Mathematics of Poverty III: Three Facts About Moving Out of Poverty

     Continuing with our theme about poverty, I think we must first acknowledge some facts: first and foremost, we have to accept that a sort of mathematic equation for poverty exists.  Add a bad childhood to a few poor life choices in middle and high school, divide that by a high cost of living and decreasing “living wage” jobs, multiply that result by four or five mouths to feed and suddenly the percentages of families who can survive today goes way down.  Can someone in America still go from the alphabet streets of Anderson, South Carolina to the skyscrapers on Wall Street or a CEO’s office in Silicon Valley? Absolutely!  Do people win $640 million dollar Mega Millions jackpots?  Yes.  The odds are fairly similar.  If you add together all the “rags to riches” stories in Gen X or Gen Y, and then subtract all the “rags to the streets” stories, my guess is you will have a negative number; quite a high negative number. 
       Second, this “mathematics of poverty” is a generational cycle: children being born into an existence that teaches them hard work, dedication, and commitment only produces success for certain people and that the odds are stacked against them causes this cycle to repeat infinitely.  The only way to break this cycle is to insert an alternative set of numbers into the equation.
       In her book entitled A Framework for Understanding Poverty, author Ruby Payne suggests that much like the culture of a foreign country, the class system in America consists of distinct cultures.  In the poverty class, there are certain hidden “rules” of class that people who make up that class follow—so too with the middle class and the wealthy class.  If you grow up in a particular class, you learn the hidden rules of your class.  For most people, the only way to move from one class to the next is to have someone teach you the hidden rules, and “show you the ropes” of that class, so to speak.
       Countless studies have shown that most individuals who dig themselves out of poverty do so with the help of others.  It usually takes a committed teacher, a dedicated social worker, or a close friend or fellow church member to help a person navigate the complex and confusing rituals of class society.  It is a mentor, whether formal or informal, who makes the difference for most people who make the journey, especially children born in poverty.
       The other common factor for most people who move out of poverty is their recognition of the importance of education.  It is only through education in its purest sense—learning how to learn—that people in poverty discover a better way.  Education frees them from many of the stereotypes common to the hidden rules of their class.  The not so positive result of this education is that many of those friends and relatives still in poverty resent and pre-judge those leaving poverty through education as “having forgotten their roots.”  Dr. Payne says, “To move from poverty to middle class, an individual must give up many relationships for achievement.”  This means, many of the support systems those in poverty have constructed will have to be scraped (at least temporarily) in order to move forward.  This is a very scary place to be for most people—being called to leave the familiar and the known behind for the unfamiliar and the unknown.
        Recognizing the cycle of poverty, how the odds are stacked against those who live in poverty, and the importance of mentors and education in lifting people out of poverty is a beginning.  Seeing that this trip is much like Abraham’s Biblical journey from the land of his descendants into the land of the unknown and acknowledging the sacrifice those on the journey have to make begins to make the trip seem possible.  In my next post I’ll share even more concrete things the average person can do to help those trapped in poverty.