Poverty

I think most people in my cohort at school aren't particularly fond of our public health class, and I can understand why to some extent. This is a rigorous program, and really the entire focus becomes about passing the school's exit exam and then the national licensing exam. Under these circumstances, a lot of what we are learning in this class can seem somewhat frivolous, especially from a standardized testing point of view. In this program, people aren't about learning enthusiasm for these kinds of issues- they are about book smarts and exam passing. I understand. I am one of them. I gotta be honest- I really want to pass those exams too, and that is where my focus is. But I also wanna come out of here and find a way to make a difference. That's something I love about nursing- nurses are supposed to act as advocates for others. For whatever reason, I feel drawn to public health nursing. I actually quite enjoy the class, and feel that it's almost a break of sorts from the constant drilling and fact memorization of the other classes.

Today's discussion was particularly engaging in my opinion. We talked about vulnerable populations, which ended up basically turning into a discussion of poverty. We got these clickers near the beginning of this term that allow the teacher to put a multiple choice or T/F question up on the powerpoint presentation. Each student can answer the question using their clicker, and then the powerpoint will show what percentage of the class put which answers. I like it. It's a nice way to interact with the teachers and other students in the class. Today we had a series of T/F question about poverty. Some examples were "Poverty comes from a lack of responsibility" and "The majority of welfare recipients are black women". I was thinking about how a lot of people consider these kinds of questions (maybe not the black women one so much since the answer can be proven statistically) to be a matter of opinion. I really liked how my professor did not present them as such. She just laid out the facts, using well-respected sources and statistical data to back herself up. Poverty does not stem from a lack of responsibility in many cases. She acknowledged that there are the few out there who make poor choices, are lazy, etc, but that is the exception to the rule and ends up stagmatizing those who work hard every day of their lives and still live in poverty. The main cause of poverty is low wages. The majority of welfare recipients in this country are children, and most of the women on welfare and white. Welfare only accounts for 1% of the federal budget. (so that attitude that all those good-for-nothing lazy people out there milking the system are taking all my hard-earned money is pretty much a joke). Welfare families have the same average family size as non-welfare families (dispelling the myth that welfare leads the more children), and the vast majority of welfare recipients do not use their welfare to fund extravagant lifestyles. We've all heard the story of the poor person living in the crappy house with no food to eat, but they have a really nice TV. These kinds of things may happen, but that facts are that most people who are on welfare still live far below the federal poverty line, which is already ridiculously low.

Finally, the professor threw out a question just for thought. Am I more worthy of a lifestyle where I do not live in poverty than many of those people who are living in poverty? And I sure do know what I think about that. NO WAY! I look back on my life and look at my life right now and realize that a major reason I am where I am is because I was born in that situation I was born in. Right now, I am living quite a bit below the federal poverty line. There is no way we could make ends meet with the income we make right now. It would be impossible. We would not be living where we live. We would be a lot hungrier than we are. We would not have had the option to get a car to save me a lot of time and inconvenience. The thing that makes our lifestyle possible is our parents, who have supported us so much, definitely financially, but also in other ways. We were able to obtain an education. We were able to focus on our studies in high school instead of working a job every single day after school. That helped us get good grades, which helped Zack get into Penn and get a scholarship here, and which helped me get a scholarship to the U which paid my tuition for my entire bachelors degree. I don't pretend to believe that all that happened just because I worked hard. I do believe that hard work is important, and it leads to rewards, but sometimes, it can't be the solution to the problem. I think I may have mentioned this before on here, but previously in my public health class, we watched a movie on Camden, NJ, which is right across the river from Philly, and really is one of the poorest, most run down places in the U.S. One of the stories in particular really drove this point home in my heart. There was a teenage boy attending high school. No one else in his family had ever graduated high school and that was his goal. He wanted it bad, and he worked for it. But he lived in a very unfortunate situation. He had to go to work every single day after school, and he worked into the night. When he got home, he still had to do all his homework. I know there are those of you who are thinking that's no big deal because you never did homework in high school, but not all people on the planet are blessed with the brains you were, especially when that person is coming from a family where no one has completed high school. I studied my butt off in high school, and it was time-consuming. So this boy worked hard every single day, and worked into the night, and got up early the next day to do it all again. Happily, he did graduate from high school, but barely, and he may or may not have the opportunity to go to college. How will he pay for it? With the money from working his job? His family is depending on his wage to help them survive. Scholarship? Probably not since his grades weren't awesome. There are probably grants and loans and such he can qualify for, which is fabulous, but has anyone educated him on how to access those types of resources? My point is that I worked a lot less hard than that guy, and somehow, I ended up having it a lot easier.

I have a friend who got married. She didn't have a college degree at the time. She has since gotten her associates, which is great. If I remember correctly, her husband still does not have a degree. It wasn't for lack of hard work. It was just that the opportunity didn't seem to be there. So he goes to work everyday and works hard for a low wage. She got pregnant. She was working at the time, but they could not afford to pay all the bills for her prenatal care and childbirth and so forth. They were making too much to qualify for much by way of government aid but not enough to cover their expenses. So she quit her job. She did not work during her pregnancy so that they could qualify for the aid to pay her medical bills. A lot of people would look down on that, would call it milking the system, would say they were dumb for deciding to have a baby when they could not afford it. I hate that. Do I have more right to choose to have a child early on in my marriage than they do because I have had more opportunities in my life that have put me in a better financial situation than them? I don't think so. Don't get me wrong. I've said it before. I am all for hard work, and finding ways to improve your life and situation, and I know there are a lot of resources out there for people who have been left in unfortunate situations, but it saddens me to see that attitude that all poor people are that way because they just aren't willing to pull themselves out of it, it's a lack of responsibility, etc. I hope that I never forget that I got where I am with a lot of help from others, and that the situation has been in my favor since the day that I was born. I hope that in my nursing practice, I can find ways to foster a more tolerant attitude about those who are less fortunate than I am. I am glad that I have this class that helps me examine my own biases and feelings about these sorts of topics.

I'm sorry for being so terribly long winded, but I feel strongly about this.