Poverty

 

Poverty is something a child can unfortunately be subjected to and as future teachers depending on the school district we are most likely going to come in contact with a child who is less fortunate than others. This is a sad reality that comes with being a teacher. The possibility of homeless students is even a possibility which I was surprised to learn about. The challenges these students face is unfair as every child shouldn't have to worry about the next time they are going to eat.

Some more recent challenges homeless students have had to face was online learning during the pandemic. I couldn’t even imagine the challenge that must have been trying to join zoom calls when you probably don’t have enough money for a laptop to join zoom with. Just the fact that it was called “AT HOME LEARNING” and they didn’t even have a home is extremely sad. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to remote and hybrid learning, homeless students faced tremendous challenges as they strove to learn and achieve in school. “As a nation, we must do everything we can to ensure that all students — including students experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity — are able to access an excellent education that opens doors to opportunity and thriving lives,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said (NSBA) 

My reasoning for including that large excerpt is because I believe that paints the picture on how people understand change needs to be done because the current situation is completely unacceptable. 

Ways to limit the challenge poverty has on a child who is trying to receive a proper education is essential. As previously stated no child should be put at a disadvantage simply due to financial situations. That being said as future educators there are certain ideas that we should advocate to make sure every child is treated fairly. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Education program provides multiple great ideas in which the effect of poverty on students is diminished, one of my favorite ideas mentioned is “enroll in school immediately, even if lacking documents normally required for enrollment,   or having missed application or enrollment deadlines during any period of homelessness;” (NYSED). Many homeless Americans lose possession over import documents that would normally be needed to either attend school or get a job, this makes the task of bettering oneself through means of education even harder as the adolescent must hop through hoops to gain admittance to school because they don't have the proper documents. That is why this requirement must be eliminated in the case of homeless students. 

Another main reason why requirements to attend school need to be forgotten about is because most homeless children are not thinking about school as their main priority, they are most likely focused on money and where their next meal is coming from. By having all these intense requirements it deters the child from even trying to become educated, as they will most likely see it as a waste of time.

The Homestretch was a powerful documentary that follows the life of 3 homeless high school students from Chicago that are trying to graduate and better their lives. The challenge of being on your own and having to make the most out of such a sad situation is what is so powerful about the story of these 3 students. They were explaining how they have to be their own parents, due to them shouldering all the responsibility and not having parents to support them as they go through high school. At the beginning of the documentary we see how one of the students has one of his teachers practically taking care of him. Mrs.Rivera lets Roque sleep at her house and helps him with homework. This might be one of the most selfless actions I have ever seen and it is so heartwarming to see. It’s great to see a teacher taking on so much responsibility just to see a student succeed. While I do not expect every teacher to do something like this, we should try to do smaller gestures such as reaching out to students, making sure we are there for them, and any other supportive gestures that can help them.

The fact that it is also harder to make money as an adolescent is a fact that needs to be considered. Without a proper education and experience it makes it so that children have to take extremely low paying jobs. Minimum wage jobs are not enough to get a child off the streets. “Poverty rates for people under the age of 18 increased from 14.4 percent in 2019 to 16.1 percent in 2020” (Shrider 2021) this fact can be looked at and prove that adolescents are making inconsequential money and therefore homeless students can not survive off this.

All in all we see the challenges that homeless and poverty stricken students face and that we as future educators need to take it upon ourselves to try and make the best situation possible for them.

 

References

Cai, J. (2020, July 27). Homeless Students in Public Schools Across America: Down but Not Out

Links to an external site.

. National School Boards Association. https://www.nsba.org/Perspectives/2021/homeless-students

De Mare, A., Kelly, K., & Taber, K. (Producers), & De Mare, A., & Kelly, K. (Directors). (2014). The homestretch [Streaming video]. United States: Bullfrog Films.

Mc-Kinney Vento Homeless Education. (2021). New York State Education Department. http://www.nysed.gov/essa/mckinney-vento-homeless-education

Shrider, Emily A., et al. “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020.” The United States Census Bureau, United States Census Bureau, 14 Sept. 2021, www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.html.