For me the most disheartening part of the "Hardscrabble Childhood" video was how alone these children must feel. There appears to be little or no support system for them either at home or at school. As we saw, they are often abused or neglected, the schools seem to want to turn there back on them and the government creates a fear in them. We have ask how we as a society can help these children. I think the first step is assuring the safety of these children. Unfortunately, as we know the foster care system is full of problems of its own, however, despite its limitations there are still benefits for its use. I feel that removing a child from the home is always a last resort decision, but is necessary at times. The intention should always be to keep the family together.
I think the ultimate solution lies within the educational system. Not only for the children struggling with poverty, but the children who are not. Perhaps the way is through teaching compassion and empathy. This is of course not an easy step, but an important one. Teach the child to care now and as adults they may be more likely to want to make a change to the system. I think it is possible to help these children and their families now, but perhaps with education we can prevent poverty from escalating and in an "ideal world" eliminate it all together.
On an individual basis the schools need to and should be able to foster a safe environment for all children no matter what their economic status. Whether it is the individual teacher or the school system as a whole, each one should be committed to not only educating children, but helping them develop. This can be by simply reassuring the students or providing for necessities that they may be lacking at home in a compassionate and supportive way. It is tragic that society turns its back on these children and their families and it is societies responsibility to recognize the problem of poverty and find a solution.
2 comments:
This is assuming that in most cases the teachers actually know what's going on though. I think in the cases in the documentary, the teachers were aware (the kids told them) but in many cases, they don't know. They just see a problem and consider an immediate solution. As you said in class, maybe the solution is only done in the "best interest of everyone else" and in such cases, this hurts the victim. Compassionate communication can certainly help though.
It can be difficult for teacher's to recognize a child in such situations. I wonder if the solution is to train them to recognize these problems. Teacher's are mandated reporters and trained to recognize abuse. I wonder if we could take this opportunity to allow them the chance to learn the signs of a child who is impoverished. I know that this adds yet another burden to a profession that is already way overtaxed, but I do believe that it may be a necessary step, at least in areas where poverty is recognized or prevalent.
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