Poverty Simulation: Walking in someone else's skin
Poverty in Schools?
A few weeks ago, I had attended a poverty simulation at our school. This was a very eye-opening experience that I will never forget. In the simulation, everyone that came in was assigned a role to play. A person could have been made a father, a mother, a child, or even a grandparent. I was a ten-year-old boy living in a family with a mother who had a job, a father who was recently unemployed, a sixteen-year-old sister who was pregnant, and an eight-year-old little brother that I was meant to babysit during the day. There were a few other families set up similarly to ours and many others with unique situations. The key to the simulation was to stay as true to your role as possible. I found this really hard to do because I wanted to help my family figure out how to get us money and food to survive. Some of the rules to the simulation was that to go anywhere you had to bring a transportation pass, you had to go to work if you had a job, the kids had to go to school, and you had to get food for your family each week. The transportation passes were one of the hardest parts of the simulation. The passes seemed to run out extremely fast, especially since it cost five passes to go to work. Our family only started out with six passes. Once our mom went to work, we were left with one to buy food, sell our stuff for money, and run any other earned we need to survive. The other aspect that made the simulation extremely hard was that none of the agencies that were meant to help us actually did. The pawn shop would only buy our stereo, which was valued at $100, for $50 and denied everything else we tried to sell. When our family went to social services, we did not qualify for much, we could only get food stamps. Eventually, our family started sending our pregnant sixteen-year-old sister to beg for help at certain agencies but even doing that, we couldn't get much help. As a ten-year-old, the only thing I could do was go to school and go home because it was a waste of a transportation card for me to go anywhere with one of my parents. Many other children in the simulation turned to stealing or selling drugs to get money for their family. Though our family tried not to resort to stealing, we were stolen from and in the end, we had to steal to turn our power back on and prevent our family from being evicted. Throughout the simulation, I couldn't help but feel helpless and frustrated. No matter how hard we tried, we could not get ahead. We could not even come close to breaking even. Coming into the simulation, I knew it was hard for people in poverty to find traction to get on their feet, but I did not realize that it would be practically impossible to find any traction at all. This simulation is very important for educators to experience because it can really open any one's eyes to where children of poverty are coming from. Sometimes, children of poverty do not come to school for extended periods of time and more often than that, their parents don't seem to want to be involved in children's schooling. After experiencing this simulation it is clear to see that more than likely, the parents and the kids just do not have the time or the resources to put schooling at the forefront of their priorities. As a future educator, I want all of my children to want to come to school and all of my parents to be involved as they can possibly be, but I understand when a family is doing their best just to put food on the table that week, school is not your main priority. It is sad to come to realize that some children only come to school to eat. The best thing that I can do as a future educator is to reach out to the community in programs like the ones done in the Newburgh Armory and to meet the parents of my students where it is easiest for them. Dr. Taylor talked about going to the factory that her student's parents worked at to do IEP meetings. I suppose if that's what it takes to help your student succeed, then that is what needs to be done. Designing fun, hands-on activities for your classroom is also a very much needed thing to do as well. If you know your student is struggling at home with no food to eat, no new clothes on their bodies or nothing to play with, the least you can do is make their day better by allowing them to enjoy what they are learning. If science is taught to the students in new and exciting ways, it can be one of the most exciting topics a student can use as an escape from the troubles they face at home. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to experience this simulation to have the chance to walk around in someone else's skin.
A few weeks ago, I had attended a poverty simulation at our school. This was a very eye-opening experience that I will never forget. In the simulation, everyone that came in was assigned a role to play. A person could have been made a father, a mother, a child, or even a grandparent. I was a ten-year-old boy living in a family with a mother who had a job, a father who was recently unemployed, a sixteen-year-old sister who was pregnant, and an eight-year-old little brother that I was meant to babysit during the day. There were a few other families set up similarly to ours and many others with unique situations. The key to the simulation was to stay as true to your role as possible. I found this really hard to do because I wanted to help my family figure out how to get us money and food to survive. Some of the rules to the simulation was that to go anywhere you had to bring a transportation pass, you had to go to work if you had a job, the kids had to go to school, and you had to get food for your family each week. The transportation passes were one of the hardest parts of the simulation. The passes seemed to run out extremely fast, especially since it cost five passes to go to work. Our family only started out with six passes. Once our mom went to work, we were left with one to buy food, sell our stuff for money, and run any other earned we need to survive. The other aspect that made the simulation extremely hard was that none of the agencies that were meant to help us actually did. The pawn shop would only buy our stereo, which was valued at $100, for $50 and denied everything else we tried to sell. When our family went to social services, we did not qualify for much, we could only get food stamps. Eventually, our family started sending our pregnant sixteen-year-old sister to beg for help at certain agencies but even doing that, we couldn't get much help. As a ten-year-old, the only thing I could do was go to school and go home because it was a waste of a transportation card for me to go anywhere with one of my parents. Many other children in the simulation turned to stealing or selling drugs to get money for their family. Though our family tried not to resort to stealing, we were stolen from and in the end, we had to steal to turn our power back on and prevent our family from being evicted. Throughout the simulation, I couldn't help but feel helpless and frustrated. No matter how hard we tried, we could not get ahead. We could not even come close to breaking even. Coming into the simulation, I knew it was hard for people in poverty to find traction to get on their feet, but I did not realize that it would be practically impossible to find any traction at all. This simulation is very important for educators to experience because it can really open any one's eyes to where children of poverty are coming from. Sometimes, children of poverty do not come to school for extended periods of time and more often than that, their parents don't seem to want to be involved in children's schooling. After experiencing this simulation it is clear to see that more than likely, the parents and the kids just do not have the time or the resources to put schooling at the forefront of their priorities. As a future educator, I want all of my children to want to come to school and all of my parents to be involved as they can possibly be, but I understand when a family is doing their best just to put food on the table that week, school is not your main priority. It is sad to come to realize that some children only come to school to eat. The best thing that I can do as a future educator is to reach out to the community in programs like the ones done in the Newburgh Armory and to meet the parents of my students where it is easiest for them. Dr. Taylor talked about going to the factory that her student's parents worked at to do IEP meetings. I suppose if that's what it takes to help your student succeed, then that is what needs to be done. Designing fun, hands-on activities for your classroom is also a very much needed thing to do as well. If you know your student is struggling at home with no food to eat, no new clothes on their bodies or nothing to play with, the least you can do is make their day better by allowing them to enjoy what they are learning. If science is taught to the students in new and exciting ways, it can be one of the most exciting topics a student can use as an escape from the troubles they face at home. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to experience this simulation to have the chance to walk around in someone else's skin.
The Poverty Simulation was a wonderful experience. I hope that they bring it back next semester! It was heartbreaking but also good to understand why these parents are so absent when it comes to school. Many people, including me at times, just thought that they did not care. This experience helped me realize, like you reflected on, that they simply do not have the resources to get to parent - teacher conferences or open house. As teachers, we need to do all we can to make sure our students succeed and that we are flexible with the parents.
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