Persuasive Essay On Children In Poverty

The 15 million poverty-stricken children in our country lack the resources necessary to succeed in education as the average low-income school contains only 1 textbook for every 300 children (1). In 2011, 40% of children living in poverty were unprepared for primary school and continued to fall behind the average children their age as the lack of resources in their schools did little to elevate their educational level (1). The youth in our country should be the first priority, especially those in poverty who have great potential to be contributing members in our society but fail to receive the quality education necessary to thrive. Title 1 is an effective tool in solving the minimal educational resources; however, it lacks the sufficient funding

In the modern, technological world we live in, 92% of low-income school teachers say that technology has a major impact on their ability to access content, resources and materials, but only 18% say that their students have access to their necessary materials (3). Children in poverty are not receiving the resources essential for them to prosper in education and, therefore, usually drop out. Students from low-income schools are 7 times more likely to drop out and not earn a degree than students from wealthy families

Children in poverty require tutoring, books, and qualified teachers in order to compete on a global scale, and fully funding Title 1 provides these opportunities. In a 2012 study that focused on Title 1’s Supplemental Education Services, across the participating districts, 55% of students received tutoring in reading which mean an average of 17.2 hours (6). Another 9% of students received tutoring in math which meant an average of 12.5 hours, and 36% of students received tutoring in both reading and math (6).

Fully funding Title 1 is easier than one might think. Funding low-income schools with comparable spending would cost as little as 1% of the average district’s spending (7). The extra resources afforded by these funds would make a giant impact by increasing the budgets of schools serving high numbers students who live in poverty by 4-15% (7). The increase in budget will provide quality training and professional development for teachers as well as more books for the classrooms (8).

Limitations, Obstacles, and