No Child Left Behind

Children all over the world have to face poverty, but what do some really call poverty? In the United States being in the poverty level means having made less than eighteen thousand dollars a year ($18,000) but yet government statistics claim it takes nearly twice that for most families to get by in many parts, most parts, of the US.

So, what happens when these families try to do better, to get out of this poverty level? What happens when these families go to college, raise their income levels, just past the poverty level to what the government believes they would need to ‘get by’? These families now lose any and all assistance that is offered to them by local government agencies, such as the social services, from child care assistance to food assistance to financial assistance that in some cases is direly needed.

Now these families are torn between wanting the best for their families, food for their children’s bellies, lights, other utilities, clean clothing, and a safe place to live. How are they to give their families everything they need on the money they make but then again how can they not work, not try, to give them everything they need and want? These families often have to choose between a light bill and insurance this month and how much in groceries or that dentist bill the next month. How fair is that? If the government believes that a family would need approximately thirty-six thousand dollars a year to maintain a decent household income level, why would the poverty level not be at that point then? Why would families be told that they cannot make even half that much if they want assistance? Doesn’t this sound like a two faced coin? It’s like Danged if you do and danged if you don’t.

So what are these families to do now? The government offers all kinds of assistance for families to get education and that seems to really help those who are able to follow through with this type of education. But what about those people who are not gifted enough to go to school or maybe they never even finished high school or even middle school? What happens to those families that are in their thirty’s when they are struggling with their kids financially and are already getting set in their ways? Are they just supposed to get over it, move on and do what it takes to help their families? What if they can’t or are too embarrassed to tell someone 10 years their junior that they can’t read or write or understand what they are trying to explain to them over and over again? Are these families part of the ‘no family left behind’ strategy that you often hear of in campaigns and slogans when politicians are running for office?

It is hard for others to really understand unless they were in your type of lifestyle while growing up. Some people find it easy to say, I was broke, broker than broke, when I was growing up. Some might even say, oh I went to jail or prison and I still ended up a lawyer or a doctor or what have you. They are the lucky ones who has the where with all to make it through all the red tape needed to get into school, needed to get an education, the type of education needed to push towards a higher