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Poverty and the effects on children
Poverty effects on education
Effect of poverty on education
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Recommended: Poverty and the effects on children
“Poor Kids,” by PBS Frontline is a documentary that focuses on the children of three families living in poverty. The documentary gives a better understanding on how children are affected by the poverty they are faced with. The majority of the film focuses on their lives and it shows how they are living five years after the initial recording. It gives insight on how each family faces different circumstances due to their poverty.
I believe that my opinion on these families falls into the Symbolic-Interaction theory. My immediate thought is to blame the victims of poverty and I dislike that I think like that. I know that my opinion could be completely different if I knew more of their backgrounds and how they got to where they were, but most of society holds a lot of value in first impressions. I also think that economic inequality is completely unfortunate. Seeing that the highest 20 percent of U.S. families earns about 48.9 percent of all income is confusing and feels unfair. It is really hard knowing that so many children can starve and go without, while another family is spending thousands on an outfit, but that is our disheartening reality.
After watching the video, I felt very sad for the children. Having two children of my own makes me sympathetic towards the kids that have to live in
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They need to realize that any work is better than no work at all and I think the wives should have worked as well. I guess I find it very hard to believe that it was not possible for any of them to find jobs and they should have gone to a workforce or someplace that could help them. The biggest thing that could have helped them was finding an opportunity. Some trade schools offer free classes and some jobs help you pay for college to find a better career. The main focus should have been on finding a stable career and I think that five years was more than sufficient time to accomplish
The idea of this essay is to explain how poverty is being represented the wrong way by nonprofit organizations here at home. The author uses the title to explain to the readers that poverty is not being represented the correct way. The way organizations represent poverty is by using images from a third world country instead of using pictures of people that live here at home that are living at poverty. The author explains how there are children here in America that need help just to get their basic needs, she explains “There are so many children like her – children that are deprived of their basic necessities right here in America” (George 668). The author is referring to “Mandy”. The picture of the girl on the Children Inc. flyer. She looks normal but she is need of help. The title gives an understanding to the reader about what is about to be
"Kids for Cash" is a documentary about a scandal that happened in 2008. The outrage was about the bribes being given to judges in the judicial system at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Mark Ciavarella, who was elected and then re-elected for two 10-year terms as a juvenile court judge, and Michael Conahan, a senior judge, were suspected of accepting money from Robert Mericle, the builder of two private juvenile facilities, in order to make a profit out of the incarcerated teens. The judges would punish the teenagers that would be brought to their courts more harshly in order to increase the number of convicts in the juvenile facilities. According to CNN, "minors charged with nonviolent crimes were often given harsher sentences than what probation officers recommended, court documents say" (Chen, 2009).
In the ridged and shocking book that follows the lives of impoverished African American children, There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz accurately displays what life can be like for those who are not as fortunate as some. The story is set in the inner city of Chicago in and around 1987, and pivots around drug violence and the nightmare that is living in the Henry Horner housing project. Lafayette and Pharoah Rivers, two brothers who were born into the life of poverty, are followed throughout this true story. The two live with their mother, LaJoe, and their six siblings while some come and go, between jail and other places. Their father, Paul, is seldom around due to his alcoholism and drug addiction.
This film chose to focus on very young people struggling to survive in poverty. All three of the boys are younger than 18 years old and thus are in an important developmental stage. The film gives us a view into the effects of a disadvantaged upbringing on a child’s development. These three boys grew up in situations defined by poverty and familial dysfunction and for two of them, the after effects are clear. Harley has severe anger issues and is unable to function at school. Appachey lashes out uncontrollably and has multiple diagnosed behavioral disorders. Both boys have had run-ins with the law and dealings with the juvenile court system. This solidifies the argument espoused in Marmot’s The Health Gap that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds face significant developmental challenges. The evidence suggests that children who grow up in poverty have cognitive and developmental delays and suffer from greater risk of mental and behavioral disorders. As shown in the film, Harley and Appachey both suffer from extreme behavioral and cognitive deficits and exhibit the corresponding poor scholastic and societal performance which will serve to further negatively affect their
The conflict approach is one that puts an emphasis on inequality and competition between social groups that leads to problems. Throughout the course of the Poor Kids documentary the conflict approach can be implemented to help explain why childhood poverty is caused. Conflict theorist can point to Brittany’s family as an example of how competition between social classes can cause poverty. Brittany’s father was working for a company that decided to scale down in order to better sustain itself during tough economic times. As a result, Brittany’s father lost his job with the company since he did not hold a high position within the company. Brittany’s family when her father had his job was not considered a high class family as far as income and luxury goes. The video did not specifically state what class family they were, but it can be inferred that they were probably a low middle class or low class family. So, because her father was not holding a high position and was not considered of high social importance, he was let go as if he was almost expendable. If he was of high social class and held a higher or more important position within the company than he probably would not have been let go. This refers back to competition between social classes (Turner). The old cliché, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer can be thought relevant in this situation. Also, the conflict approach can be applied to the part of the video in which Brittany’s dad was unsuccessful in finding a job. Her dad went online and submitted an array of applications to a multitude of different companies in hopes to get hired. Unfortunately, he didn’t hear anything back from any of the companies and was not offered a job. His lack of success in finding a job can be explained in various ways. The conflict approach would point to his social status as a key reason in why he was unsuccessful. It can said that because Brittany’s father was not of a high social class or group he wasn’t given as
Poverty is a worldwide social problem that effects billions of people and in the video clip People Like us: Social Class in America: Tammy’s Story we are able to get a deeper look into just one of the many heart wrenching cases. Tammy’s story is a documentation of the life of the Crabtree family in Waverly, Ohio, a family that lives in rural poverty. The Crabtree family consist of the mother Tammy and her four children in which only two are featured, Beau and Matt. Tammy is the only money-earning member of the family with a minimum wage job at Burger King. This amount of income leaves them below the poverty line in the United States, which classified them as an impoverished family. In the video clip the Crabtree family discusses various negative effects of being below the poverty line including not having enough money
Dan Parris, a filmmaker and owner of Speak up Productions, in his documentary, What Matters, argues that it is everyone’s responsibility to care for the poor. Parris along with his two friends and assistant producers, Rob Lehr and David Peterka embark on a journey to experience poverty firsthand, in order to challenge their audience to think about their purpose. They adopt a deeply personal tone as they call young people to action. They support their claim through the use of ethos, pathos, and logos.
In the article, "3 TVs and No Food: Growing Up Poor in America," Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, pivots his attention on how politicians are handling the poverty situation across the United States. According to Kristof, the politicians aren't paying attention. To back up his argument, Kristof centers in on the lives of three children growing up in poverty. Their journeys are unique in one way or another, nonetheless, they are living in extremely indistinguishable situations. Honestly, reading this article gave me a repulsive attitude towards the government. Why aren't we focusing our attention on these innocent, poor people? It wasn't their fault they were born under unfortunate circumstances. To support his argument, the author stated,
shows an African-American family struggling to get out of the poverty line, which is stopping them
The French documentary Babies shows the first year of development of four different babies who live in four completely different environments. The film follows Ponijao, a little girl from Namibia, Bayar, a little boy from Mongolia, Mari, a girl from Tokyo, and Hattie, a girl from San Francisco. Even though the babies live in very dissimilar parts of the world, their physical, cognitive, and social development seem to all follow a set pattern. On the other hand, the babies learn to do some activities distinctive to their environment by watching their parents and siblings. Therefore, Babies provides evidence to support both the nature and nurture sides of the debate.
Children Underground took an emotional affect on me. Reasons behind is because of the topic they choose is sensitive idea, homeless children in Romania, we watched as these kids suffer on trying survive. But what really makes me feel sort of uncomfortable watching this documentary is the noises the kids were making. The crying and the screaming makes it difficult to watch because what goes through my head is “What would I do if I was in their situation?” and to be honest, it makes me feel like a horrible person. It’s not something that I could explain why but legitimately I just feel horrible. I don’t know if it’s because of our social difference or what, it’s almost as if there’s this guilt on your shoulders. Even if this was or was not the
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...
Throughout Society, many families have seen struggle and lived through poverty. The economy is not always thriving which takes a toll on people who suffer through unemployment or low wage jobs. The Frontline documentary, “Two American Families”, is the perfect example of struggle in the United States. It shows the lives of two struggling families and their efforts to survive. Two essays, “The Sociological Imagination” by C. Wright Mills, and “The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All” by Herbert J. Hans, support the analysis of the video strongly. They express many ideas that relate to the world and struggle throughout society. Also, there are many sociological terms that depict the events that occurred in the documentary.
When analyzing children growing up in poverty a lot of factors come into play such as their physical, psychological and emotional development. To grow up in poverty can have long term effect on a child. What should be emphasized in analyzing the effects of poverty on children is how it has caused many children around the world to suffer from physical disorders, malnutrition, and even diminishes their capacities to function in society. Poverty has played a major role in the functioning of families and the level of social and emotional competency that children are able to reach. Children in poverty stricken families are exposed to greater and emotional risks and stress level factors.
The documentary, Poor Us: An Animated History of Poverty, takes viewers through a detailed history of poverty on Earth. From hunter-gatherers to modern times, poverty in the world is demonstrated in the documentary. One can ask many questions while watching the documentary such as, “What is poverty?” and “Why does poverty exist today?” These questions are partially answered and speculated on in the documentary, although it may be hard to completely answer the questions as it can be argued that there is no one single answer. Poverty, according to the documentary, is the struggle to obtain resources in order to continue living. These resources are basic needs such as clean water, food, shelter and health care. The documentary, however, argues