Are the children to blame? No, but...

I am currently interning at Catholic Charities in downtown Pittsburgh. I am working on a number of projects, but one in particular is called Hope Totes. This program is a weekend feeding program for children on free or reduced lunches at their schools. We are focusing on a high school near our offices and hoping that this program will provide students with food for the weekends during the school year. Catholic Charities had one of the most successful feeding programs last summer and are hoping to expand feeding children during the school year. I was shocked to learn about how many students received free or reduced school lunches in the city of Pittsburgh. High schools, in the Pittsburgh area, range from 0% to 75% of students receiving reduced lunches. The schools that do not have any children receiving free or reduced lunches are located in the suburbs and the schools with the majority of students getting these lunches are located in places like downtown and the Hill District. Hope Totes is hoping to reach at least thirty children, in its first year, and provide a mentoring program to go along with giving them a backpack of food for the weekend. The thought behind a program like this is if the children do not have enough money to pay for lunch during the week, what could they possibly be eating on the weekend? These programs are becoming popular nationwide and helping children not go hungry.

Image Credit: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Does a program like this help a certain demographic and provide them with resources that might not normally be accessible to them? There is an overwhelming amount of African American students that are receiving free or reduced lunches and that might not have access to healthy food on the weekends. Does a program, like Hope Totes, help these children get out of poverty and have a better chance to compete with their other schoolmates? How can children, who are hungry when they are trying to do school work, expect to contend with their fellow students that do not have to think about fulfilling their basic needs? My hope is that these programs help children that are in this position, but why are they in this position in the first place?

            Referring to the “culture of poverty” theory, the idea that attitudes and behavior patterns keep people poor, determines the link between why people are poor and how their culture might explain this. In the article, “ ‘Culture of Poverty’ Makes a Comeback,” by Patricia Cohen, she touches on certain aspects of people’s culture, like marriage, types of neighborhoods, and segregation, and how the views on these subjects contribute to poverty. Instead of earlier notions about people being lazy and blaming the poor for being poor, the new argument recognizes that a variety of factors contribute to poverty. The factors contributing to poverty are anywhere from political to economic reasons for the poor staying poor. The findings that researchers saw were not always parallel with what people assume. This article came more from a structuralist perspective because they see poverty as a problem occurring within society. Part of this article talks about neighborhoods that have more violence. This limits the ability for students to learn. This is because they are not able to communicate outside the family, and if the parent did not go to college, so the child does not have access to communicate on a higher level. This can be one side of the argument why these students do not do as well in school as students who’s parents went to college, but what else can attribute to this notion?

            In association with children receiving free school lunches, the “culture of poverty” cannot fully explain why these children cannot afford to buy lunch at a regular price and cannot say that their culture leaves them hungry. Some of these things are out of their control and even their caregiver’s control. So what can explain why some families do not have enough food to eat? What explains children receiving free or reduced lunches are more likely not to graduate school, or to get arrested, than students that do not?

Image Credit: Tote4Pgh
In the article, “The Poverty of an Idea,” Maurice Isserman writes about arguments for and against the “culture of poverty” theory. A book written by Michael Harrington, published over fifty years ago, says people are not poor because of the choices they have made, but because society is hindering them from getting ahead. These two articles describe the same thesis. The theorists and writers that are quoted in each article seem to define the “culture of poverty” in different ways and to use it when they deem appropriate. But, it is stated in one of the articles, that Michael Harrington was originally for the concept of the “culture of poverty” because he thought it would help the government enact more policies to help the poor. But, people used this concept to work against the poor and blame them instead of the wrongdoings of society. These two articles describe the original notion of the “culture of poverty” and the new notion for it. But, one is described in a more systemic view and the other is a cultural view to why people are poor. So, where did things get confusing and people start saying that people are to blame for their own poverty? Or, why are people not to blame for being poor?

A child going hungry, especially in the United States, is unacceptable. Programs can be started and food can be given to children in need, but does this really solve the problem? Is racism the problem that is hindering these children? Is it an institutionalized problem that hurts this population? No matter your opinion, the poor are staying poor and children are the largest population being damaged by this fact. The simple giving of food or clothing cannot solve this problem. There needs to be policies enacted and society needs to change as a whole to help this population succeed.

External Links:

'Culture of Poverty' Makes a Comeback- an article by Patricia Cohen, mentioned above, describes the new view to the "culture of poverty" thesis.

The Poverty of an Idea- an article by Maurice Isserman, mentioned above, takes the view that the "culture of poverty" theory has been misinterpreted over the years and might not mean what people think it does.

An increase in the number of reduced school lunches- an article that talks about how the number of children receiving free or reduced lunches is growing and the reasons for this growth.

A list of schools in the city of Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas that tells the percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunches. 

Image Credit: MackenzieChild