Research has shown that between 13.4 and 16.5 million American children live in poverty. The daily struggle of the poor families is to survive and enjoy childhood. Director Jezza Neumann discovers the difficulties of childhood poverty in Frontline’s Poor Kids. The interview features kids and their parents, most of whom are unable to find full-time work and struggle to meet even the most basic needs of their families.
The children’s truthful and heartbreaking words focus on the growing problem of poverty in America. The director takes a look at poverty through the eyes of three preteen girls who are living in it, Kaylie, Jasmin and Brittany don’t live in families that choose to relax and collect welfare, food stamps and charity. Their parents who desperately want to work and provide for their family but the fact they can’t find a way to do that tears away at them, and more finely at their children.
The encouraging part is that even after going through hardships in life these kids haven’t lost all their dreams. But they’re haunted, by poverty, in ways no kid should have to be. One of the many things they’re losing is their childhood. In reality though, the documentary shows relative poverty, showing kids who have newly fallen into poverty or whose poverty level is that of the working poor who have not reached the level of hardship. The purpose of this paper is to identify the hardships faced by the poor families, learning from their examples and as educators making an impact on the lives of these children.
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One of the most common obstacles faced by the families was House lessness. The family’s house and environment within which it is located are important elements in the problems associated with poverty. The houses of the poor are not only in poor condition with unhygienic living conditions, no internet, no security. The existing space does not permit proper sleeping arrangements and forces an invasion of privacy. Family tensions also affect their personality as well as their behavior; self-respect is eroded and skepticism nurtured.
Poverty forces living in the inferior houses and leaves little for the fundamentals of decent living. In fact, the deficient housing contributes to the weakening of family harmony and that was something that was common for all three families. For example, nine-year-old Brittany Smith clearly understood that she had to shower in cold water because, ‘the hot water shut off because [her family] didn’t pay the bill in time. It was overdue ‘ (Neumann). Maslow (1968) considered physiological needs to be the most essential of our needs. If someone is lacking in more than one need, they’re likely to try to meet these physiological needs first. The second most important obstacle the families face is finding sustainable jobs that pay well.
There is always the insecurity of losing their jobs and not being able to meet the requirements. They are often not appreciated for the hard work they put in. They are usually made to over work and with little or no advancement opportunities. ‘Well our jobs are not so good, we had to apply for unemployment and file for unpaid wages from WIS International, so we left that job and are currently looking for something else. ply for unemployment and file for unpaid wages from WIS International, so we left that job and are currently looking for something else (Neumann).
As an educator we have students who come from an economically disadvantaged background. Childhood poverty has long lasting consequences on mental health as the impact of chronic stress can result in anxiety and behavioral disorders as well as impairing memory, making it more challenging to learn. A lot of times children who are poor do not graduate high school. Even worse, the gap widens when it comes to college. And we have seen this in the documentary poor kids specially with Johnny’s family.
Since the family was constantly migrating, I am sure it made it difficult for the children to focus and work on their grades and explore their interests. As educators it is important, we stay positive when we come across such students in class. Firstly, it is very important for a teacher to know the children in her class. Many times, educators tag poor students as lazy, who have lack of discipline, or weak in character. In reality, poverty happens for dozens of reasons, which is why it’s so important that we understand the depths of the challenges faced by children from disadvantaged homes.
In case of drop in their grades or poor grade educators can help the students by providing extra study sessions, working with schools to work out programs for students who need that additional support. Showing them the right path, sharing personal stories and building long term relationships can be another strategy.
This documentary is a reminder that these kids have no control over their lives. This is the sad truth and is sure to stay in for long and as educators we will be experience students from poor backgrounds in our classroom. As educators we can bring about a huge transformation, not only in the lives of individual children and their families, but also in our communities and our nation as a whole.
References
- Neumann, J. (2012). ‘Frontline’ Poor Kids (TV Episode 2012) – IMDb. [online] IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2475316/
- Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), pp.370-396.
