Plan of Investigation

PLAN OF INVESTIGATION

The group’s, English SBA topic is “Poverty” however my focus will be on How poverty affects

education.

I was intrigued by this topic after my observations on how poverty has a big impact on one’s
education. This has been a major challenge for students in my community, especially over this
pandemic period, which has forced this new approach to virtual learning. In order to garner
information on this topic I intend to garner information from sources such as the internet, library
and newspapers.
As a student in English, I expect this Student’s Base Assessment to:
 Widen my vocabulary
 Strengthen my research and reasoning skills
 Improve my comprehension and analytical skills

Poverty is the enemy of education

Published:Friday | October 22, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The Editor, Sir:
Being an ardent supporter of good-quality education, I have now come to the
realization that poverty and education are inextricably linked. Poor children who
don't eat a nourishing breakfast will not be able to pay attention in class and so they
may become restless and may disrupt the class, with the latter being the case in
most of our schools these days.
Sadly, the effect of poverty on the educational success of poor children cuts deeper
than merely supplying hungry children with a nourishing meal. Poverty can lead to
low self-esteem. Children from poverty-stricken homes are well aware of their peers
who dress better and most times become embarrassed by what they have to wear.
This leads to them becoming withdrawn in class, which creates a bad learning
environment.
There are other factors that exacerbate the effects of poverty on a poor child's
education. The majority of our children grow up in poor families and are, more likely
than not, exposed to an environment that is unsafe at best and not beneficial to
learning. The lives of these children are often on the line and the evidence of this is
staring Jamaica in the face. We need to make the lives of our children safer.
Poverty, whether absolute or relative, permeates every aspect of an individual's life,
including their access to education and their experience of the education process
itself.

Chaos and mayhem
Additionally, these children live what they learn in these communities: the chaos and
mayhem around them cause them to become hardened and pretty soon they end up
engaging in the illegal activities that this government is trying to correct. Our boys
and girls are being robbed of their childhood; consequently, girls turn to prostitution
and boys become gunslingers, 'weed heads', gang members for local gangs. This
'movie' has been played all too much in our society and we are losing our young
people to gangs and drugs.
Finally, this is an SOS to the government, Children's Advocate, Parent-Teacher
Association, the private sector, the Church, and all Jamaicans that, by examining the
effects of poverty on learning, we can take the correct decisions to eradicate same,
develop appropriate teaching strategies and be accountable and responsible to help
our children and education on a whole.
Poverty is the enemy, and until we accept this we will continue to point the finger of
blame.
I am, etc.,
RODWIN GREEN
[email protected]
Siloah PO
St Elizabeth
HOW POVERTY AFFECTS LEARNING
Education’s role in improving the lives of the global poor has been well documented. However,
researchers have been exploring the reverse — how poverty affects learning and a child’s education.
The Ontario Child Health Study concluded in its research that there is a “direct link between lack of
income and chronic health problems, psychiatric disorders and social and academic functions.”
Additional research provided evidence that poverty decreases a child’s school readiness through six
factors: the incidence of poverty, the depth of poverty, the duration of poverty, the timing of poverty, the
concentration of poverty and crime in a student’s community, and the impact of poverty on social
networks.
Children from families with lower incomes score significantly lower on vocabulary and communication
skills assessments, as well as on their knowledge of numbers and ability to concentrate. Furthermore,
their counterparts in higher-income households outperform them in copying and symbol use, and in
cooperative play with other children. Students with lower income are more likely to leave school without
graduating.
Experts refer to the relationship between socioeconomic status and academic performance as the
“socioeconomic gradient.”
According to author Eric Jensen, although “children raised in poverty rarely choose to behave differently,”
poverty affects learning because they face challenges their affluent counterparts never see. “Their brains
have adapted to suboptimal conditions in ways that undermine good school performance,” Jensen writes.
A child’s formation of new brain cells will slow down and the neural circuitry will create emotional
dysfunctions if a child’s primary needs are not met at an early age.
Typically, children from low-income families suffer from parental inconsistency, frequent childcare
changes, lack of adult supervision, and lack of role models. Thus, the child does not receive the
stimulation or learn the social skills necessary to maximize their academic performance.
In order to reverse how poverty affects learning, researchers suggest that schools focus on support
services that aid in a child’s cognitive and social skill development.
The High/Scope Educational Research Foundation concluded in a study, that children who received
proper intervention services were more likely to graduate secondary school, have higher employment and
income rates, and have lower crime rates by the time they reached 40.
Schools with targeted efforts to aid in a child’s academic development, such as counseling and after-
school programs, can both lessen the effect of poverty on a student’s learning and use education to fight
poverty to improve lives.
– Ashley Leon

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PLAN OF INVESTIGATION

As a student in English, I expect this Student’s Base Assessment to:

Poverty is the enemy of education

The Editor, Sir:

Being an ardent supporter of good-quality education, I have now come to the

most of our schools these days.

Poverty, whether absolute or relative, permeates every aspect of an individual's life,

Chaos and mayhem

people to gangs and drugs.

Finally, this is an SOS to the government, Children's Advocate, Parent-Teacher

develop appropriate teaching strategies and be accountable and responsible to help

our children and education on a whole.

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