From: hillmanfoundation.org
Saw that GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich raised some eyebrows with his comments on the work habits of children living in poverty. Gingrich, never one to shy away from an opinion, said:
"Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works," the former House speaker said at a campaign event at the Nationwide Insurance offices. "So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of 'I do this and you give me cash,' unless it's illegal."
Predictably, ole Newt ruffled some feathers. But, does he have a point? I think he does, and anyone that has taught in a high-poverty school must have some experience with what he's talking about. Teachers have been getting a lot of flack about the performance of their students recently, yet we're not supposed to acknowledge the impact of poverty in the classroom. Well, how does poverty affect student performance then? I can't look at my students and tell which ones are poor by looking at them.
I hope that the issue doesn't disappear in the 24 hour news cycle. It'd be nice to see more people discuss this.
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