A Culture of Poverty
Inherently Lower Class or Intentionally Disadvantaged
What Is A Culture of Poverty?
How is this Idea of a "Culture of Poverty" ultimately problematic?
Although the United States grows more and more diverse each year, the population of educators remains overwhelmingly white. Thus, an increasingly diverse population of students is being taught by a population of teachers who are essentially their polar opposites in terms of culture. The basic premise surrounding the culture of poverty paradigm is the belief that they are different from us. They, those from poverty, supposedly behave, feel, and think differently than those of us in the “mainstream.” This is the same logic was used to justify the brutality, cruelty, and enslavement of Native Americans and Africans who were considered as the “other” in relation to their white counterparts colonizing this nation. (Redeaux, 2011) Recurring and harmful ideologies such as this can act as the catalyst for a self fulfilling prophecy. If we treat all of the students as though their culture is an inhibiting factor, and is inherently wrong, then WE are creating the problem.
What Is to be done?
Sources and Citations
Redeaux, M. (2011). The Culture of Poverty Reloaded. Monthly Review Mon. Rev., 63(3), 96. Retrieved February 14, 2016, from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.uh.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=5519aea0-bf6d-47d6-ac96
Hall, G. E., Quinn, L. F., & Gollnick, D. M. (2014). Introduction to teaching: Making a difference in student learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.
Image From: http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/10/americas-teachers-continue-low-expecations-black-latino-students/