CHAPTER 4: CHARACTERISTICS OF GENERATIONAL POVERTY

By: Christina Svenjak

GENERATIONAL POVERTY VS. SITUATIONAL POVERTY

Generational Situational

Been in poverty for at least 2 generations Own culture, hidden rules, belief systems Attitude of society owing them a living

Lack of resources due to an event (death, illness, divorce) Attitude of pride or refusing to accept situation

CASE STUDY: WALTER

Expert page 48: Anyway, he puts those on and then carries Susie to his room and tells her she wants him and describes all his sex-u-al exploits!! Golly, he must be a loooooooooover. (laughter) He should be shot. Id kill him if he did that to my kid!! Then he lets his fingers do the walking. Kinda like the Yellow Pages! (laughter). What was your reaction to this? Why? How would middle class people tell a similar story? Matriarchal society, all powerful mother Entertainment value

FAMILY PATTERNS

No legal documents, common-law marriages/divorces Mother is the center, males are not constants Relationships can get intertwined

INCONSISTENCIES FOR CHILDREN

Excerpt page 57: Who children go to stay with after school, who stays with whom when there is trouble, and who is available to deal with school issues are dependent on the current alliances and relationships at that momentNow it is Monday and Susan doesnt have any place to send the kids. So she tells them to go to her mothers house after school, which means they must go on a different busBut on Wednesday Neds mom calls Susan and tells her that no-good Ned got drunk last night and she kicked him out of her house How does this effect the children? What can we as educators do to help?

SURFACING CHARACTERISTICS AT SCHOOL

Students from generational poverty Are very disorganized, lose papers, dont have signatures Physically aggressive Like to entertain Only do part of the assignment Laugh when they are disciplined Tell stories in casual register Dislike authority Talk back and participate

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US AS EDUCATORS?

Education gets and keeps students out of poverty Other options besides poverty School can teach children middle class ways