Context: My buddy needed my help yesterday with his psychology or philosophy summaries (Honestly, I don’t know the difference (or care)). So, since I’m a nice guy and would have just spent Yesterday afternoon and evening goofing off and watching TV. I decided to do it for him, he had like 3 other projects to take care of. There was also another reason see I’m not the best at writing non-fiction on the spot, and as much as I hate to admit it, I should be able to write up a decent summary of an article. I had to read two different articles (and by reading I mean skim and look at the abstract summaries) and I think I did a pretty good job. It felt like a waste to write these things up and then just forget about them, plus Kevin doesn’t know about this blog, so I figure I’d post’em. There both basically about poor communities and children, so if you’re into that or have 10 minutes to kill, give ‘em a look.
Doll Beth’s article on the real promises and cautions of resilience models in schools, highlighted the data found after studying the effects of said models on elementary schools in poor communities. The data gathered showed that when children are surrounded by positive role models and people who show resilience they should have more enthusiasm towards success. The models assisted the children with programs that enhanced their social engagement, drive, and self-efficacy. As well as provided youths with caring mentors and authority figures who projected success and took full advantage of their opportunities prosper despite being faced with similar misfortunes and hardships. However, while these resilience models did prove effective in these elementary schools, they should not be used as a rank or test to predict the chance of student success. Certain children did respond well to the resilience models, but the ones that did not shouldn’t be seen as lost causes as their intelligence may not be the sole factor in their failure. Considering that these children were living in poor communities, it is not impossible that personal problems played a role in their behavior and work ethic. Things such as lack of nutrition, parental stress or community violence can definitely alter a child’s productivity levels in the class. Speak from personal experience, that despite being surrounded by positive role models and friends in high-school, I was still a lousy student due to “personal issues.” In conclusion, while resilience models did have positive effects on the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders the data gathered should still be taken with a grain of salt as they do not show all of the issues a student can be dealing with.
Doll, Beth, et al. “The Promise and the Caution of Resilience Models for Schools.” Psychology in the Schools, vol. 48, no. 7, Aug. 2011, pp. 652-659. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/pits.20588.
In Gary W. Evans article “The Environment of Childhood Poverty” he discusses at length a well-known fact that one of the most toxic environments for children to grow up in is poverty. In fact, in the first paragraph, on the first page, the article states that “Psychologists are aware of the multiple disadvantages accompanying low income in America.” While this mainly affects minorities such as African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans in urban areas it also affects Caucasians (and minorities) in rural communities. While everyone deserves a chance to shine, children born into poverty are often doomed from the start. They are forced from childhood to avoid and overcome challenges such as drugs, crime and almost all types of violence. On top of that, unlike wealthier or even middle-class parents who can afford to take time off and focus on their children, poor parents often have to work around the clock for little pay. This means that children of poverty are usually ignored, mal-nourished or even abused by their parents.
Many countries across the world have put in place government programs to help and assist these poor people. However, due to lack of funding and at times lack of interest government programs do not satisfy the needs or requirements to minimize poverty. For many youths across the nation and planet education and scholarships are the only way out of poverty and gang life. However, through no fault of their own, if a young person is fortunate enough to make it into college, the stress, workload, and hardships alone can suffice to push them back into old dangerous and self-destructive habits. This is why almost every man, woman or child who make it out of poverty and into a life a success or luxury is considered an incredible success story; they are beating literally impossible odds.
The Wannabe Writer 