Why?
Initially I said that I think people are poor because of alcohol/drug abuse and the lack of sufficient jobs. On the chart, 'Potential Causes of Poverty,' low paying jobs is listed, but alcohol/drug abuse is not.
I am shocked that alcohol/drug abuse is not listed because its impossible to support your self or any sort of family if you are addicted to drugs/alcohol. Instead of buying your kids food, you buy yourself a bottle of vodka or some cocaine.
I am not shocked that low wage jobs is a cause of poverty. In 1997, 37% of poor families had a member working full time and 35% had a member working part-time. How is it that a person working a full time job (40 hours a week) cannot keep his/her family out of poverty. That makes me wonder why the government does not recognize this and try to raise minimum wage so hard working people can provide their families with sufficient food, clothing, and housing. The possible solutions listed on the PowerPoint make perfect sense to me. If there was a way to distribute income equally among all classes there wouldn't be such a large gap between rich and poor.
Something that I did not list in my original blog about causes of poverty is education. It was found that a person without a high school degree has a 22.3% chance of being poor compared to a person with a degree, 9.6%. This definitely makes me realize that education is important and living without a high school degree can be difficult and unnecessary. I do not understand why a person would drop out of school for any reason. If it is proven that someone without a high school degree has a higher chance of slipping into poverty, it should make kids want to graduate. There are programs in America for high school moms so that's not a reason to drop out.
The gov't doesnt realize this because they are too busy fighting wars overseas. And I believe in order for a person to reach poverty b/c of being alcoholics/druggies, they need to have the money to actually buy these things so It's not necessarily the cause of poverty but one that can eventually make you poor...
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the issue of low wages as a cause leading to poverty. Excellent point!
ReplyDeleteI also see Education as a key to success in life or helping to reduce the chances of a person falling into poverty, but we must also understand that there are various reasons children drop out of school. The family structure plays a big part in the child staying in school. If the mother is working and the older child has to stay home to take care of the younger the sibling(s), this can lead to dropping out of school. Another reason could be that the mother is not communicating with the school to check on the child's progress in school. This can also lead to the child not attending classes and dropping out. We must always consider various factors that could lead to why the child drops out and not think that it is always the child's fault. Guidance and involvement from the parent are very important elements to keeping a child in school. I would like to see more Government funding for programs that help to keep children in school and parenting skills.