See, that’s something I have a problem with, in theory you are right, in theory poor people could send their kids to better schools than they do.
But they don’t.
So this means, they must not want to
It doesn’t follow, you think you are saying that poor people choose to not send their kids to a good school when they have that choice, but you are actually saying that poor people choose to send their kids to bad schools. Ostensibly so they can continue being poor.
Maybe there is a hidden assumption there, and it isn’t that poor people don’t want to move up, that’s your conclusion. Or maybe it is, think about it.
A box of 10 Trojans at Walgreens - $15
So that’s sex 10 times, at most, because one might break.
A month of birth control pills under Obamacare or from PP with proof of economic need - free.
BUT, you have to have a prescription, and a pap smear to get that prescription if you’re sexually active or over the age of 20. Which you’d need to get to PP to get.
Now if you’re a married man, which would you prefer your wife to have?
I lurve John Cheese, this article about how being poor messes with your brain is amazeballs. I grew up pretty poor and most of these are right on target.
A very interesting read. Nothing has ever quite reinforced to this degree that poverty is a mindset; one created through poor education.
Poverty is bleak and cuts off your long-term brain.
That story makes this very clear. They are not lazy by any stretch of the imagination, but inefficient: bad decisions and self-victimization perpetuates their poverty.
Here in Canada I know people 35+ who were poor, homeless, heavily addicted drug users living in the “poorest area code in the country” and were able to turn their life around. I’m grateful to live in a country where condoms can be free, I could put myself comfortably through school on government loans, and the opportunistic can find great opportunities in trades (that in fact earn more money than I do after a university degree and 7 years of experience in my field).
At least, until our current government determined to re-create the American system hierarchy here succeeds.
as a person who clawed his way out of poverty to comfort, i could be critical. but fundamentally no one deserves the challenges she is experiencing for any reason. the lack of safety nets and programs to help oneself get on their feet is embarrassing. not quite as embarrassing as the individuals bellowing, “not with my tax dollars!!!”, but still deeply embarrassing.
The only part of that I disagree with is that fresh food does not take an insanely long time to prepare. Sure, when compared to 6 minutes in the microwave it’s a long time, but in comparison to your entire day, it’s really not that bad.
Well, actually poverty is not a state of mind, its actually not having enough money to eat and pay the bills.
But It does trap you in a certain state of mind.
Its a crucial distinction I think, isn’t it?
Does being poor make you “mentally poor”? or does being “mentally poor” make you “poor poor”?
In one of these cases you deserve it.
Ok, but do you have kids and work two jobs? Cuz she does. She says she has 1/2 and hour in-between jobs. That is not enough time to make food from scratch. Even if you are using a rice cooker. (Which I love, btw, best thing ever!)
Everyone will have access to free healthcare and meaningful work in my Communist utopia. Please join me! The poor and middle-class are welcome. The rich will be shot.
There’s no doubt this is a touchy subject for the readers of bb. Poverty is nasty business, people treats the subject in the same way they treat their own mortality, they simply don’t like to think too much about.
I understand and I sympathize. I was a latchkey kid, and my mom’s solution was to have me do food prep before she came home. I don’t know how old her kids are though, so that’s a tough call.
But rice cookers have timers and a “warm” function! When I was working --two jobs, mind you – I could set the cooker and take a shower and get ready for work while the cooker did its thing. If that’s not enough time, set the timer for later like a crockpot. They’re not pressure cookers, and won’t explode and burn down the house. This I learned from my two Japanese roommates in college.
Eventually, I think my solution to Big Corporate overstepping its bounds will be to disconnect from the whole thing and start putting my energy into growing my own food instead of working so hard to buy food that isn’t worth the “life” cost to obtain. I don’t live in a big city, so I’m not sure…do people still do the “community” or “victory” garden thing anymore?
She explains that it’s not just about buying and cooking the food. It also means dirtying dishes and the kitchen. When you’re already in a state of desperate exhaustion, cooking and doing dishes are just another bite at your failing energies. It’s easier to grab food that’s already made and that also won’t require you much cleaning besides taking out garbage. It is an actual source of comfort that is extremely tiny, fleeting and scarce for someone in her situation. So she grabs it. Even though I’m utterly passionate about eating properly, and I know it can be done efficiently, I can completely understand that drive. It’s choosing your battles among so many.
[quote=“tachin1, post:61, topic:14733”]
you think you are saying that poor people choose to not send their kids to a good school when they have that choice, but you are actually saying that poor people choose to send their kids to bad schools. Ostensibly so they can continue being poor. Maybe there is a hidden assumption there.[/quote]
There are definitely poor people who send their kids to the wealthier schools. It’s not like the wealthier schools have exclusively wealthy populations (I believe they’re all still in the 30-50% free lunch range, but there’s a big difference between 50% and 95%). And I’m sure there are some kids in the poorer schools whose parents wanted them to go to the wealthier schools, but they didn’t get a seat (if a school is oversubscribed, there is a lottery). Like I said before, poorer families don’t necessarily have the same options as the privileged families to seek out alternatives if they don’t land their first choice school.
But there clearly are LOTS of poor parents who are not ranking the higher-performing, wealthier, more program-rich schools as their top choices when they fill out the application form. The reasons for that are complex. I certainly don’t think it’s because those parents consciously want to remain poor. A few may not know about the differences between the schools, or may not understand the potential benefits of going to a “better” school. Most probably prioritize geography (which school is closest to their home), community (where do their neighbors’ kids go, or where did they go when they were kids), fitting in (fearing their kids will be ignored in a school with lots of of privileged kids, or not wanting to be asked for PTA donations that they can’t afford), or something like that. At the end of the day, however, they ARE choosing a path that seems (at least from my white, wealthy, elite-educated perspective) a lot less likely to lift their kids up and out of poverty. I’m not saying we shouldn’t do everything we can to support the poorer schools. I’m not saying we should write those people off as bad parents or punish them for refusing to play the game using the strategy I favor. But I am saying that privilege alone doesn’t explain the cycle of poverty.
I often think that one of the best decisions I made was to do a stint in the USAF. I wasn’t peering forward into a time where I would have diabetes and other health issues and my care would be covered through the VA, but that does seem to be the future I’ve found.
(Yeah, I also often think that I really should have done this college thing when I got out of high school and had a lot more energy than I do now, but that was part of being young and stupid, wasn’t it? Anyway, for some reason, they didn’t have a lot of web design classes back in 1988 …)
All you need (or should use, because of the non-stick interior) to clean a rice cooker is a wet paper towel, but yeah, cleaning a dinner plate is technically more work than throwing out a microwaveable one. This is where the syndrome John Cheese describes comes into play. It’s a circular argument.
You got yerself a fancy ricecooker! Mine has an On switch. That’s it. When it’s done it’ll switch to warm until I unplug it to keep the rice from drying out. (Yes, I’ve had mine since the early 90s, it works, I don’t need no fancy new one!) on my list for xmas this is a slow cooker so I can do dried bean things without burning all my pots.
I too was a latch key kid. I didn’t do the prep so much as just start cooking, Mom was a terrible cook. My brothers and I all learned how to cook early out of self defence.
I have no idea where you’re going with Big Corp overstepping it’s bounds in the context of the conversation at hand…?
But yes, many neighbourhoods here in Toronto have community gardens, owned by the city, that you can sign up for. I lucky enough to have two veggie plots in my back yard, mainly tomatoes and beans and herbs, cuz they don’t need much work. But I’ve done brussel sprouts, leafy things, weird climbing “asparagus pea” (very weird, tasty but weird) and a mutant squash/zuccini thing that tried to strangle everything else out. Lesson: tiny plots will not grow corn, don’t try. And the amount of water/effort to get a very small amount of food is almost not worth it, but it is very very fun and calming, so I do recommend it.
I hope your words about early childhood don’t get lost in the shuffle here. I’m baised working for an ECE non-profit, but this is such a huge hole in our prioritization in the US. James Heckman does some pretty great work making the case, economically. If we are to have two parents working, good early childcare is needed. If we are to raise people out of poverty, and help young children develop the skills, soft and hard, to success, good, universal early childhood is needed. A lot of the mental and emotional stress discussed in this article gets compounded across generations, and good early experiences can combat this.
She talks about how poor people can’t think long term, but anyone - politician, voter, PAC, rich, middle, poor - who doesn’t believe in committing serious thought, energy and taxpayer dollars toward the uniquely transformative power of good, universal early care and education is having the exact same problem.
