My FIRST CONVERSATION PROFESSIONAL PARTNER:
JEANNIE FARR, shares about poverty in Hawaii.
Jeannie holds an associate degree in Early Childhood Education and a BA in Family Resources
She is currently enrolled for her Masters degree. Most importantly, Jeannie has been contributing to the field of early childhood since the past 16 years.
She presently work as a head start teacher.
Hawaii is a very beautiful place that I look forward to
visiting hopefully in the future.
Hawaii is a state with wonderful sites to visit and explore, so it is a tourist
attraction for holiday lovers .
In the midst of these, however, it is so sad to note that children are suffering from
the impacts of poverty which has hit their parents to a helpless state.
Child Poverty in Hawaii
One child in five in Hawai`i lives in a family with
income below the federal poverty threshold. When the high cost of living is
considered, a truer picture is obtained of nearly one child in four being in
poverty.
The major reason for child poverty in Hawaii is high cost of
living. This should be because of the fact that the state is a tourist
attraction. Another reason is that, goods arrive at Hawaii over the cost of
shipping, owing to the fact that it is an island and consumers have to pay for
this as the cost is added to the costs of the goods. Thirdly, the cost of accommodation
is so so high.
The majority of the population find it hard to meet up with
this standard of living and the outcome is joblessness, homelessness, poverty
and child poverty. Most of all is that the children are robbed of viewing a future to look forward to.
The homelessness in Hawaii is alarming:
Homeless in Hawaii
The following statistics are quite discouraging:
Statewide, 12-15,000 people are
homeless at some point of the year.
At least 6,000 are homeless at any
given day.
Children make up 23.5-39% of the
homeless.
17-42% of Hawaii's homeless are
employed full-time.
37% of the
homeless are of Native Hawaiian ethnicity.
People live on the beach. Good enough that the government offer tuition free school to the children at no cost inclusive of free meals, however, some parents get to bath their children in the school's facility and get them ready for school early enough there.
Families do multiple jobs ( global recession is causing job cut)
Families trade time together to meet basic needs.
Families are rendered homeless.
While
low-income people have been suffering, the more privileged sectors of the
community have continued to prosper. During the recession, Hawai`i continued to
rank near the top in the number of millionaires per capita; in fact, the number
actually increased by 18 %
Jeannie's feedback:
Concerns I have for poverty in terms of the world is that
poverty in itself is a great problem that leads to even greater problems;
social exclusion and inequality.
Of greater concern is addressing, reducing and
even
eliminating poverty, its causes and consequence
on the health and development of young children and their families. We
play an instrumental role in advocating for children and families.
My SECOND CONVERSATION PROFESSIONAL PARTNER:
STELLA EDEMEKONG, shares about poverty in Nigeria.
Stella holds a B.ED degree and a BA in English Language
Most importantly, Stella
has been contributing to the field of early childhood since the past 17
years.
She presently works as the Educational Coach with the Nursery, Primary and Highschool depts of the Obiye Academy here in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. e mail: starekong@gmail.com
Stella said:
How poverty affects young children and their
families.
Young children from poor
families lack basic amenities such as portable water for drinking, basic
healthcare facilities, good means of transportation, shelter in hygienically
conducive environment, proper items of clothing and food to mention but a few.
Such children feel deprived and are often depraved.
Some of them are exposed to many forms of
childhood abuse like if left alone without adult care at home while the parent
go in search of daily bread, may be sexually harassed by depraved adults in the
vicinity. Some are exposed to child labour and hawking. Some still are drafted
too early into child marriage; the girls are often victims here. A well to do elderly man approaches the
poverty-stricken family and for some huge sum of money, a under aged little
girl is sold out (without her consent) into marital gloom.
Poverty could result
into illness that can cause the early demise of a parent or both parents. This
in turn could mean no sure means of sustenance for the young child and there is
no governmental provision to cater for such children. Few of them may have
access to NGOs that could provide basic care for them.
Most poor families can
barely afford the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter for themselves.
What are the impacts of poverty to the field of
early childhood in our local community?
Our local community is a
predominantly fishing settlement, Amadi Ama, in Rivers State, Nigeria. The
middle class settlers are non-indigenes while majority of the indigenes are
low-income earners and fishermen Below are a list of the very obvious impacts
of poverty to early childhood programs within this environment:
Absenteeism
o Regular attendance at school is important for
educational success. Absenteeism has a negative effect on academic achievement
in reading, math, and general knowledge. Research has found that among poor
children, chronic absenteeism in kindergarten predicts low achievement levels.
Poor families' lack of resources such as transportation, food, and clothing may
prevent children from attending school regularly. Illness is another
significant factor to consider with regard to absenteeism since about 20 percent
of low-income infants and toddlers do not have necessary health attention from
Government Health Centre which are often over populated while the private
clinics are certainly way out of reach of the poor.
Emotional Impact
o Poverty's effects on the emotional development
of children has a negative impact on education. According to the Connecticut
General Assembly, research shows that children from poor families experience
emotional problems more often than non-poor children. As explained on
teach-nology.com, emotions are connected to memory, which affect the capacity
of children to grasp ideas, think and learn. This lack of emotional development
interferes with language development, further preventing the development of
higher-order thinking skills that assist with independent problem solving.
Children living in poverty may be fearful, which can be converted to
aggression, irritability, and apathy, all of which have a negative effect on
learning.
Low Academic Performance
o Poor cognitive development affects academic
performance. Children who live below the poverty line are 1.3 times more likely
to have developmental delays or learning disabilities compared to non-poor
children. Research indicates that nutrition impacts children's cognitive
ability and that poor nutrition retards physical growth, brain development, and
cognitive function. Chronic stress from lack of nutrition and a poor
environment inhibit the growth of dendrites and limit interconnections among
neurons. Poor children who attend school hungry perform more poorly on
standardized tests compared to non-hungry children.
o Poverty also increases the risk for lead
poisoning, which lowers IQ and causes speech and hearing problems.
School Unreadiness
o A significant effect of child poverty on
education is school unreadiness. School unreadiness is seen in low-income
children, who enter kindergarten lagging behind their peers and by fourth grade
do not meet reading proficiency standards. Children in poverty may not be ready
for school because they miss out on things that help with the development of
academic skills, such as computers, visits to zoos and museums, preschool
programs, and having access to literature and educational reading materials.
High Cost of
Early Childhood School Programs
o Most
poor families cannot afford the cost of sending their children to early
childhood schools as some have more children than they can financially cater
for and these school programs are run by private persons who do not get
subvention or any form of aid from the Government. These need to raise funds to
raise enough funds to pay their employees and meet up with the running cost of
their institutions.
The list of
the impact of poverty to the field of early childhood in our local community is
inexhaustible.
My view on the above encounters:
I was definitely unaware of the impacts of poverty on children. It is so enormous what children are faced with in the face of poverty.
I always never knew that a state like Hawaii had families displaced and now it is seen as part of their lives.
I am aware of the issues associated with poverty in Amadi ama, but the detailed outlining of Stella gives me a bigger and more exhaustive detail of how poverty is ruining the present lives and the future lives of children.
The new things I have learned is that children are being deprived of childhood experiences and we as professionals have to live up to our commitment. We have to take up the tool we have and use it. I learned that there is no option out of ADVOCACY for everyone who works with children. Also I have seen that poverty can be found in any part of the world, as long as there are children, and that when the Government of intervenes, it goes a long way to ameliorate the effect.
I also have learned that the impact of poverty always hit children hard and we need to understand that so that we can know how to meet all learners needs.
Current Issues, November 2012 featured The role of relationships in early childhood education.