Poverty Articles 1-4

*photo: Ruby K. Payne Ph.D. author of the poverty articles*


Article One:

“When individuals who made it out of poverty are interviewed, virtually all of them cite an individual who made a significant difference for them.” This is an inspiring and important quote because it shows that teachers can actually make a difference in an individual’s life and that is the most important part to teaching.


This quote really spoke out to me because my family wasn’t in what people would call “poverty” but we were really tight for money for quite some time. My dad went to school to be an accountant and worked for Hilton Hotels for many about seven years. However, he got tired of the three piece business man routine so he and my mom moved to Maine and decided to have me. My dad stayed home and my mom worked. However, she was a teacher. So my family (including my brother who was born two years later) lived on a single teachers salary for almost fifteen years. Then my dad became an educational technician at my high school in the Student Technology Center.




Article Two:

“But these structures can be built. Someone built them in the minds of students who come to school ready to learn.” Some students who do not have the will to learn sometimes just need a stimulus to learn, they need something interesting to tie in the material they are learning.



I agree very strongly with the point that a student who does not want to can be taught to learn and enjoy life. They are not just a “dead weight” in the class. Teachers may have to try just a little harder but if you as the teacher can inspire a student to want to learn, you have completed your job and succeeded.




Article Three:

“Educators tend to speak to students in a parent voice, particularly in discipline situations. To the student who is already functioning as a parent, this is unbearable….”. Students who are already their own parents need someone to look up to, they need a role model, a mentor. Someone to show them how and what they are supposed to do.


I know personally as a student I do not like it when a teacher takes on a parent role in discipling me or other students around me. I already have two parents and that is quite enough.




Article Four:


“Having students write multiple choice questions.” Writing test questions for a section on a test helps students by having them write the right answer along with many wrong answers that are similar to the right answer.



Personally I do a lot better when I am asked to make questions for a test because I am forced to know the material and know what are right answers to other questions that might be similar to the question I am working on. It challenges me to think like a teacher and provide a challenge not only to myself but my peers.

Middle School Issue

In today's world there are three major schools that you enter through out your K-12 career; elementary school, middle school, and highschool. In the middle school stage the children are from the ages of 11-14 and going through puberty. It is a very tough time for the kids both physically and emotionally. “One middle school student is like three high school students in terms of their behavioral needs and the issues you’re confronted with,” said Fred Walsh, principal of the School for International Studies in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. Many education system employees feel that the transition between elementary and middle school can be too traumatic. The students need consistancey and not a big transition to throw off their groove.

The other transition from middle school to the highschool has got education system employees worried as well. This is because today highschool educators only have four years to really prepare their students for college and most feel that this is not enough time.

As a solution to these two problems two new types of schools have been going up all over the nation. The first one being a K-8 school where the students keep that consistancey and keep the support system for them that has been there for them since they were very young. The second type of school is the 6-12 school giving the educators more time the prepare the students for college. The educators who like the K-8 system don't like the 6-12 system because they feel that the younger students will be more traumatized by being surrounded by the older children of highschool. On the other side of the fence the educators who like the 6-12 schools don't like the the K-8 schools because they feel they are still being babied. They feel the students need the older students as role models and they feel that the younger students would be more comfortable talking to the older students for support and help.

Sometime in the near future if is known we will see a definate removal of the middle school stage and a dominant set of either of the new schools. I personally am in favor of the 6-12 schools because my main group of friends was always older than me by quite a bit. I also did not feel as prepared for college as I could have been when I left the high school.

The article did a great job of showing both sides of the spectrum and doing it in a nonbiased way.