June 14, 2013
Course: 098/108 Many people want to blame the government and their short comings for the reasons that affect their upward mobility, but indigent people must fully evaluate their negative decisions, and their consequences, that have made poverty a perpetuating cycle in not only their lives, but their children’s. Chiefly, bad decisions like, teen pregnancy, lack of education and complacency keeps poverty revolving, currently, and for future generations. The government does have an obligation to help the poor and needy in America, but as individuals, people have an obligation to help themselves in their own pursuit of happiness and success. To help end poverty, people should assess the issues of the generation before, so that the next generation has a better future.
. To begin with, one of the major causes of poverty is a person’s decision to drop out of school. Timothy Eagan, a correspondent with the New York Times, reported in his journal article, “No Degree, and No Way Back to the Middle”, that a man in his fifties with a college degree is expected to make 81 percent more than a man without one. Years prior to it was 52 percent. Without education people are more susceptible to undesirable lifestyles then those who graduate. Besides the dilemma of having no education, dropouts face a number of challenges that could have possibly been avoided if they had decided to finish schooling. First, the non- graduate has challenges obtaining employment, consequently, they engage in criminal activity.
As a result of criminal activity, non-graduates tend to end up in the penal system, and are then stigmatized against future employment. With the job market being so scarce and work wages so low, those with no diploma or degree will have no chance of coming out of poverty. In addition, low income people are often eligible for assistance, such as reduced cost housing, food stamps, child care and insurance. These