Persuasive Essay
KayLyn Nuttall
People say one of the biggest reasons people are poor in America is lack of education. But even people who took school through their lives can find them self in poverty. I believe a big reason so many find themselves in poverty is not because they didn’t go but because we weren’t taught the right things.
When we got to school we learn the basics, Math, Science, Language Arts, History. But they are not teaching us what we really need to know. Let me explain. On January 2015, 564,708 people were found homeless on the streets in the U.S.A (1). Most of them were on the streets because they did not have money and could not afford the home they were staying in. So many people struggle to pay their bills and stay in their homes because they did not know
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how to manage their money. What I’m saying is we need to add classes for life skills. Skills we will need to posses to have a happier easier life. Many people say, “We have that”. “Math teaches about money, language arts shows us how to read and write things correctly and so on.” But how about money management, how about how to write a check, apply for a job, communication in general. Important things that we need to know if we plan on living in a home, with a job, and being debt free. The next thing is history.
We are fortunate enough to have a teacher that will teach us more of the modern world in history class. Unfortunately though, there are still teachers out there teaching us about the Wild West and Greece. Don’t get me wrong, those are great and interesting things to learn. But shouldn’t we be learning more about what is going on in the modern world. Many people don’t have as much access to the outside world as others and dont know whats going on. We should be learning more about things that are happening. New laws, new inventions, new cultures. Things that if we know could help us in the future and keep us from doing things we could regret. We should be learning about what to expect as an adult. One big thing we are not taught is insurance. Health insurance, car insurance, homeowners insurance and so on. So many people were never taught how to get and use insurance.And a lot of them have gone extremely into debt for not having insurance. Many people don’t get it because they don’t believe anything really bad could happen because how careful they are. But one slip up and you could find yourself in a car accident with broken bones and not enough
money. Then we have government and laws. We are taught about how the Bill of Rights came to be but how about what is in them. A few people know about the first two amendments, which are 1, freedom of speech, religion, freedom of the press, the right of the people to peaceably assemble and to petition the government, and the second, the right to bear arms. But what about the other 25 amendments! Did you know one third of americans can’t even name the first amendment. I bet even some of you didn’t know the complete first amendment until I told you. I didn’t know all of it until I looked it up! It’s all because we weren’t taught! There are so many things we need to know but aren’t taught in school. If we changed our schools and what we are taught I sincerely believe many lives could be saved and not near as many people would be homeless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xe6nLVXEC0
Basic education is mandatory for all kids in the United States. There are laws with minimum and maximum age limits for required free education, but this does not make all education equal. The minimum age varies from four to five to begin kindergarten, while most students graduate high school by age of eighteen or nineteen. However, there are kids that begin their education much earlier. Bell Hooks’ “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor”, Jonathan Kozol’s “From Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid”, and Barbara Ehrenreich’s “How I Discovered the Truth About Poverty” have a common topic, “poverty”. Moreover, each of these readings has a different perspective with a different agenda attached, but “poverty”
1 in every 30 children are homeless, that is nearly 2.5 million. These children should have an opportunity to go to college and be able to help situations back at home and finish their college to get their degree. This idea of many being homeless expands to be something bigger but being to start off with something as little as giving free college tuition can make a difference . A driver of homelessness is poverty. There is a high poverty rate for single parents struggling with education and unemployment. These children should not be seen for who they are in the temporary living situations but who they will be in the future. With help, the number of homeless children will go down and the number attending college will
Homelessness in the United States has been an important subject that the government needs to turn its attention to. There has been announced in the news that the number of the homeless people in many major cities in the United States has been increasing enormously. According to United States Interagency Council on Homelessness reported that there was an estimation of 83,170 individuals have experienced chronic homelessness on the streets of the United States’ streets and shelters on only a single night of January 2015, which is a small decrease of only 1% from the previous year (People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness, n.d.). The United States must consider this subject that most of the people underestimate it and not pay attention
Have you ever thought about the possibilities of becoming homeless? I think about that almost every day; I try to comprehend and picture in my head the life as someone that lives on or off the streets of New York. New York isn’t one of the cleanest places in the United States, but it sure has one of the highest percentage rates in the U.S. for homeless people. In the 21st century, people raised in the U.S. are not taught about the struggles of homelessness and what they have to go through to survive; most people don’t plan on becoming homeless and became homeless due to the fluctuation in the market and various other problems. Also not only the homeless, but people in depth (people struggling to pay bills or drug addicts) and other people suffering also has to survive.
One of the main causes of poverty is a lack of money. There are some families that do have at least one person employed in the household but the money earned is not enough to provide for the family. Tough decisions such as paying rent buying groceries become a daily challenge for struggling households. Those living in households headed by people with no high school degree are the most likely to enter poverty. Limited options in the job market make it hard for those without degrees the ability to find jobs that will pay above minimum wage. Many Americans earn less than the nation’s median income which hinders most Americans from living a life free of hunger. Children who grow up in poverty suffer more persistent, frequent, and severe health problems than do children who grow up under better financial circumstances. Children of poverty are at an extreme disadvantage and cycle ends up repeating itself until the pattern is somehow
The question “Why is there so much poverty in the United States?” has such a broad spectrum of issues. There is no simple cure or single cause of poverty. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “the 2011 Poverty Guidelines are $10,890 for a single member household and $22,350 for a family of four” (par 13). In addition, “families’ incomes that fall below the threshold given, means that every individual in the household are considered to be in poverty” (par 13). Poverty is too complex an issue to be the result of just one problem, but we can narrow down the subject, to show the effects of how the lack of education can diminish our countries resources and how that has a ripple effect on future generations. Without an education, people receive lower pay; there is an increased rate of crime, and a higher reliance on state and federal aid, which is draining economically.
Education can be somewhat helpful to people headed toward poverty or homelessness. However, new research is showing that education is needed but alone it is simply not enough to help people get jobs and help their situation. Along with their education, the poor need job training in the area of work they are looking towards (Bernstein 1). The training along with the mandatory education helps people excel in something they are good at and improve their job chances. The people who do get their education and job training then run into another roadblock. In the U.S. economy, typically low-wage jobs are more abundant. In fact, the low-wage sector of the economy is the part that is projected to grow the most. In the next ten years, thirty new low-wages jobs are expected to be added to the work force. Of those thirty, half of the new jobs will require very little training (Bernstein 3). This results in a lower quality of work and less pay. Many people on the verge of poverty occupy these low paying job...
One of the main causes of poverty is the lack of education. The U.S. education system denies students in poverty the opportunities and access it affords to most other students. Without good education, most people would encounter challenges in finding income-generating work, especially when there are few employment opportunities during an economic downturn.
There has been a significant increase in homelessness in United States where it is approximated that currently there are over 750,000 men and women who are homeless. In US homelessness is mainly caused by the in ability of people to pay for their housing. This condition is believed to affect people of all ages, races and ethnicity. This essay analysis some of the major causes of homelessness as well its effect. In addition, the essay will also suggest some of the possible measure that can be implemented to help deal with this social problem. However this essay presents a strong argument that the US government should commit efforts toward eradicating this social problem.
Homelessness is a subject that has inspired many to write poems, speeches, and even songs. However, there is more depth to homelessness than just a source for inspiration; this is an ongoing problem for many all over the world. The 40th president to the United States, Ronald Reagan, once said that "what we have found in this country, and maybe we're more aware of it now, is one problem that we've had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless, you might say, by choice."(Reagan). The president's expression is very powerful even today, implying that even in the best of times homelessness is one of the top issues in society. Notice how President Regan cleverly used the wording "by choice" at the end of the sentence, what did he mean to convey by this? Was he implying that those who are homeless are so by choice? Or that many individuals perceived homelessness to be a choice? Perhaps it was a way to raise awareness of the impending problems that can lead an individual to homelessness. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness and the National Coalition for the Homeless, there are three triggering factors that lead to homelessness, lack of affordable housing, unemployment, and health care ("Why Are People Homeless?"). Therefore, when exploring into more depth the determining reasons, considering the key roles that a home, money, and employment play in an individual’s life will facilitate a better understanding of the downward spiral towards homelessness.
Imagine, it’s a frigid winter 's night, people rush around you on the busy sidewalks trying to find the perfect present for that special someone. You, however, are looking for something completely different. Looking for recyclable scraps that litter the street, you hobble around and try to walk off the numbness in your toes. The bustling streets start to empty out as it nears midnight, you too should go home. Therein lies the problem: you don’t have one. Homelessness is becoming a serious global problem. Cities around the world are trying anything they can think of to fix this epidemic, and the first step is to understand the full extent of the situation. The United States has a population of about 300 million people and approximately 650,000 of them are homeless on any given night
Public assistance is a fair and non-discriminating form of assistance offered to whom qualifies for it. The open support is for those who need it, or those who pay taxes for others to apply it to what the individual is in need of. Social Welfare is a disposal program that gives cash, medical insurance, beneficial consideration, provisions, housing, and different things that individuals require so as to endure life disadvantages. Individuals who can get assistance from these welfare projects are children, older folks, disable, and other people who can 't help their families on their current salary. At first it worked primarily to provide federal grants to the states to maintain mothers with dependent children. The program works with individuals
Do the poor in this country have a choice not to be poor? Do the less fortunate have the same access to opportunities as the middle and upper classes? Do government programs designed to help the impoverished actually keep them in the lower ranks? These are all difficult and controversial questions. Conservatives and Liberals constantly battle over these issues in our state and federal governments. Local and national news media provide limited insight to the root causes and effects of the nation’s poor. There is obviously no simple solution to resolve the plight of these often forgotten citizens. Most of us associate poor as being in a class below the poverty line. In fact there are many levels of poverty ranging from those with nothing, to those with enough to survive but too little to move up. I believe many of our nation’s poor are so by their own doing. I will share observations and personal experiences to support the argument that being poor often is a result of individual choice. One needs merely inspiration and perspiration to move up the socio-economic ladder in the United States. We live in the land of opportunity where anyone with the drive and determination to succeed often can.
Those living in poverty have a lack of funds to invest in education, thus their schools lack the material and staff to probably train their students for future success. This lack of education is the root cause of poverty, because those with no education can’t compete for higher paying jobs that require basic understanding in subjects like math, such as being an accountant or bank manager. Their lack of education has limited their job opportunities, therefore limiting them from improving their lifestyle. Furthermore, poverty travels from generation to generation like an endless cycle. Also Children living in poverty have a higher number of absenteeism or leave school all together because they are more likely to have to work or care for family members. In addition, Dropout rates of 16 to 24-years-old students who come from low income families are seven times higher than those from families with higher incomes. Also Less than 30% of students in the bottom quarter of incomes enroll in a 4-year school. Among those less than 50% graduate from college(Dosomething). The lack of education and training for well-paying jobs inhabits these people from ever escaping the cycle of poverty. However, the reason many of these people lack the required education is simply that they can’t afford to attend school or earn a degree. Therefore, this allows them to only have jobs that offer little benefit, and
Poverty is in our own backyard. Poverty isn’t turning around a globe and looking toward third world countries for an example. Poverty is everywhere. Poverty is the children down the street who go to bed hungry each night filled only with emptiness. Poverty is my neighbor who had her heat shut off this past winter. However I believe that poverty is preventable.