- The Social issue that is important to me is, poverty in the United States.
2. Poverty is an urgent challenge for the world. Poverty is a persuasive human condition of being unable to obtain or provide a standard level of food, water and/or shelter. There is more than 43.1 million of Americans, around 13.5% live below the poverty line. Many solutions have been discussed but poverty seems like an unrealistic goal. I do believe that some solutions could potentially decrease poverty. Increasing employment is one way to reduce poverty. Money doesn't help poverty but giving jobs does. The poor need productive jobs that lead to higher income. Ending mass incarceration is a huge one because the United States holds almost one quarter of the world's prisoners. Now days, many employers refuse to hire people with even a minor criminal records, and many parolees are locked out of housing, credit and even education. One of the reason it's rate of poverty is high is because the overall immigrant in the U.S have substantially higher poverty rates than non-immigrants. Immigration reform will give immigrant families a chance to have a better life.
3. People look up to the United States as the Land of Dream, as the perfect country but poverty stays an important issue: “Impoverished Americans may own cars and watch television, but in the twenty-first century poverty remains a fundamental part of life in the United States and some other Western nations” (pg. 46) Poverty has been in the United for a long time, for about more than 50 years.
Sheryl and Wedunn discussed with the researchers impact of a hierachical social structure on a child’s brain and this is what they got from it: “It’s important to note that child poverty has anatomical consequences that can be seen in brain scans. When researchers scanned the brains of five-year-olds as they performed a battery of cognitive and linguistic tests, they found that children’s brains function differently depending on the socioeconomic status of their parents. Kids from poor families had less brain specialization, particularly in areas important for language development.” (pg. 54) This quote highlights that growing up poor is bad for your brain. Researches found that child’s brain is affected by the socioeconomic status of their parents.
Sheryl and Wedunn heard and disagreed about this quote: “Americans sometimes hint that it’s not worth saving people’s lives in poor countries because then they’ll just have more kicks: Until families curb the number of children they have, the sad truth is that there’s no reason to try to saves lives from malaria or TB or hunger.” (pg. 128) They disagree because they explain that people have large families because they expect some children to die. They believe that there is hope for children to stay alive. The authors explains that we have to do a better job in making contraceptives available, developing contraceptives that cheap and effective. They add that to deal with the population pressures is to reduce child mortality and support family planning and education.
4. One article completely opposes to poverty, they explains that a shocking large amount of people believe that poor people are the way they are because they were chosen to be poor. Most rich people would argue that poor people should look for a job and they worked hard for what they have. In their mindset, they believe that if poor people start to work hard like they do, they would not be in this situation. The problem with that evidence is that, poor people are being offended by the believes that rich people have because their life isn’t just as easy as theirs. Rich people don’t feel responsible for helping them but it’s not their business.
Another article talks about how economic growth normally reduces poverty (If the economy was healthy, poverty wouldn’t exist. A healthy economy will generate income for everyone and with balance itself out. Although, one republican named Reich disagrees. In his quote he explains that even thought economy has increased 147 percent in the late 1970s, poverty remains around 15 percent, which is higher than in th46e early 1970s.)
5. Sheryl and Wudunn talk about one of the reasons how poverty could be decrease: “We also think that some of the most important kinds of assistance are those that create jobs so that the poor can earn their own way too a better life.” (pg.128) I totally agree on how jobs could potentially decrease jobs and at the same time grow together as a community. It does sound unrealistic because it’s easy to say to get “a job” but not always keep people out of poverty. The reason why is because people earn different minimum wage. Getting an employment is a challenge but surviving is number one. Also one thing that people don’t realize is that the job market isn’t accessible to everyone. There are many barriers that prevent people from getting jobs like having any kinds of illness, disabilities, race, age and/or sexual orientation. All these contribution affects the chances for the people that live in poverty to get a job. There is between 70-90 percent of people who have serious illness are unemployed.
General Information:
Even though poverty is still present in the United States, an article said that it hasn’t changed. The Census Bureau released it’s recent data and things haven’t improved in the past year. For years, critics have said that the means of measuring poverty in the U.S is overly simplistic. They add that in the system we live in, they ignore forms of income such as social security and unemployment, food stamps, tax credits, price of couple services, such as health care, the costs of childcare.
Work Cited:
Dear Sam,
ReplyDeleteEvaluation of Ideas:
Wow! You have such a nice draft. You’re on the road to success. You have all the elements needed to create a good argument.
I am able to identify your issue: poverty in America. You have also chosen a great counterargument: people blame the individual for their behavior. This will help you strengthen your own claim. You have also presented facts, which is ultimately necessary to strengthen any writing.
I am able to connect with your overall idea that charity is different than social justice when you say, “I do believe that some solutions could potentially decrease poverty. Increasing employment is one way to reduce poverty. Money doesn't help poverty but giving jobs does. The poor need productive jobs that lead to higher income. Ending mass incarceration is a huge one because the United States holds almost one quarter of the world's prisoners.” I know a great source you can use for this should you need more support for the fact that poverty is inherent: It is called “Class in America” by Gregory Mantsios and it basically illustrates your idea that the American dream is nowhere near attainable when underlying social institutions exist, continuing to foster the cycle of poverty in America.
2. Tea Paragraphs:
For your tea paragraphs, I suggest you should use the quotes Sheryl and WuDunn to emphasize the importance of creating jobs, such as this one: “Impoverished Americans may own cars and watch television, but in the twenty-first century poverty remains a fundamental part of life in the United States and some other Western nations.” In your following sentences of analysis, possibly discuss an appeal to pathos, logos, and ethos. Also use their quotes to emphasize your claim about how important of an issue poverty is in America.
3. From a close analysis of your ideas, your thesis can be something along the lines of:
Poverty is a serious issue in America that needs our immediate attention. Although many scholars argue that poverty is a result of the individual’s poor work ethic, it is actually a lack of resources and jobs that continue to foster the cycle of oppression. Therefore, solution is to create more jobs for impoverished people.
Great work,
Catalina