Teaching Children in Poverty: a child's perspective

After readin Dr. Donna M. Beegle's chapter in See Poverty...Be the Difference, I now realize that my family would have been classified as being in immigrant poverty (37).  Compared to those in generational poverty (35) or even the working poor (36), we had it pretty good.  Though we lived like the working poor while also sustaining ourselves on government aid like the generational poor, we didn't stigmatize ourselves the same way.  This is a HUGE deal.  Because we understood the cause of our poverty, we saw it as something that could be overcome and we believed that education was the key.  Unlike those born into poverty in the United States, we didn't view our poverty as a sign of personal deficiency.  Though being poor made it hard to get through school, school meant everything to my parents.  We learned at a very young age that if we didn't want to continue living on food stamps, we would have to work hard in school, earn good grades, and go to college.  Our mindset empowered us.  Though half of my immediate family would still be considered working poor or illusory middle class (38), we still see an end to the struggle and its usually at the other side of a diploma.  I couldn't imagine being a child of a generational poverty-stricken family.  The hopelessness that those children emanated in their interviews could be crippling to even the brightest student.  As future teachers, it is our responsibility to recognize students in poverty and try to understand their context. 

I can only offer the perspective of one student who was in immigrant poverty growing up.  Like many of the students interviewed in Beegle's chapter, I also dreaded the social aspects of school.  Children obviously knew I was poor because I wore the same ill-fitting clothes all the time and ate free lunches.  For some reason, either the teachers didn't realize I was poor or they didn't understand what that meant.  Like I mentioned in an earlier blog, "picnic days" were a nightmare for me because that meant I would have to bring in scarce food from home or not participate because I only got free lunches in the cafeteria.  With the best of intentions, teachers would have special days where students were asked to bring in items from home like stuffed animals or books.  Often on those days, I brought nothing.  These special days were probably meant to help foster a sense of community in the classroom but it only served to further alienate me from my middle-class peers. 

Classroom holiday celebrations were another source of apprehension for me.  Students would be assigned a treat to bring in to share with the class.  Not ones to say no to a teacher, my parents would send me to school with generic treats bought at discount markets or a poor substitute.  I was mortified when no one would eat it, except for maybe the teacher.  The one time we were asked to do a gift exchange at school, I helped my parents with their sewing work to earn a couple of bucks so that I could buy a pack of baseball cards.  I put the baseball cards in an empty tin I found laying around the house.  All of the gifts were then placed on a table in front of the classroom and children would randomly get picked to go up and choose a gift.  My tin was one of the last two sitting on the table and the boy who ended up with it didn't look exactly thrilled, though he was too nice to say anything. 

When I hear people talking about cool activities that they or their children are doing in school, I often wonder about the poor kids.  Someone had mentioned parents being asked to purchase exercise balls for the third graders to sit on instead of chairs, which is an awesome idea.  However, I couldn't help but think about what we would have done in that situation.  Probably we would have done nothing and eventually my teacher would notice that we never brought in a ball and would find some way to let us borrow one.  Even as I watch my sister spend big bucks on school supplies for her kindergartner, I wonder what the poor kids work with who can't afford the supplies on the list.  We need to think of a way to incorporate cool new ideas into the classroom without alienating the children who come from poor families.  Speaking from experience, it is embarrassing for the child and/or the family to ask for a handout. 

Another thing that teachers sometimes take for granted when working with families in poverty is communication.  Too often, parents in poverty lack literacy or have a major language barrier.  The letters, forms and permission slips sent home with me as a child were often read and translated by an older sibling.  If it was not something important (like information about a book sale fundraiser), then it was up to me to read and comprehend the information.  This lead to a particularly embarrassing incident where I thought that I could purchase a book at the book sale for 99 cents.  Excited to finally participate in something as cool as a book sale, I scraped together 99 cents and proudly offered it to the teacher volunteering as the cashier.  Turns out, the book only cost 99 cents if it was purchased along with another set of books.  I remember the teacher felt so bad for me that she put in the rest of the money herself so I could take the book home.  I felt stupid and ashamed but I couldn't refuse the handout from the teacher. 

How, as teachers, do we approach these issues?  Was it the teacher's fault that I misread the book sale information?  No.  Should the teachers have abstained from asking students to bring special things from home or treats to share?  I don't know.  I don't believe that any of these activities were mandatory, but no one wants to be excluded, especially children.  Perhaps there could be ways to incorporate fun activities at school while still being sensitive to students' economic situations.  I don't expect to come up with the solutions all by myself.  Hopefully together we can discuss ways include everyone in our classroom communities while taking special care to not alienate those who lack sufficient resources.