By Daniel Ward
posted
Aug 9, 2012
For the first time, the U.S. Department of Education has
reported that the number of homeless students in America has topped
one million while another new report estimates that 23% of children
in the U.S. live in "relative poverty." Hungry, tired kids are
difficult to teach. Their environment, health and community have an
enormous impact on their ability to learn.
However, rather than recognize this catastrophe, we continue to
blame our teachers and schools for failing our children. It's
akin to blaming doctors for failing to save children dying from
malnutrition.
One million, sixty-five thousand seven hundred ninety-four
(1,065,794) homeless students were reported enrolled in schools
during 2010-11, a 13% increase from 2009-10 (939,903) according to
data released by the National Center for Homeless last month. To
make matters even worse, this figure does not include homeless
infants, children not enrolled in school, and homeless students
that schools simply failed to identify. These children live on the
streets, in shelters, motels, and in corridors loaned by friends
and relatives.
It is hardly surprising that only 52% of the homeless students
who took standardized tests were deemed to be proficient in
reading, and only 51% passed math tests.
More bad news - the latest edition of the United Nations
Children's Fund's (UNICEF's) report on child poverty in developed
countries found that about 12 million children in the U.S. live in
relative poverty which gives our country the dubious honor of
second place on the "relative child poverty" table - worse than
Latvia, Bulgaria, Spain, Greece, and 29 others. Only Romania ranks
higher, with 25%, compared to our 23%. Recent U.S. Census Bureau
statistics confirm these figures, estimating the percentage of
American children living in poverty at 21.6%, while the figure for
Hispanic children soars to nearly one in three, and a staggering
38% for African-American children.
Much of the mainstream media has latched on to America's
supposed poor results on international tests as justification for
its teacher-bashing rhetoric. Students from Finland frequently come
out on top in these tests, so it is often cited as the country to
emulate. Rarely mentioned is the fact that Finland's child poverty
rate at 2.5%, about a tenth of ours which is certainly worth
emulating.
Both President Obama and Mitt Romney often mention the
importance of education, usually in the context of improving the
country's economy and creating jobs, or of making college more
affordable, yet little mention is made of the underlying societal
problems which prevent schools from succeeding. And, despite claims
to the contrary, these problems can be fixed - as demonstrated by
the fact that Canada and the U.S. have the same relative child
poverty rate of about 25% before government intervention is
factored in. However, once government taxes, benefits, and other
social programs kick in, Canada's child poverty rate drops to 13%,
while America's remains above 23%.
The introduction to UNICEF's report eloquently warns that
"failure to protect children from poverty is one of the most costly
mistakes a society can make. The heaviest cost of all is borne by
the children themselves. But their nations must also pay a very
significant price - in reduced skills and productivity, in lower
levels of health and educational achievement, in increased
likelihood of unemployment and welfare dependence, in the higher
costs of judicial and social protection systems, and in the loss of
social cohesion."
Children have only one opportunity to develop in mind and body,
so we must commit to protect them from poverty during prosperity,
recession, and depression. Otherwise, we are failing our most
vulnerable citizens and wasting our most precious natural resource,
while storing up intractable social and economic problems for the
years immediately ahead.
Until we tackle childhood poverty, blaming teachers for our
apparent inability to compete on international student assessments
is wholly unjust.
Daniel Ward is the editor for Language Magazine, Los
Angeles, CA
Tagged:
OP ED, Child Poverty
