Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Lovie Luckie
Professor Vyvial
English 1302
April 17, 2017
Poverty in America
If you would like to better understand the U.S. economy, try looking deeper into our
poverty rate. According to recent data and statistics posted by the U.S. Census Bureau,
approximately 43.1 million which translates to 13.5% of Americans live in poverty. (Proctor, et
al) When posed with the question of what exactly is poverty, you will get a few explanations.
Some individuals describe poverty as the state of being extremely poor, while others feel it is the
inability to maintain the basic necessities in life such as food, clothing, and shelter. Either way
you view poverty, there has been several debates about the opportunity gap, the direct effects on
children, and whether raising the minimum wage would ease the burden.
There are great disparities between income levels of the rich and poor. While the rich are
continuously advancing, the poor has become poorer, all while the middle-class carries the
weight of stabilizing the economy. Understanding the causes and effects could be the first step in
offering solutions to significantly minimize the number of individuals affected by poverty, but
this is something that many believe will never happen. This claim may be the case, but do those
individuals stricken by poverty deserve anything less than what America, the land of opportunity
offers?
Robert Putnam, a Harvard political scientist, warns of several reasons why poverty exists
in an article, The Terrible Loneliness of Growing Up Poor In Robert Putnams America. The
basis for this article originated from his two books Our Kids and Bowling Alone, where he
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discusses the opportunity gap[s] and the long-term effects on our society. It starts off speaking
of the opportunities that exists between educated people with something as simple as hearing a
nighttime story versus children growing up in poverty never having that experience. Putnams
research revealed when individuals grow up in single parent households, they decided not to
pursue any formal education beyond high school. Further, he noticed a decline of involved
individuals like those volunteering in the PTA, and spoke of Americans withdrawing from each
other and civil life. As a result of the withdrawal, children have less mentors or positive role
models to follow. He mentioned that children were able to count on their teachers in the past, but
this is no longer the case. Sadly, that more and more children are navigating through life
without coaches, pastors, tutors, friends parents, counselors, neighbors, community groups,
parents co-works and family friends (Badger) causing them to feel lonely and abandoned.
Fig. 1
to seek medical care or receive substandard care. The effects of not getting proper medical
treatment causes children to sometimes miss more school because of their illnesses. Further,
lack of medical treatment causes infants to be born with problems such as low birth weights
which is linked to several mental and physical disabilities. Mental illness is another area of
concern when understanding how poverty affects children. Parents of these children suffer more
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stress from everyday issues such as depression, joblessness and eviction. Having more stress
because of financial uncertainties, children suffer more physical and mental abuse at the hands of
their parents. Not only is physical and mental illness a concern, think of the increasing amounts
of homeless children. Poor nutrition is their focus compared to those living in homes.
Lastly, some experts believe that the solution to poverty is to raise the minimum wage
rate. On the other hand, some people actual show that their research evidences no difference or
President Obama was making this an area of discussion and even made the statement that
we should all be concerned. He said, But the idea that a child may never be able to escape that
poverty because she lacks a decent education or health care, or a community that views her
Works Cited
Badger, Emily. "The Terrible Loneliness of Growing up Poor in Robert Putnams America." The
Bernadette D. Proctor, Jessica L. Semega, Melissa A. Kollar. "Library." Income and Poverty in
the United States: 2015. U. S. Census Bureau, 13 Sept. 2016. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.