Poverty and Children in the United States - Essay Example

?POVERTY AND CHILDREN IN THE USA The contemporary era has witnessed tremendous alterations taking place in social, cultural, commercial and corporatefields with speedy and continuous pace, which have certainly left indelible impact on every stratum of the US socioeconomic establishment. Although most of these alterations appear to be positive and advantageous one, in the wake of technological advancement and have added to the progress and development of the country, yet the unexpectedly fast and artificial progress has also given birth to several social evils and cultural problems; high crime rate, increase in poverty and rise of class differences are some of the important affects of the growing social changes in the US society. The technological advancements and extraordinary industrialization has accelerated poverty rate in the country, and a large number of people is leading a miserable life as well as is deprived of the basic human needs even. Children are supposed to be one of the most affected strata of society that has become the victim of growing poverty in the country. Since children are not in a position to earn their bread, they are certainly dependent of their parents and guardians for the achievement of all basic necessities of life. Since the growing rate of poverty has decreased the earning and purchasing power of the adults, it has become really hard for them to feed their children properly within limited opportunities and resources at large. As a result, the children appear to be deprived of adequate and sufficient food, clothing and shelter on the one hand, and apposite education, health and transportation facilities on the other. “According to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau in September 1996, 13.8% of Americans live in poverty. Many more are on the borderline. Poverty affects all ages, but an astonishing 48% percent of its victims are children, as about 15 million children -- one out of every four -- live below the official poverty line. In addition, 22% of Americans under the age of 18 -- and 25% under age 12 -- are hungry or at the risk of being hungry.” (Quoted in heartsandminds.org) Scarcity of food and lack of regular and sufficient nutrition drastically tell upon the health and fitness of the children, which make them incapable of doing petty domestic chores even by lending a hand to their parents. Moreover, it has also become almost impossible for them to pay due heed to their studies and education. If a person is not allowed to have access to edibles essential for his growth and strength, it would not be possible for him to work efficiently. Hence, neither the growing are children capable of attending their schools for seeking education regularly, nor can they show any performance in sports and games in the playgrounds. Consequently, the US society is mere preparing the sick, weak and untidy generation to run the political, social, economic and religious affairs of the country for the future years to come. According to the Connecticut Commission for Children, between 2001 and 2002 alone, the number of poor children in the U.S. rose from 11.7 to 12.1 million. In Connecticut, one in ten children lives in poverty. (2004: 2) The researches reveal the very fact that poverty has snatched smiles and giggling from the very lips of the poor children. Since modern technological era has helped in the development of mental capacities, the children are in a position to comprehend the natural and social phenomena in their environment. Moreover, the IT age has expanded the communication activities by improving the communication devices, the developments being made in various parts of the world can be watched and monitored through the use of cable TV. The poor children also watch the same colorful activities and long for enjoying the same level of entertainment and recreation for them as well. However, since their down-trodden parents are unable to feed them even in an adequate mode, the question of providing such precious and costly recreational facilities to their innocent children is undoubtedly beyond questioning. Consequently, the poor children remain distressed, tensed and disturbed on the one hand, and undergo emotional and psychological trauma with the passage of time on the other. “Poverty can”, Costello et al. argue, “endanger children’s mental health through exposure to a range of adversities. Several researchers, who noted the high levels of psychiatric symptoms in minority children living in inner-city areas, have argued that the urban environment, minority status, or both together are harmful to emotional and behavioral development.” (2001:1494) As a result, the US can witness a sizeable number of mentally retarded individuals during the coming years because of poverty and unequal distribution of wealth, opportunities and resources at large. Another imperative effect of poverty on children is the absence of hygienic, safe and secure dwellings for them. Thus, innocent children often become victim of sexual abuse at the hands of the most iniquitous and wicked pedophiles. Because of the deficiency in respect of understanding the ill intentions of the criminals, they often view them as their well-wishers, and are thus entrapped into the nefarious schemes of these nasty offenders. Moreover, some of the poor children surrender before the sex offender against the fulfillment of their simple and austere wishes. Since the parents of the poor children are unable to buy even the trivial articles, toys and edibles for them, they are hunted by the criminals against the promise of offering these trivial things for them. Another affect of poverty is the abject housing condition of the poor children, who live in slum areas or adversely constructed dirty flats and apartments; and constantly suffer from one disease or the other because of the absence of healthcare facilities for them. Additionally, instead of enjoying any free healthcare facility, they are refused to be treated free of cost. Hence, the poor children either die of the disease or get paralyzed mentally or physically subsequently. However, no one bothers for their inadequate and miserable health condition, and thus they become a black mar on the very face of society. Neither their brain grow in such a normal pace where the cognitive development among them could be declared as apposite one, nor they acquire the physical strength equal to their age fellows belonging to middle and upper classes of society. “A new study finds that certain brain functions of some low-income 9- and 10-year-olds pale in comparison with those of wealthy children and that the difference is almost equivalent to the damage from a stroke.” Furthermore, the gangs of criminals, deviators and offenders also keep an eye on the children belonging to the lower stratum. And whenever they get an opportunity, they kidnap the innocent children for the fulfillment of their sexual lust as well as for quenching the thirst of their carnal desires. “Condemned to the sub-human life of the streets”, Cullen argues, “and destined to become prostitutes as the cast-offs of a selfish society, thousands of hungry children are the living witnesses to the greed and avarice of the few hundred ruling families who maintain a closed system of structural injustice perpetuated by violence and a disdain for human rights.” (1992:2) Dorothy Alison, renowned US feminist activist and writer, also narrates her horrible personal experiences during her stay with her stepfather, who sexually abused the poor small girl of fives years for six long years. Consequently, she always felt insecure and unprotected in the company of men, and consults the females for her sexual gratification in her mature years. Thus, she feels no repentance on sexually oriented to be lesbian out of sheer feelings of hatred and disgust for the male folk particularly her stepfather. “There was no meaning”, Alison submits, “in what my stepfather did to me; but the stories I have made out of it do have meaning.” (2005: 218) Thus, an imperative proportion of the children coming of the lower class are reported to be sexually abused and harassed by the criminals and offenders time and again. Another feminist writer, Marisa Silver, also throws light on the abject condition of the children belonging to the lower communities of American society in her autobiographical article “The Passenger.” Silver narrates her own childhood story, where she had to lead an abject and shabby life in the company of her single mother in a slum area of Cleveland, where the surroundings maintained vagabonds and scoundrels in plenty. Silver’s mother had to struggle from dawn to dusk to make both ends meet. The most horrible and wearisome thing was absence of secure life, as the author’s mother also scared the scoundrels and their obnoxious and condemnable activities. Since Silver was the daughter of the unwed mother, her mother was the source of earning as well as the source of relief and protection for her. She had no familiarity with the word father altogether. She depicted her feelings in such a way that reflect the actual state of affairs the poor children face in their everyday life. She writes that her mother takes her to hotel once a month that was the greatest pleasure of her childhood life. “I was to order”, Silver recollects “the cheapest thing on the menu at the hotel or share whatever my mother had.” (2004: 296) Hence, Silver has successfully given the account of the despondent life the American citizens of lower classes have been leading under most unpleasant and deprived circumstances. The theorists and scholars vehemently stand as firm as rock against poverty due to its curses, and propose different suggestions for the alleviation of poverty with an iron hand. They are of the opinion that it is poverty that is adversely damaging the very roots of American society. If the individuals are kept deprived of necessities, comforts and facilities of life for long, they may turn revengeful and aggressive enough to snatch these comforts from the haves or elite stratum. Thus, poverty, miserable standard of life and deprivation are creating negative and destructive feelings in the innocent minds of the children. It is therefore the researchers declare poverty as the root cause of unabated rise in the crime rate in the US society. The children belonging to pathetic and troublesome financial household aptly get involved into theft, robbery, embezzlement and other white collar crimes in professional life. Hence, they have neither adherence to their community, nor do they maintain any emotional attachment with their motherland and fellow citizens at all. Hence, poverty is serving as a slow poison to distract the innocent children from the right path of glory and creativity in general. “Homicide and assaults”, Hagan observes, “are associated with high proportions of minority population, with poverty and low income, with low status jobs and low education, and with income inequality.” (2010: 107) To conclude, it becomes crystal clear that poverty paves the way towards prejudiced behavior and biased attitude because of the low education level, low social status, low income level and least privileges society offers to the poor stratum of society. “With the country in its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, four million additional Americans found themselves in poverty in 2009, with the total reaching 44 million or one in seven residents. Millions more were surviving only because of expanded unemployment insurance and other assistance.” (Eckholm, 2010: 2) Thus, poverty is damaging the personality and ambitions of the innocent children and driving them to the path of destruction because of scarcity of goods and education and health facilities. Consequently, poverty is becoming the pivotal point for the economic and emotional collapse of the US children. LIST OF REFERENCES: 1. Allison, Dorothy. 2005 Survival is Least of My Desires. An Extract from “Skin: Talking About Sex”, Class & Literature. Firebrand Books 2. Costello, E. Jane, Keeler, Gordon P., and Angold, Adrian 2001 Poverty, Race/Ethnicity, and Psychiatric Disorder: A Study of Rural Children American Journal of Public Health http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1446810/ 3. Cullen, Father Shay. 1992 The Power and the Poverty, Causes of Child Abuse. Retrieved from http://www.saintanthonyofpadua.net/messaggero/pagina_stampa.asp?R=&ID=291 4. Eckholm, Erik 2010 Recession Raises Poverty Rate to a 15-Year High The New York Times September 16. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/us/17poverty.html?_r=3&hp 5. Hagan, Frank E. 2010 Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods & Criminal Behavior Sage Publishers 6. Silver, Marisa. 2004 The Passenger A story in the collection Babe in Paradise. 2000. Quoted in “More Stories We Tell” 7. Toppo, Greg 2008 Study: Poverty dramatically affects children's brains Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-12-07-childrens-brains_N.htm 8. Children in Poverty: America's Ongoing War Retrieved from http://www.heartsandminds.org/articles/childpov.htm 9. Children and the Long-Term Effects of Poverty. The Connecticut Commission on Children http://www.cga.ct.gov/coc/pdfs/poverty/2004_poverty_report.pdf Read More