Poverty/ Homelessness
One of the biggest issues facing our education system today is the impact of homelessness and poverty on our students. After watching The Homestretch I've realized that educators will do everything in their power to help students. This was a common theme throughout the movie when a teacher tok in one of her students because he did not have a permanent living situation and ICE had deported his father (De Mare, 2014). This was a high school senior by the name Roque. He had fallen behind in school since he had to miss 3 months of school to deal with his situation at home. The documentary also followed 2 other students and at the end explained where they were at in life. Roque had help from his teacher to get him into college. Lending a helping had even if it is a small gesture can go a long way.
An example of lending a helping hand are the recent policies that New York State has recently put in place. During the 2016-2017 school year New York had 148,418 homeless students enrolled in public schools which makes up 5.4% of the total amount of students enrolled in New York public schools (Cai, 2020). While this does not seem like a larger percentage, New York's 5.4% puts them 2nd in the US behind Washington DC with 7.5% (Cai, 2020). With having more students that need more help in public schools this requires more funds in order to help the schools help their students to receive the education that they need. In response to the homelessness rates in New York, New York state had created the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education. It was created to help students who are homeless by providing the students with the resources they need such as "transportation to and from the school of origin, if requested by the parent or guardian, or by the local liaison on behalf of an unaccompanied youth; and educational services comparable to those provided to other students, according to each student’s need" (McKinney, 2021).After the creation of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education "The New York State Education Department (NYSED) awarded more than $7 million in grants authorized by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act, State Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa announced today. NYSED awarded grants to 27 school districts, five Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES)-led consortiums, three district-led consortiums, and one charter school consortium." (New York State Education Department, 2022). As you can see New York State has taken big steps in helping our homeless students receive the proper guidance in order to be successful in their educational careers.
Another them is you can do anything you set your mind to. Going back to The Homestretch Roque was failing his classes and missed 3 months of school. He had a 1.6 gpa and still had the dream of going to college (De Mare, 2014). Everyone has a dream and so did Roque, Kasey and Anthony. Anthony wanted his son back and wanted to provide a better life for him and his son. He ended up getting a job and was going to court to try to get full custody of his son (De MAre, 2014). Kasey wanted to move into an apartment and live on her own and start working. She was able to move into an apartment and work but was last struggling to find full time work(De Mare, 2014). These three students were struggling in high school and all ended up achieving most of their goals.
Just like Roque, Kasey and Anthony, two artists, Eminem and Meek Mill, had dreams that they would pursue. Meek Mill is a rapper who was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He did not have a lot of money growing up and lived in poverty during his childhood. His song Dreams and Nightmares was part of his debut record album with the same title. The song starts off "I used to pray for times like this, to rhyme like this so I had to grind like that to shine like this" (Mill, 2012). What Meek Mill is saying is that he use to pray to have the life that he has now. All he wanted to do was become rich and famous so he doesn't have to live in poverty anymore. "'Cause these niggas want me dead and I gotta make it back home 'cause my mama need that bill money, my son need some milk" (Mill, 2012). Meek Mill is saying that people now envy him becaus eof the life that he is living but at the end of the day he can't fall back into the streets because he is the breadwinner to help his family survive. This line is showing that after all this time his mother is still struggling to pay her bills so he is using his fortune to help pay her bills and make sure that she can live the comfortable life that he's living. This is his way of reflecting on his past and knowing that he has to stay out of trouble and away from the haters in order to make sure that his family is able to thrive with him. Eminem has a similar story to Meek Mill. Eminem did not come from. He moved around a lot and there was a couple of times where him and his mother lived in a trailer park. While the movie 8 mile is not supposed to be a movie about Eminem's life, he wanted the main song, Lose Yourself, to connect to both the main character as well as his life. "'Cause man, these goddamn food stamps don't buy diapers and there's no movie, there's no Mekhi Phifer, this is my life" (Eminem, 2002). Eminem knows what it's like to be poor. He couldn't afford diapers for his own daughter. This is to show how many people actually live in poverty in the world. If someone's parents can't afford to pay for diapers and they're on all different types of government assistance programs then the child will feel these affects as well. "Mom, I love you, but this trailer's got to go; I cannot grow old in Salem's Lot" (Eminem, 2002). It shows that Eminem had this dream that he wants to get out of the trailer park that he is in and do better for not only himself but his mother as well. These artists went from rags to riches and their stories are important to younger generations to help them get up and out of poverty.
Resources:
Cai, J. (2020, July 27). Homeless Students in Public Schools Across America: Down but Not OutLinks to an external site.. National School Boards Association. https://www.nsba.org/Perspectives/2021/homeless-students
De Mare, A., Kelly, K., & Taber, K. (Producers), & De Mare, A., & Kelly, K. (Directors). (2014). The homestretch [Streaming video]. United States: Bullfrog Films.
Eminem (artist) Eminem & Jeff Bass (Producers) (2002, October 28). Lose Yourself. Detroit, Michigan, Aftermath Entertainment, Shady Records & Interscope Records
Mc-Kinney Vento Homeless Education. (2021). New York State Education Department. http://www.nysed.gov/essa/mckinney-vento-homeless-educationLinks to an external site.
Mill, Meek (2012, October 30). Dreams and Nightmares. United States. Warner Music Group & Maybach Music Group
New York State Education Department. (2022, August 17). New York State Department of Education Awards $7.1 Million in Federal Grants to Programs Supporting Homeless Students. http://www.nysed.gov/news/2022/new-york-state-education-department-awards-71-million-federal-grants-programs-supporting
It is truly inspiring to see educators like the teacher in The Homestretch who go above and beyond to help their students, like Roque. It's amazing how a small gesture of lending a helping hand can make a significant difference. It's important that we provide resources to help students like Roque, Kasey, and Anthony achieve their dreams despite their challenging situations. Your mention of Eminem and Meek Mill, who both came from difficult backgrounds and pursued their dreams, is a great reminder that with determination and hard work, anything is possible. It's also heartening to see examples like New York State's McKinney-Vento Homeless Education program that provide much-needed resources and support to students in need. However, what are some other ways that schools and communities can support homeless and impoverished students to ensure their academic success? In what other ways can we encourage and support young people in pursuing their goals and overcoming challenges as future educators?.
ReplyDeleteHi Jerremy,
ReplyDeleteFist of all, I love that you took the time to make your own image! It shows the time and effort you put into your blog posts. I think that those who's passion is education and teaching will do anything and everything in their power to help their students and I think thats beautiful. As future educators we need to think about if this is something we want to do, maybe not going to the extent of having a student live with them, but going the extra steps to support all students. I like how you focused on the student's dreams and how they had to work hard and still have to put in the work but were able to achieve them. I also like how you related this to famous rappers lives and show how they also came from poverty and even now being rich and famous they are scared of going back to that life. I think that idea is also important to keep in mind as our students passed traumas and situations aren't just forgotten about students hold onto them and we need to be aware of them and how to be trauma informed educators.