Abramsky discussions “welfare, weight loss, and the
invisible working class”. Discussed the War on Poverty in how much money the
country is spending. Abramsky stated that in 2007 $41 billion was spent on
pets. When it came to garden lawns $40 billion was spent. Then 12 billion was
spent on tanning salon. But at the same time there’s a lack of jobs and
homelessness still. It was also stated that the poor tends to lack in political
and then become invisible. Abramsky goes to speak about a lady name Raquel. She
was laid off doing the recession. It is interesting that very large amount of
money is being spent on luxuries things and still cannot afford homes and to
keep helping benefits open. Raquel was qualified for CalWORKs program. She receive
$200 to $317 from the program. But the program was facing budgets and steady
reducing their checks. Raquel had hard times feeding her boys. There was times
they went hungry because there was not enough food. Raquel had many times when
she had to ask the program for box of food. (2013.p. 102-104)
In chapter five “The Wrong Side of The Track” talks
little about education and poverty. Abramsky makes a point about students
living in areas that they have never been to and they live in these areas. At a
school in North Las Vegas many of the students has not been to the Strip that
many people from around the world come visit. They reward students who receives
A’s and take them out on outings. Those who don’t attend school get bad grades and don't get award. Many because they have to help take care of home. Go
home to babysit a young sibling or go work to help the family. With them doing
that they cannot participate in school activities. They also have students who
are homeless. The school send them home with backpacks filled with soap,
deodorant and toilet paper. Those are things they need to keep themselves
together. Many of these students live in these areas their whole life and never
been outside their zone. With that being said it is a lot of things they cannot
relate too. “At school there is only so much kids can learn. What you learn
from most are your experiences.” (2010.p. 148) That is very true because you
can read about a lot of things but experiences are different. Having an
experiences you can never forget what you learned.
Another point
was made about people in their dysfunctional lives. People having these
dysfunctional lives come from being in poverty. Many people families grow up in
poverty and never come out of it. Being in poverty not only have problems
making ends meet but also personal problems. Many people become less of themselves.
Staying in bad situation because they know no better or don’t see it getting
better. A lot of people do what they know and do what’s around them. A lot of
drug use and mental breakdowns happen in poverty. Sometimes society give up on people.
Society don’t have to give up on the can give them the tools to become better. To
help them become from a stereotype.
No comments:
Post a Comment