Sunday, September 13, 2015

U.S.A., Land of Limitations? By Nicholas Kristof


After reading Kristof's article, I IMEDIATELY thought of Delpit and Johnson. Kristof talks about the vast difference in the income barrier of the U.S. “A child born in the bottom quintile of incomes in the United States has only a 4 percent chance of rising to the top quintile, according to a Pew study, (Kristof 1). This study shows that children born in poverty are less likely to move into the top economic status in adulthood because of their economic status at birth. The children suffer from lack of resources and opportunities which prevents them from being successful in school and advancing to college or even finishing high school.
 
 

            “’Rich kids make a lot of bad choices,’ Professor Reardon notes. “They just don’t come with the same sort of consequences,’” (Kristof 1). This statement reminded me of Johnson when he said that people of privilege don’t realize they have privilege. You often see in the tabloids and news stories the children of someone famous doing something wrong. They were born with all the opportunity in the world at their fingertips and instead of putting it to good use, they get into partying, drinking, etc. and when they get into trouble, their parents bail them out. However, there are children who do not have the opportunity to attend school because of monetary issues that would give almost anything to have a chance but their parents’ economic status prevents them from doing so. Sometimes they are forced to steal to survive and when they are caught, they suffer the severe consequences which only inhibits them further.

            “School might have been an escalator to a better life, for Rick had a terrific mind, but as a boy he had an undiagnosed attention deficit disorder and teachers wrote him off,” (Kristof 1). Delpit specifically referenced teachers writing off students in her reading. She discussed that children who ignore veiled commands in class can be classified as behavior disordered and will be looked at differently going through school. Those students that go undiagnosed such as Rick may struggle in class but become labeled as a behavior problem because their parents do not have the opportunity to have their children checked for learning disabilities or afford medications to assist them. I found a website that discusses ADD/ADHD and learning and ways to assist students but its main focus is the cooperation of parents and teachers. If the teachers have already written off the students, they may not be willing to work with the student and causes them to fall farther behind.

My parents are not rich. I was not born into money. My parents both work fulltime to provide for my brother and I and I realize that we are more privileged than some. I traveled to South Africa in 2010 to study abroad and I noticed the vast difference between their economic statuses. We stayed in a shanty town overnight and their homes were shacks made of different materials they could find. After reading this article, it made me think of South Africa and how the US could head in the same direction if something isn't done to decrease the gap.

2 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed your blog. I especially liked how you were able to relate your experience in South Africa to a possible situation that might occur in the US. When you spoke about South Africa, I immediately thought about the homes I saw in Guatemala and how some of them were falling apart.

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  2. I really like the connection you made between Delpit and Kristof! I also agree with the points you made here-many kids who are born into families that are already very successful focus on drinking, partying and don't realize that there are so many other children who would give anything to simply have a good education; just to have a chance at success. Very well written, and I also like the connection you made to yourself at the end! :)

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