Culture, Poverty, and Education

What's Happening in Today's Schools?

By (author) Michele Wages

Publication date:

30 October 2015

Length of book:

78 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781475820119

Most changes in education—including the rise of standardized testing, holding teachers accountable for their students’ academic performance, and rewriting math and reading standards—don’t address poverty. Understanding the relationship between poverty, class, and education for decades has been framed through studies on the behavior and culture of poor students and their families. Educators are caught up in the history of classism and are often guilty of buying into the mindset—including the implementation of activities and strategies for working with ‘parents’ in poverty or ‘students’ in poverty—that leads them to believe in the need to ‘fix’ the poor instead of eliminating the inequities that oppress them. So it is not just one or the other; nature or nurture, poor or not poor. Poverty is a potential outcome for all of us. Culture, Poverty, and Education: What’s Happening in Today’s Schools? is intended to not only discuss 5 myths about the culture of poverty and its effects on education, but provide some resources on alternatives for educator’s to better address this growing barrier to student achievement in today’s schools.

INTRODUCTION
PREFACE
CHAPTER 1:THREE THEORETICAL MODELS ON THE
CULTURE OF POVERTY
CHAPTER 2: POOR PEOPLE ARE UNMOTIVATED AND HAVE
WEAK WORK ETHIC?
CHAPTER 3:POOR PARENTS ARE UNINVOLVED IN THEIR
CHILDREN’S LEARNING?
CHAPTER 4:POOR PEOPLE ARE LINGUISTICALLY DEFICIENT?
CHAPTER 5: POOR PEOPLE TEND TO ABUSE DRUGS AND ALCOHOL?
CHAPTER 6:POVERTY HAS LITTLE LASTING IMPACT ON CHILDREN?
CHAPTER 7:THE EFFECTS OF POVERTY ON THE BRAIN
CHAPTER 8:THE CULTURE OF CLASSISM
CHAPTER 9:STORIES OF POVERTY
CHAPTER 10:TODAY’S EDUCATOR
TERMS
REFERENCES

Wow! This is an eye opening book. By using the stereotypes we have all heard about the impoverished, Dr. Wages provides a new perspective and way of thinking about teaching students in poverty. I discovered that I truly was always wanting to fix the children and their way of life. Within the pages of this book however, I now know that my focus should be in embracing their strengths and targeting in on nurturing them to become successful decision makers.