"Mr. Z, What is Poverty?"

This is a question that I have been asked a handful of times over the past two weeks. Last week I went to a staff development meeting at the high school. As I walked down the hall I was admiring the class pictures. One class picture grabbed my attention. It was from the mid 1960s and along the bottom it has a quote, “Ignorance is Conducive to Slavery, Education Emancipates the Mind.” I was blown away, what a powerful statement. I used the statement the next day in class as my warm up. I asked the students what it meant and where they think I found the quote. The overwhelming majority thought that it meant not to act foolish and that I found it on the internet. I explained to them how not knowing in life can make you a slave to things such as bad choices, drugs, alcohol, a lifestyle that will lead you to prison, and poverty. I then explained how by becoming educated you are not able to become enslaved by the ills of this world. You have a choice. My explanation of the quote was more long winded than what I have above but I believe you get the point. In each class a student raised their hand and asked, “What is poverty?” I did not know how to answer so I said, “When you do not have a lot of money.” How do you explain to a 7th or 8th grader what is poverty? Does your household income decide it, your parents education, number of people you know who are in the “system”. As a child I grew up in very humble beginnings. It was not uncommon to see drug deals on a regular basis in my neighborhood. I did not know I did not have until I left my environment for an extended period of time. It seems like every person who graduates from college knows how to fix poverty in America, if you asked a republican they would say, “Go find a job”, if you ask a democrat, “More government services.” I do not know if I have a point, but I want to know “what is poverty?”