no such thing as a free lunch

As I was browsing the paper today I came across an article about Chapel Hill offering free lunches for families who demonstrated need. This reminded me of my Poverty and Human Capability class that I took Spring term and all that it encompassed. The class opened my eyes to the issue of poverty in our nation and the problems that exist in the way we measure and handle it. I would attach my final paper but it is 16 pages of my opinion that you proba
bly don't want to read during your summer break. I believe the biggest contributer to poverty is the way children are raised and the places they live; when they have parents who never went to school or value and education that mindset is almost always passed onto the kids. As a college student in the world and economy today, I really understand the value of an education and the necessity of one to truly succeed in life. The neighborhoods these kids grow up in affect them as well, especially when they are gang ridden and surrounded by other families growing up in poverty. There is a ray of light in these situations, that the child will possibly see his current life as one he wants to escape and so he will go on to higher education and eventual escape of poverty, but this ray rarely shines through the clouds. Anyways, the big picture I got out of it and the part of me that really changed is the way I now perceive the poor. I used to look at the man holding the cardboard sign on the side of the road as simply a guy who never got a job or put any effort into his life, but after Spring, I understood that being lazy was rarely the case of people living in poverty. There are many changes that need to be made in our welfare system and the treatment of the poor, many that I fear may never be addressed. If you have a chance to take a course about poverty at any time in your career, take it. It will make you question what the American Dream really is now and how it has changed over time.