The Endless Struggle in The Working Poor by David Shipler

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Reading the last paragraph of Dreams, a chapter from The Working Poor by David Shipler, I came to the realization that all of the assigned readings were like many of Shakespeare's tragedies. Each one of the handouts and books wrote about a similar subject which is impoverished children in the educational system. For Example, in Ordinary Resurrections by Jonathan Kozol, he writes "Most of the children here, no matter how hard they may work and how well they may do in elementary school, will have no chance, or almost none, to win admission to the city's more selective high schools, which prepare their students for good universities and colleges." It is true that in Carger's book Of Borders and Dreams, Alejandro's struggle to succeed ultimately resulted in failure, but there are many whose struggle reaps great rewards. Although these stories tell tales of how poor children have little chance of success, this is not always the case. Shipler shares the view's of the teachers who are attempting to educate these children. In one of his paragraph's he writes, "So, as the educational machinery processes them year after year, they lose their imaginations about what can be." This is what many schools and teachers are doing even if they are not aware. The goal is not to educate them, but simply to get them to graduation. If a person is an effective teacher, then some of what was taught will stay with the student. But if a teacher is using the banking method of teaching, then the student will leave behind everything they had learned. I believe myself to be somewhat an expert on what poor children can and cannot achieve. I say this because I lived a life full of obstacles and was still able to tread water. My story began at the a... ... middle of paper ... ...ter, I met my first boyfriend and became pregnant. Feeling pressured, we were married and less than two years later, divorced. After all that had happened in my life I decided that I was not going to drown in life, but instead I was going to start swimming. I got a full-time job and went back to school part-time. I reconciled with my father and forgave him for all he had done. In 2001, through the first time home owners program, I bought a house. For the first time I was happy. Today, I live in a beautiful two story home, my wonderful ten year old son loves me, I have a wonderful soon to be husband, and two step daughters. Although I am not rich, I also am not poor. Someday, I will become a teacher and help others learn to swim in deep waters like I did. So, when people write about how the poor may never get anywhere, I laugh and think "you wait and see."

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