuals present in the child’s life like their parents, neighbors, or relatives. It is clear that schools and outside environmental factors contribute to whether a child is successful or not in their academic life. A child’s family, neighborhood, and type of school effects that are related with poverty positions the child to be at considerable risk for neglecting school and failing in life in general; however, there are educational programs that can help give children a poverty a fair chance in succeeding in life and in school.
Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor (Dictionary.com). Living in poverty can affect a family’s well-being because it is a reliable predictor of child abuse and neglect. The effects of poverty on children are influenced by their families’ behavior. Low–income families usually have limited education which decreases their capability to provide a motivating and encouraging environment for their children. For example, children from low-income families learn and speak the language that is used at home which often is not English and are less likely to be well read then their better off counterparts. The situation of poverty is a repeated cycle that reoccurs because the parents do not recognize the signi...

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