The History of Urban Poverty

What used to attract blacks to the Urban city lifestyle? Jobs and affordable housing. During the Great Migration that "occurred between 1910 and 1970, 6 millions black moved out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West." When this migration occurred, it was inevitable that urban poverty was bound to happened.

Great Migration

Living in a world where there are billions and billions of people, everyone needs a job to provide for their family. Money is the key motivation on why people are willing to work extreme hours just to get a source of income. Therefore, once the blacks were driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregationist laws, of course the blacks want to travel to urban areas to take advantage of economic opportunities.

More economic opportunities became available since World War 1 has occurred at 1919. It consisted of the Allied powers, which were those countries allied in opposition to the Central Powers. Central powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey. Then, the allied powers were Great Britain, France, and the Russian Empire. Because of this war, the need for industrial workers were needed in urban areas. That is why more blacks were actually welcomed in the North to take advantage of these jobs opportunities. However, we all know that when it comes to jobs, that is already limited.

Stock Market Crash

The stock market crash of 1921 occurred making the Great Depression inevitable. Because of this, jobs were limited and people were desperately trying to find a source of income. So, by having 6 million blacks move to a competitive environment for jobs, it was very obvious urban poverty was bound to occur.

Now that we understand a little bit more on how urban poverty has originated in some sort of manner, now we can talk about 2016. 2016 is the year Barrack Obama is now leaving office and a new president is going to become elected. When people vote, the people need to chose the right person to represent their interests and values. Specifically, blacks that live in urban poverty need to vote on a president that will help ensure them job opportunities, welfare checks, and any more options to help them escape this type of poverty. However, it is hard to make this feasible due to the fact that SOME blacks are not educated about the voting process.

People Actually Voting

Schools did not teach or stress the important about voting. Mathematics, writing, science, and more common core courses were taught by these teachers, but not classes about taxes, voting, and more key issues that occurs as an adult. There can't be change in the way how these people are living if the blacks are not that active in politics. I am not saying you got to know every single republican or Democrat in office, but understanding the polices that the candidate is trying to implement or enforce is crucial for change in the community. For example, the old Democrat: Bernie Sanders. I am not trying to make anyone become a Democrat or change anyone way of thinking but this is just an example on how knowing what polices he is trying to implement makes a difference. For example, he is trying to make college affordable later on in life by making college free. So, of course those that are in urban poverty or lower class loves this idea since its free education. However, the rich will hate it since they are getting taxed heavily. So, just knowing a little bit more about politics and stressing how significant or important is to vote will help people escape urban poverty.

Bernie Sanders

Also, besides lack of education that some of the people in urban poverty expresses, they also "lack the skillset to take on many jobs" causing jobs that were available to disappear. Everything relates back to education for urban poverty because if the people gain some type of insight or education on how to become skilled at the task that they are performing, then more income will be generated. However, since this is not the case, this leaves the residents "without a steady income, which creates a series of new problems in the city."

"Among those living on no more than $1 a day, the proportion found in urban areas rose from 19 percent to 24 percent between 1993 and 2002." Urban poverty is significantly increasing. This data was conducted in early 2000s so only imagine what that number is like now! It is unreal how those in the middle class and upper class are literally in an environment where there are more like us. We live in an environment where there are people living in similar houses to ours, drive similar cars to ours, and even have the same income as us. Because of this, we don't typically see people struggle since we are not in the same atmosphere. It is surreal on how there are people out there that is only living on $1 right now. Something must be done to change this, and as of right now, education is the only pathway towards making urban poverty come to dissolution. Learning about politics, school, courses, and so much information in the world will only help us even more if we apply it correctly.

The Power of Education

The Impact of Quaity Teaching

The definition of education is:

1. the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university

Teaching in genral

When it comes to urban poverty, receiving education is feasible. However, the quality is the part that is lacking! When it comes to teaching, the teachers are mainly there to receive a weekly paycheck instead of teaching with passion. These teachers simply do not care since the students do not care. The only reason why the students stop caring is due to the fact that they want to learn something that is engaging and interesting. When it is the same played out teaching style that nearly every teacher has, then that is why the students lack engagement. So, if the teachers at these urban's schools become more diversified with the teaching and actually have a desire to make a difference in areas where education is lacking, then this is one step that will make a difference on not only adults' lives, but also the children's' lives.

Now, if we compare the educational system at other countries. Literally, the teachers are completely different than those that teaches in areas of urban poverty. "Nonetheless, seeing their students learning also gives teachers pleasure, which encourages them to work harder no matter what their income." These teachers are needed in these areas because better teachers like these will make  any student want to participate. If the student feel like they work is going unnoticed, then that can also be another downfall between the relationship between the teacher and student. The student needs motivation and if the teacher lack any characteristics that demonstrate passion their occupation, then the students in these areas won't even bother graduating since they already got other struggles to worry about. That is why teachers that do not care about wages, and work due to the fact that they care about the future of  their students is what makes any student later on have a successful career. That is why the article declared, "Besides a student’s family, teachers probably have the greatest impact on student achievement. Since they cannot be easily monitored, they also have a great deal of freedom to pursue their teaching in whatever way they wish.

Teaching in Poor Schools in Urban areas

Lets compare the difference between the educational system between areas with urban poverty and mainly middle class to rich class. "The graduation rate of youths in the poorest fourth of the distribution increased to 9 percent from 5 percent; among the richest fourth it rose to 54 percent from 36 percent." What this quote proves is that those with low income are receiving less education due to the fact that they are barely even graduating from high school. On the other hand, those with a higher income are the ones that are flourishing and are receiving higher and better education,, which isn't to the people in urban poverty. There should not be a discrepancy between incomes. This validates the type of education that the low income people are receiving if they are struggling.

The value of education is greatly underestimated. Education is simply learning more than just ABC's and 2+2=4. There are more things that can be useful or helpful that the students can learn and apply to their life styles.



Teaching in Rich Schools in Rich Areas

For example, one problem in neighborhood areas with urban poverty is all of the diseases that are being spread throughout the communities. This happens due to low income, which prevents a person from affording a treatment that will help solve or treat the disease. According to this study, "People with higher levels of education and higher income have lower rates of many chronic diseases compared to those with less education and lower income levels, according to Health, United States, 2011 – the government’s annual comprehensive report on Americans’ health." So, just by being educated, people will instantly know how to prevent contact with these diseases and learn how to treat it if they do receive it. Educational classes like sex education and physical education covers all types of diseases. However, if people in urban poverty can not receive these educational courses, then that is when they will continue to trap themselves in these horrible living conditions. Due to having knowledge of these children in urban poverty, then, for the teachers, "the students’ needs may increase their effectiveness and thus outweigh their interest in decreasing their workload."

Education pays offs

Therefore, the key to success is fixing the quality of education. The way how that can be fixed is by finding dedicated teachers that want to teach due to how much their care about their students, not teachers that are simply looking for a job. This really do matter because this affects the children's future. So, since there is not that many highly trained professional teachers in these urban poverty neighborhoods, it makes complete sense on why income makes a huge difference on how the quality of the education is being presented. There are educational schools in these areas, but the quality needs to ameliorate drastically in order to make urban poverty come to a dissolution.