Poverty and Education

Having an education is the only ticket out of all the stereotyping which go hand in hand with belonging to the lower classes and even with an education, the stigma of your area or family may still go against you , therefore the odds of succeeding in this dog eat dog world are slim. To give an example I can compare two people's situations when it came to applying for a teaching position. The man, while very educated and learned and potentially perfectly qualified to become a teacher and fill the vacancy available as advertised, he came up against a lady who had less qualifications for the position yet she went on to be the successful candidate. What was the difference? The difference was that the man was from a socially run down area at the time (Ballymun) and the lady was from the affluent foxrock area. No surprises that her Daddy was a senior banker in the financial fraternity whilst the father of the man , having been older than his wife, (the man's mother) was retired at that stage and was living on state benefit pension. Further to this I believe that a person's interview gets them a particular position but when one is presented with the hard facts it does seem to favour the person from the nicer area.

In our society there are the people who never hear or heed the word NO. It has become such a throw away world where many things are of little value and our most precious commodity -- our children--aren't protected or cherished the way they ought to be. It is all very well spoiling a child at Christmas and getting into debt to make up for the lack of parental supervision and love throughout the year but no amount of high tech wizardry can take the look of WANT from the face of a child who is emotionally, physically and spiritually starved. Indeed I know a child who is not residing with the biological parents due to various social difficulties and though taken in by a family member this little girl still has that inimitable look of want and need on her face and no amount of subsequent monies or foreign holidays can wipe this look from her. It seems to be in her soul.

The importance of a good and equal education is vital as a step forward for those on the lower rung of the ladder titled class. There are people who are born into money. This is their ascribed status and bestowed upon them at birth. A person with ascribed status according to sociologist Ralph Lindon is assigned to them without reference to their innate differences or abilities. Achieved status is this which is determined by an individual's performance or effort. Lindon noted that while the two concepts are clear and distinct, it is not always easy to identify whether an individual's status is ascribed or achieved. Religion is generally perceived as an ascribed status but should an adult choose to convert to a different religion their religion is then an achieved status based on Lindon's definition. It is generally believed that ascribed statuses cannot be reversed while achieved statuses can. Linton uses Leo Schnore's research to illustrate how both statuses are both irreversible and reversible. To give an example of ascribed reversible status is citizenship. An example of ascribed irreversible status is the person's age. Many people born into wealth and have ascribed status are as down to earth as people come to give you an example, I worked with a girl in what is considered to be an up-market retail shop in Dublin City, this girl's name was Sharon and she had thickest Dublin accent ever heard yet her family were mega-rich she didn't actually have to work such was the wealth of her family. There was this air about this girl which just smelled of her being very well heeled with plenty of money. The thing I found ironic was that she sounded so common and her name was Sharon (pronounced in Ballymun as Sharrrdin). This thought me a lot about assumptions and to look deeper than what the eye can see. There is also a lady I know who through sheer hard work and effort and the pure need to improve her life to the level she felt she deserved, she worked her way up the corporate ladder. This lady had left school at about thirteen years of age to work in a leather factory as there were many children in the house and the thing to do in families at the time was to put the eldest children to work. Through night education and every opportunity to learn which came her direction, this lady excelled both in her chosen career in banking but also being musically gifted she also took music exams with The London College Of Music which afforded her the certificates needed for her to be a piano teacher and ninety nine per cent of all of this was hard work, practice and determination and the self belief which was innately in her. The family didn't have much but the parents were very united and the children were loved and cherished and kept close. Achieved status like the one I have just given an example of should be screamed from the rooftops at the people who think that their area or circumstances prevent them from furthering their lives and fulfilling them to their highest potential. To follow on from this train of thinking is that being from a poor area affects the class you belong in. Let me ponder over this a little. You could think for example that people who fly economy flights are poor because they are flying having paid the cheapest price for their travel tickets. If a person is so poor and on the perceived lower rung of the social class ladder well how could they afford to fly at all. Does this take them up to the next rung of that ladder?. Indeed are they at a greater risk to pulmonary clots because they have bought the cheapest tickets and are flying economy?. Not so, apparently, everybody who travels by whichever mode of transport be it flights or trains etc. are at risk from these clots regardless of the price they have paid to travel, in fact the clots are common but it is when they break free and travel to the lungs that can cause a fatality. This issue sees no class, whether you're rich or poor. It was recognized when the soldiers fighting in the Second World War were in air raid shelters for a long periods of time and they developed these clots. Some people may think they are better than some others if they purchase the dearest tickets to fly but they are at equal risk of clots. An article in The Washington Post by Susan Okie (Tuesday March 25th 1997) went on to tell the story of a doctor who himself had dealt with many pregnant women's swollen legs yet he succumb to in flight clots in his leg. I believe that usually people who are less affluent and choose to fly economy class are actually more prone to clots for the simple fact that people like this are more likely to have consumed alcohol before the flight and thereafter and this would greatly increase their chances of getting

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