Just Because Our Students Are Living in Poverty...

Ban Ki-Moon

Many times we allow stereotypes to rule our perceptions of others, whether it's race, gender, or socioeconomic status. We allow these perceptions to cloud our judgment, and we make decisions based on these misconceptions. We believe if it is true of one, it is true of all. How unfair to the students who walk into our classrooms every day.

A child "living in poverty" seems to be a hot button issue right now, and rightly so. But how much do we let the fact that any of our students are living in poverty affect how we relate to them? How does the fact that our students are living in poverty, change the way we teach ALL of our students?

I'm just thinking out loud. We need to make sure that we put the "brush" away, and see our students as individuals, and not a statistic.

Just because they are living in poverty, it does not mean that:

• we should not have high expectations of them, and only expect minimum effort.
• their mother is an addict, Dad is absent, and no one has a job.
• they can't read, write, or do math.
• they can't make it to school most of the time.
• they are not gifted.
• there is not anyone at home who wants them to be successful.
• they will behave poorly in class.
• they should be provided with limited or non-equitable resources,
• they can't compete with other students.
• they are unable to participate in any extracurricular activities. (STEM, Mystery Skype,etc...)
• they are only capable of test prep, higher-order thinking escapes them.
• can not graduate from high school or college.
• we are better than them, that we know better than them.
• they don't want more, from their teachers, their community, their world.
• they don't dream BIG.

Living in poverty comes with many struggles, but we should still provide our students with an education they could use to escape it.

Please take a moment to listen to this TED talk by Mia Birdsong," The Story We Tell About Poverty Isn't True."

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Stereotypes Stifle Students!

We all do it. We might not be conscious of it all the time, but we do it. Whether it is race, gender, nationality, religion, etc..., we stereotype.  Stereotyping in general is a bad thing,  but when it is done in our classrooms, we are committing a grave disservice to our students.


The Spanish kid, or his parents, are not going to have a handle on the English language, when in actuality he is a bright student who speaks English fluently. The African American male from an "inner-city" is going to be a behavior problem, when in fact he is the most polite kid you could ever meet.  The girl whose family lives in the trailer park is "trailer trash", and will eventually have a teen pregnancy.  She turns out to be a straight A student! The quiet child who never speaks seems "weird", yet leaves you a note about how much they love the class.

If we allow these stereotypes to guide the way we treat our students, we stifle them. I know a teacher who was very proud of her book club "for girls only"  I am sure she didn't do this to offend, she probably thought it was a great idea because girls are more likely to read than boys. But what happens to the boys, who are reluctant readers? Did the "girls only" book club reinforce the idea that only girls read?

What do educators do when they buy into the stereotype? Expectations are lowered. Lowered expectations lead to unchallenged, unmotivated, students.  They are not given the chance to grow, a chance to accomplish more than the minimum.   I can't begin to count the number of times I have heard teachers say, "My population of students can't...." These educators have not tried a lesson, program,etc...with these students. The assumption is made that because of their socioeconomic background, they can not rise to the challenge. I get tired of hearing about "these" students and "these" parents, as if having a degree automatically makes us better than them.  


A reinforced stereotype could be as simple as an innocent comment I made to my class one day.
 "I need two boys to move the AR tub to Ms. L's room."  
My girls immediately questioned me as to why they couldn't move it.  I let two girls carry the tub next door.:)


It can be difficult to avoid forming opinions of people based on stereotypes. For example, you might peruse the New Admission form, and look for a number of things. Is the new kid a boy or a girl? Are they coming from another country? Where did they live or go to school?, What race are they? Are they being raised by a single parent? Your idea of who this child is begins to form in your mind, creating a biased version of this student you have never met. Instead of succumbing to the perceived stereotype, give the student a chance. 


Let's drop the brush  we sometimes paint our kids with. Let's stomp on the stereotypes, and allow our students to be who they are.  Individuals, who want, and need, the same chance as everyone else.