I’ve taken a few justice classes in the past where we examine poverty and homelessness and even as a college student I had no idea what it was really all about. All I thought about was homeless people and people who were living on the streets, never did I really think people who worked a full time job or owned a house could be in poverty. When I was younger I would see the people working at Walmart or Target and I thought, hey they have a job they must be doing good, and as I come to find out that’s not always the case. I’ve learned myself that even though I have a full time job, a house and a car I’m not too far away from being classified as living in poverty.
What I have taken away from all of these videos and stories is education. In the video, Born with a Wooden Spoon: Welcome to Poverty U.S.A., most the people on the video are talking about how it’s hard to get a job because you now need a college degree. One of the older men said that to get a job now he has to fill out a slip (job application) but, because he can’t read or write he can’t fill it out. Another example of education from the other film Through a Child's Eyes: Views of Global Poverty, most of the interviewed parents express how they want their kids to go to school and gain an better life then the ones they have now. This just shows how education is important to people and how they see themselves on progressing in the world.
What I did seem to find interesting is how the kids acted in Through a Child's Eyes: Views of Global Poverty, out of all the kids they interviewed only one kid was ashamed of how they were living. For the most part they all seemed happy or didn’t complain about their lifestyle. It just kind of interested me because I grew up in a rich area of Scottsdale Arizona before I moved away and all the rich kids would complain all the time. They would complain that they never had enough, parents forced them to do chores etc. Maybe it’s just the culture but that was something I noticed. I also noticed a strong connection to family. In the film Born with a Wooden Spoon: Welcome to Poverty U.S.A., one of the young adults they interviewed was working in a factory and making a decent living but dropped everything to help out his family. Now he’s unemployed and living at home but he seemed happy to help his parents out because he stated “it’s his only family and parents he’s got.” Even in the other video just the watching the kids help their parents with the chores so it will lessen the burden on the parents just shows me the respect these kids have for their parents.
The only difference I saw between the people in poverty around the world compared to the people in the United States is how the money would be used. As stated in the video Born with a Wooden Spoon: Welcome to Poverty U.S.A., When people in poverty get money they would typically spend it on entertainment instead of getting out of debt or pay the bills. While Through a Child's Eyes: Views of Global Poverty when asked what would they do if they had money minus one girl, most wanted the essentials to live, such as food, water, clothing, electricity, shelter etc.
In today’s economic state the risk of people falling under the poverty line is becoming more and more of a reality. One of the few key factors is education. The job market is becoming more and more competitive as more and more jobs are becoming scarce. It’s slowly becoming a necessity to get your college degree just to work as a cashier at the local supermarket. Unfortunately, with the rising cost in education and the fact teachers salaries are being cut due to budget cuts, people are being left behind causing them to fall into poverty and forgotten about. Programs need to be enstated to help people who want to learn and better themselves to go to college and help break out of the life of poverty. These lids need to be taught that they can be what they want to be and not just that they are always going to be poor.
