Economic Issues Essay

Economic Issues Essay Shannon Ray Macroeconomics 11am-12:10pm

Poverty. This seven letter word can bring up so many different feelings for so many different people around the world. The one thing that ties all those different people together is the lack of money to support their families and themselves. Most people on the poverty line and below can attribute it to their lack of education. In this essay I am going to be talking about the impact education has on people who live in poverty. It’s not just people who live in the slums of South Africa, but right here in the United States in seemingly good homes who suffer from poverty. In an article, Ladders out of poverty, No education, no future, the Economists article author writes about a child who is growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa in degradation and extreme poverty. This child has one thing going well for him, his mother knows how important and education is to give her son a ladder out of poverty. There are a few extraordinary schools in South Africa which recognize the importance of a great education to help these families out of their poverties situations. Through the education of their children parents have started becoming educational entrepreneurs and seeking education to improve their economic and social situations. These parents are also willing to make great sacrifices to ensure their children are getting an education to help them live a better life. One issue South Africa schools are facing is the lack of qualified teachers. The government is trying to encourage more of the children to become teachers to help future generations out of poverty. This article can be related to America in so many ways. We are facing a lot of those same issues right here in the land of the free and where opportunities are supposed to be abundant. With budget cuts to schools it cuts the amount of education some children can receive causing them to feel like no one cares so why waste my time here and drop out. Dropping out then puts them on welfare or lowing paying jobs that they are barely able to make ends meet, and once again the poverty level is raising. I think more should be done in classrooms around America to prepare students for the real world and help them make a plan for their education and goals in their lives at an early age. With students knowing how poverty happens and how to avoid it I believe less people will join the poverty group and will help those that are already in it get out. Another article I found, Helping the poor From welfare to workfare, the Economist author takes a look at what happen when welfare requirements changed in 2000. Social workers were prepared for massive amounts of people to come and seek help when their welfare benefits were cut off, but not many did. They found that when people are facing a wall they can adapt and start working to provide for their families, although most of them were still barely making it. Most states wised up and started pushing job-training programs for people seeking welfare, knowing educating them would prepare them for a job. They found that many people emulated their slogan “A job, a better job, a career”. An example that was given was women who worked as cashiers while receiving training and education with government help went on to become nurses, teachers, and social workers. The article states “Without formal education or valuable skills, it is hard to lift incomes much further”. Although there are many government grants for people to further their education and attend college some people are not able to provide of their families by working and attending college. One business in Milwaukee gave a statement in the article about job training services and government. Some industrial places are having a hard time hiring people who not experienced and would offer job training classes for them, but the government won’t help pay for classes, so they are unable to hire inexperienced workers. The article finishes by talking about how politician’s need to start implementing plans to help educate people for more jobs to decrease the poverty level. Education for those in poverty is important to me personally because I am living proof on what furthering and education can do in ones life. I grew up with one parent who completed one year of college and another who dropped out of school in the eighth grade, so it is safe to say we were destine for poverty. My parents struggled to provide everything they could for us, we were on food stamps and welfare my whole childhood. Both of my parents came from poverty stricken families as well and I am determined through my education my family will not. My husband and I have been hit with hard times and started out in poverty conditions, but are slowly making our way up. I am currently working towards my degree in teaching with the help of pell grants from the government, so I am one of those people who is trying to get out of poverty through education. I am teaching my children the importance of an education to succeed in life and I plan to teach my students the same thing to help them stay on a path of higher education. In all I think you can see I am passionate when it comes to education and poverty. I truly believe that the only way out of poverty is to further your education and work from the bottom up. I believe the government should make it a requirement for abled body people to work in order to receive welfare. I know some people have a hard time finding jobs, but instead of the government saying they are not hiring they should be using welfare funds to hire people to work on government properties or attend education courses to earn their welfare check. If parents in South Africa can see that education is the ladder out of poverty then Americans can surely see this too. I have to say the government has stuck its foot in helping out those in poverty, but so much more can be done to further educate people in poverty.

Works Cited
Helping the Poor: From Welfare to Workfare. 380 Vol. , 2006.
Ladders Out of Poverty. 379 Vol. , 2006.

Cited: Helping the Poor: From Welfare to Workfare. 380 Vol. , 2006. Ladders Out of Poverty. 379 Vol. , 2006.