Education Framework for Understanding Poverty

Education Framework for Understanding Poverty The purpose of this paper is to introduce and analyze the book a Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby Payne. Specifically it will discuss how the book relates to education in America today. The author is a long-time educator who has been collecting data on poverty and her students for over two decades. Her book is extremely useful for educators, social workers, and anyone who deals with youth, poverty, and the problems it can create in the educational and social systems of America.

She maintains that schools educate with the language and thought processes of the middle class, even though these may not be recognized, and that is why many children do not succeed in the educational system. The author's main purpose for writing this book was to share the information she learned throughout her career with other educators and social workers.

She has learned many things about poverty in America, from how it transfers from generation to generation, to how the school systems ignore the "hidden rules" of a social class, and ignoring these rules keeps these children from succeeding in the school system. She believes that education and relationships are what truly move people out of poverty (Payne, 2005, pg. 11).

Her views continue throughout the book with information and statistics to back them up, and she makes her point by citing statistics, but also with case studies and scenarios that incorporate information from real people and their situations that the author has encountered over the years.

Ultimately, the author uses a variety of hands-on tools and scenarios to place the reader directly into the experience of poverty and hopelessness that so many students face each day, to make them more fully aware of their students' needs, desires, and abilities, in an attempt to ensure student success. The author's presentation and techniques are extremely valid and enlightening. The author not only defines terms clearly, she gives examples including case studies and scenarios and interprets the information fairly and without bias.

These case studies make the student's situations more clear to the reader, and can help them identify similar situations in their own classrooms, when they occur. For example, she includes many techniques teachers can use to help students that might be in chaos, from "metaphor stories" (Payne, 2005, pg. 111) to how to provide the right emotional resources to students who are unfamiliar with them (Payne, 2005, pg. 86). The author also includes checklists and other items so the teachers interact with the text and bring home more information as a result.

Terms are clearly defined, and the information is extremely significant The author has clearly done a lot of research and study into poverty and how it manifests in the classroom. The author presents the information clearly and with examples that just about anyone can understand which can help the reader with identifying similar problems in their own classrooms. The text was easy to read, extremely entertaining, and yet enlightening at the same time.

It is extremely valuable for the novice or experienced teacher, and anyone who deals with children of poverty and.