“I have a killer puzzle to put together! I don’t know where to start,” said my elderly neighbor
“I will come over to help you get started.”
“What is this puzzle suppose to look like like?”
“The picture on the box is a rooster.”
“Well, I think no matter what we do we will not get all of these pieces to fit together to look like a rooster. So let’s put all of these corn flakes back in the box and have some coffee.”
Have you ever experienced a time when you could not see or hear? Educators are faced with situations daily that are like putting pieces of a puzzle together. Sometimes the pieces just don’t fit.
It seems we have issues that continue to rise in our society and a resolution is never found. I am anxiously waiting for my copy of a new book release, The Poverty Problem by Horacio Sanchez. Problems of economic hardships have been a part of our history for decades.
Children make up 23% of the United States population. When looking at data for those impacted by poverty, we find 33% of children are living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 2017. A continued increase in high poverty schools seems to remain in place. In 2016, 20.1 million students qualified for free lunch, and two million reduced lunch. This data is essential to grants in services for students, understanding community but more importantly-
How can you help? Solutions focused on addressing the new issues of poverty is an issue educators will need to address. Education will need to fill in the gaps where government assistance and policy inadequacies lack to manage them.
Many books and resources are available for a more in depth look into how living in poverty impacts the brain over long periods. Research has been conducted and strategies developed in regard to poverty.
RESOURCES