Friday, November 20, 2009
Age and Poverty
According to Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society, 18% of children in the United States were living in poverty as of 2007. This is such a sad statistic due to the fact that children do not play a role in determining their financial well being. Therefore, age directly impacts education in the realm of poverty. Children living in poverty bring a lot of baggage with them into the classroom. The problems stem from hunger to lack of sleep, stress from family problems and low self-esteem from not having as many material things as other students. We all learned in our undergrad that Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs must be met inorder for a persons brain to focus on learning. Unfortunately, children in poverty are not getting their needs met and this poses major challenges for educators. It can be very hard to focus and motivate children coming from poverty because they may see no positive outlook on their future. The biggest concern for these children may be going home after school and getting to work in order to help supplement the family's income. How could they possibly have time for homework or keep themselves awake in the classroom? Educators need to know their students and have compassion on their situations.
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2 comments:
Your post goes right along with the report I'm writing on the topic of how giving homework puts students in poverty at a disadvantage. I never really thought about it until taking this class, and I have to say my opinions about homework have changed drastically.
I can say from personal experience that giving more than a light amount of homework puts children at risk of "paying" for their situation that they have no control over. I know that in my own very stressful and overwhelming situation as a single mom of two and being a laid off teacher makes it very hard for me to find time and energy to do more than the "basics" after I get home from my tutoring job and home instruction students. When my sons bring home homework that I am supposed to have a "hand" in, I get a little frustrated because I feel like I have been given the homework too - and I am NOT in my sons' class!! Some educators (myself included, long ago) feel that giving the homework or the instructions for parents to help or read or sign or whatever MAKES the parents more involved with their child's education. But I feel that it really just punishes the students who have parents who are overwhelmed or may not be involbed for a myriad of reasons (good or bad) and having the child's grade or points suffer because of this is just ludicrous.
Do I sign and read and help with my sons' homework? Yes, and then I continue doing all of the other things I was doing anyway for them in terms of cooking, cleaning, working, scrimping and saving, etc. The homework does not make me more involved, I already am involved. It just adds one more thing to what I have to do that day.
One more thought..do I think that children, poverty-stricken or not, should have some homework. Yes, a small amount, occasionally, that is meaningful and is not dependent on any other adult to get it done. It also cannot depend on a ride to the library, internet connection or telephone.
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