Homeless on Campus Exposition - Essay Example

DD Month YYYY AN EXPOSITION OF ‘HOMELESS ON CAMPUS’ The number of homeless in the United States is increasing each and every day. This is mainly because of the rising costs of the houses. Most of the states in the U.S are equally very expensive and to afford a decent housing for students is especially more challenging to the poor students. It is also notable that most of the colleges and universities in the U.S do not pay attention to the plight of the homeless students (Bader, 1). The following discussion is therefore going to give an exposition on the article “Homeless on Campus’ by Eleanor Bader. The article has discussed the plight of a number of college students who have been rendered homeless. The first one is Aesha who happens to be in her last semester in college. Aesha became homeless after she walked out of the three bedroom apartment that she shared with her son, her son’s father, her mother’s boyfriend as well as her mother. Aesha and her son left the three bedroom apartment mainly because her son’s father became a violent. Physical abuse from a partner is quite devastating both for the victim as well as other close family members that witness. It is even a criminal offence for a person to engage in domestic violence. The physical abuse would not only have caused a direct harm to Aesha but also an indirect harm in her studies as she is a student. It is not possible for any student to juggle family work, school work and an abusive partner. I therefore agree in entirety with the decision that Aesha made of leaving her son’s father. This would save both her physical health as well as her emotional health. She will therefore at least be able to concentrate in hers studies despite the homelessness challenges that she might face. After leaving the three bedroom apartment, Aesha was forced to spend her nights in a temporary shelter for one month. This was quite dangerous for the life of her son as well as her. Safety is never guaranteed in temporary shelters in the cities. Her son was also exposed to dangerous conditions in that shelter house as he was likely to catch various diseases like a common cold. The next shelter that Aesha and her son landed in after spending their nights at the shelter house was the emergency assistance unit that was located in the city. The living conditions in this place were equally atrocious as the place was filled with a crowd of people. Sleep was not comfortable at all and benches were used as beds. This would only have aided in causing backaches for the users of those beds. From the article it is also clear that Aesha never got any satisfying sleep for all the nights that she spent in that unit. This is because she was always afraid for her safety. The fear was aggravated by the fact that the unit comprised of a number of people. It would not be easy to determine if the crowd was genuine people or they were a crowd of criminals who would cause harm to Aesha and the son. Relieve later came to Aesha and her son after they were transferred from the unit to a hotel in the city. However, this transfer was short-lived. They would no longer be hosted in the hotel and they were forced by the circumstances to go back to the horrible unit that they had resided before. This kind of a temporary transfer shows the uncertainties that homeless students and people generally go through. They cannot be assured of a permanent abode for them. All these uncertainties raise the stress levels of these homeless students and in severe cases; it can be responsible for depression. Research has shown that depressed students stand a higher chance of registering bad grades in their academic performance. In worse scenarios, these students can lose the urge to continue living. A loss of an urge for life has been shown to boost suicidal feelings among students. The article indicates that Aesha was finally able to move to a family shelter that was situated in Queens. Though the family shelter offered a roof over her head as well as that of her son, it still presented unique challenges for her. It is noted that she had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning in order to prepare to go to school. This preparation entailed preparing her son and taking her to her girlfriend’s place from which she would pick him after school hours. She would then board a bus to Brooklyn and later a two-hour train journey to school. On a rough estimate, it can be shown that she spent a minimum of four hours before arriving at school. This shows two unique challenges that Aesha was facing. First is the fact that she was a single parent having run away from her from her abusive partner. This makes it difficult for her to manage her school work as well as her son as she has no one to offer her the support that she needs. Aesha also has no one to turn to in order to get support, for example from either the government or from her college. The only assistance that she gets is an understanding from her teachers once she offered a concrete explanation for her periodical absence from class. This clearly shows that the college has not put in place any measures to assist this kind of homeless students. The college should have even established a day-care center to take care of the kids of these single parents who were college students. The author of this article also discusses the plight of one Adriana Broadway. It is indicated that the student had no permanent abode. She would live with whoever offered to accommodate her for the night. On this note, she has spent her nights with at least ten families who were sympathetic enough to take her in when she had nowhere else to go to. Adriana left her home at a tender age of thirteen. This is quite a sensitive age as teenage age presents its own unique challenges. A teenage child is at a critical condition in which they need the full support of their parents in order to make the right choices in life. A lack of parental support can make the child to develop juvenile delinquencies. The intentions of the families who took her in would also not be pre-determined and there was no one to hold them accountable in case of any problem. Johnny Montgomery is equally another student who had been chased away from his home by the mother. This is due to the conflict of interest that was occasioned to the mother and she was forced to choose between her son and her boyfriend. Unfortunately, she chose the boyfriend. This shows that some parents are responsible for the growing number of street children. The parents are not caring enough to an extent that they can throw their children out of the house for their own self interests. Asad Dahir acquired is homelessness status first having been a refugee in Kenya from Somalia. Then he and his family were resettled first to Atlanta, Georgia and then to Ohio. The high living standards in these costs saw this boy and his brother leaving for the streets. This basically shows the plight of the refugees. They are literally on the mercy of the government and their lives become miserable when they do not get any support. Their refugee status is even made worse by the fact that they are poor and they cannot afford housing. This is just but a few examples of the plight of the homeless students. It is also shown that some of the students are forced to sleep in their cars and waking up in the wee hours of the morning to take a shower and change clothes in the school gym. For those who are lucky however, they are able to get scholarships for their college studies (Bader, 2). A solution ought to be established in order to end the plight of these homeless students. Measures should be put in place so as to increase the reporting cases of homeless students. A systematic manner of helping the students should also be considered, just like the one that is made available in elementary and high school. The colleges should built affordable hostels for these students so as to afford them housing as well as to help them cut down on commuter costs. The colleges should also establish day care centers as some of these students happen to be having kids. The state and the federal government should also step in to answer to the plight of these homeless students. This will give the homeless students a forum in which to air their concerns. Counselors will also play a major role in helping these students to cope up with the challenges that they face (Bader, 5). Lastly, the article notes that homelessness can be caused by loss of jobs, cessation of unemployment welfares, illnesses, termination of child support and drug/alcohol abuse (Bader, 5). These are the issues that need to be addressed in order to reduce the levels of homelessness among the college students. Work Cited Bader, Eleanor, Homeless on Campus. The Progressive, 2004. Read More