Social Justice And Poverty Essay

The definition of Social Justice is the "distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a society." The main focus of Social Justice is to help make society function better by providing the support and tools to help turn lives around. Furthermore, poverty though subjective and difficult to label, is defined as "the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support". Therefore, poverty is a condition of Social Justice and affects 12.7% of the population. Throughout this essay I will explore why poverty is a key issue and how we as professionals, can work together to lessen the percentages of poverty, and make this a more just society. Although there are numerous causes of poverty I will only touch on the one that I find most important, lack of education. Education has consecutively been a problem in society, because the lack of this essential tool of survival does not allow for growth, especially in urban areas. Many factors play in part with lack of education. For example, absence of advanced courses offered in high schools, the focus on standardized testing, lack of creativity, and a nonexistent role model. Theresa Capra states in her article, Poverty and its Impact on

I am from a small town that only offered 2 advanced courses and minimal college preparation. My first two years of college were a struggle, my first year resulting in a few failed classes. By the end of my college career I was able to handle the work load resulting in being awarded the Dean's and Presidents list multiple times but the first year of my college career scar my transcript and will be with me forever. My peers experienced the same issues and a large percent of my high school graduating class did not go on to graduate college. Instead, they decided on blue collar careers and began having children, participating in the vicious cycle of what they saw repeated before them from their parents and