Were you raised in poverty?

If you were raised in poverty, tell us your story! Let's share experiences here that will help us all broaden our perspectives! Thanks. Leecy

Leecy Wise, Moderator, Reading and Writing, and Diversity and Literacy CoPs
leecy@reconnectioncompany.com

 

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Are you ready to participate in a dialogue? Please contribute your views. We need your voice in this small professional community of like minds and interests! Let's talk! Let's learn together!

Re-evaluating the “Culture of Poverty”, byStephen Suh and Kia Heise Roundtable October 14, 2014 - 'Despite its great wealth, the United States has long struggled with poverty. One popular theory for the paradox suggests that a “culture of poverty” prevents the poor from economic betterment despite social programs designed to assist them. The phrase was originally coined by Oscar Lewis, who believed that children growing up in poor families would learn to adapt to the values and norms that perpetuated poverty. The children would replicate these in their own lives, creating a cycle of intergenerational poverty. It wasn’t until Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s infamous 1965 study on the black American family (often dubbed “The Moynihan Report”) that the “culture of poverty” idea set off a firestorm.' https://thesocietypages.org/roundtables/culture-of-poverty/

 Leecy

Leecy Wise, Moderator, Diversity and Literacy CoP
leecy@reconnectioncompany.com

As a counter point for this discussion, I would also suggest reading the following blog post. "It’s not fair to say the poor aren’t holding up their end of the social contract when almost two-thirds of employable poor people work and over 40 percent work full time (and their incomes have become more and more dependent upon wages over time). The truth is that the economy the poor are working in—an economy which has grown more and more unequal over the last several decades—has made it harder and harder for them to get by."

By accepting the idea that families adjust their cultural norms because they are poor and they accept a culture of poverty is slightly misleading. There is a documentary on HBO called American Winter. Maybe these perspectives can be integrated into the larger conversation? 

 

 

Many of us have heard, or been trained in the Culture of Poverty and the hiddent rules of different classes laid out by Ruby Pain. I worry that much of our narratives about working with poverty is shaped, at least in some part, but this work over the last 20 years. http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-52-spring-2016/feature/questioning-payne

So, I guess my question would be, How much impact does this training still have on how we approach working with individuals in poverty?

 

Hi, Kathy and Leecy -

You may already be following the legislative movement towards requiring welfare applicants to be screened for drug use and then required to submit urine samples when screening results raise suspicion.  This article from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) highlights West Virginia lawmakers movement to legislate drug testing.  According to CLASP, "Civil liberties advocates say this kind of legislation perpetuates harmful stereotypes about poor people".

I'm curious about your thoughts - and others - on this broader movement to link drug testing to publicly-supported benefits?

Best,

Mike Cruse

Career Pathways and Disabilities in Adult Education Moderator

michaelcruse74@gmail.com

Mike, I hope there are more comments shared here relating to the article you shared.

Does such legislation discriminate against the poor? Does Gov. Tomblin's argument, "Our concentration has been more on helping people get the services they need if they're addicted to drugs," reflect the real intent of the legislation?

What do community members here think? Leecy

Kathy and Mike, I don't want this dialogue to disappear. There are so many issues that deserve a lot of attention from those of us who work with people in poverty!

Ruby Pain's work,  A Framework for Understanding Poverty, is worth reviewing, Kathy. I consider some of her advocated practices as benefiting all students:

  • • Holding all students to high expectations
  • • Finding and focusing on students’ cultural assets rather than their perceived deficits
  • • Providing curricular “mirrors” so students can see themselves in classroom materials
  • • Getting to know students’ families and communities and acknowledging the multiple facets of their identities
  • • Allowing space for students to share narratives about their lives and hear or read narratives about the lives of others
  • • Encouraging educators to continually examine their own power, privilege and bias—and to include discussions of power, privilege and bias in their teaching.

The article cites good arguments against Pain's foundational practices, but a person commenting on the article wise noted, as follows:

Submitted by KathySkidmore on 16 March 2016 - 7:36pm: "While I agree with many of your criticisms, I still believe that the ideas proposed by "Understanding Poverty" have much to offer. Most teachers in my experience have little or no understanding of what it means to be disadvantaged, or generationally poor, and Ruby Payne's assertions, while admitedly general, at least open up a dialogue."   I hope we open an dialogue here. Let's keep it going! What other views are lurking out there? Please share! Leecy