Teaching with Poverty in Mind - Chapters 1 & 2

The one thing I really ponder is the stats from our school.  Twenty-five to thirty percent of the student population is categorized as poverty level; however, only 43% of these students are currently on the radar reports.  So, we should be asking what is working and keeping the other 57% off these reports. Why are they succeeding while others are not?  Is there a strategy, support system, or attitude that can be provided to those that are not succeeding?  How and why are 57% of these students successful?

There is nothing that says a student who is living in poverty doesn't want to learn.  These students have to overcome enormous disadvantages.  Many suffer from medical conditions simply for lack of adequate health care or a means to pay for health care.  Their living conditions are often very substandard.  These students may go without adequate nutrition, a warm place to stay, or a safe place to play.   Unlike their counter parts - middle and upper class students - these students arrive at school with a desire to make life better, but have so many basic life needs unmet that they must deal with first.  So when we see these students reluctant to engage or appear to be distrusting of our intentions, it is not for a lack of value for education, but rather from repeated failure or a true feeling of hopelessness. As educators, we should be working at leveling the playing field and equalizing the inequalities with tolerance and empathy.

 There are a few slides in Mr. McNeff’s slide presentation, found on his Twitter feed, that we did not get to in class. One in particular one that strikes me is entitled “Parent Lottery.” I have come to know this as the “Ovarian Lottery.”  Warren Buffet coined this term as a response to a question regarding birth and what kind of world would he want to live in.  Buffet (2013) responded,  “One catch — just before you emerge you have to go through a huge bucket with 7 billion slips, one for each human. Dip your hand in and that is what you get — you could be born intelligent or not intelligent, born healthy or disabled, born black or white, born in the US or in Bangladesh, etc. You have no idea which slip you will get. Not knowing which slip you are going to get, how would you design the world?” Not all students are lucky in the ovarian lottery, but as educators, we can provide these students with the skills and the knowledge they need to overcome the adversity they face due to the luck of the draw.