Poverty and Race in America Term Paper

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The paper looked at other possible explanations, such as teacher experience, but found little correlation (Mitchell, 2001).

In the weakest schools, 81% of the students qualified for free or reduced-price lunches. In the schools rated highest, only 3 1/2% of students qualified for such programs. In addition, school ratings dropped in direct proportion to the rise in number of students receiving subsidized lunches. The paper used subsidized lunches as one indication of the economic status of the students' families (Mitchell, 2001). Overall, among schools where 75% or more of the students were part of the subsidized lunch program, only four schools were rated "average." All others scored "low," or "unsatisfactory," and none were considered to be doing a better-than-average job of educating students (Mitchell, 2001). These schools also had largely minority student populations: about 20% were black, 68% were Hispanic, while 1% were Asian and 8% white, thus tying both race and poverty to the poor school showings.

Writers talk about a "culture of poverty" or "underclass" to describe people who seem unable to break out of their poverty-stricken circumstances. Researchers describe them as "completely demoralized and declassed by their experiences at the very bottom of the economic ladder" (Bush, 2003). Surrounded by poor schools, having received an inadequate education themselves and with no real prospects for an any kind of job that could elevate their financial circumstances, such a feeling of defeat is understandable.

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But is there a solution?

The National League of Cities (NLC) examined urban poor areas and noticed that economic development programs might play a significant role in breaking this cycle of poverty (Furdell, 1993). They surveyed leaders in 188 cities across the country and found that while economic development often focuses on job creation and improvement of the cities' tax base, often these programs also eased poverty. Because of this finding, the NLC made specific suggestions. They recommend that the leadership of cities focus on economic development and urban poverty together. They recommended training and ongoing discussions for city officials at such events as the NLC's national conferences. They suggested that the NLC make technical assistance available to cities both to build teams and for problem-solving. They recommended continued study of how economic development can be used to ease poverty, along with ongoing study of how such programs work, and a national symposium on Urban Poverty, Economic Development, and Cities to determine how such plans could best be used (Furdell, 1993).

It seems unlikely that such programs can eliminate poverty entirely, but they would be steps in the right direction......

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