Poverty and Education



The one stressor that continually shows itself strong in our country and many others is the 'war on poverty'. As stated many times before being a public school, kindergarten teacher, I know how much poverty affects children and families. I have been teaching ESL (English as a second language) for 4 years now, and have come to find out that poverty speaks the same language. Many of my students have been brought over by American missionaries from countries such as: Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya, Cambodia, Iraq, Iran, etc...Children from these countries have feelings of shame, guilt and overall fear. One boy in particular that is from Sudan, has a difficult time fitting in to the "American Culture". I have discovered that he is often hungry and lacks the necessary uniform requirements of the district. I know that before this child can learn, he must receive proper nutrition and maintain a healthy self-image. His days at school should not be filled with ridicule and distraction. It is my job as an educator to ensure that they feel valued and receive a fair and credible education.

While researching poverty and other countries, I stumbled upon an article that discusses how children brought up in poverty are more prone to engage in acts of Terrorism. Researchers conclude the solution to this growing problem is to up federal funding given to countries' stricken by poverty. This increase in funding will give law enforcement more money to fight crime and increase wages. The article states, "In our view, alleviating poverty is reason enough to pressure economically advanced is countries to provide more aid than they are currently giving" (Education, Poverty and Terrorism: Is There a Casual Connection, 2002). Many countries affected by this poverty and terrorism are countries such as Hezbollah, Lebanon and many countries embedded in the Middle East.

I attributed this problem that foreign countries are experiencing to that of the correlation between violence and poverty in the U.S. Education is the border that divides success and failure. In the article, Poverty and Education researchers attribute the poverty in the U.S. to that of the "Urban Flight". Many urban/metropolitan schools are suffering because of the flight of people along with the flight of funds.

This problem of poverty is a growing phenomena and takes much problem solving to dissolve. The children are the people that suffer the most. Authors of the article, Poverty and Education state that, "Without a significant shift in how schools are funded, and changes are made in the accountability of schools, urban schools will constantly face additional cuts in resources, forcing cuts in programs in order to balance an already delicate budget" (Poverty and Education, 2007).


Maleckova, J., & Krueger, A.B. (2002). Education, Poverty and Terrorism: Is there a Casual Connection? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 17, (4), 119-144. Retrieved from: http://www.krueger.princeton.edu/terrorism2.pdf

Hightower, L. (2007). Poverty and Education. Race and Poverty in Education, 2(10). Retrieved from: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/colleagues/vol2/iss2/10