Chapter 13

During one of the earlier classes, Professor Rybacki mentioned a person (I forgot their name) which stated that education can only do so much when combating the war on poverty.  The person making the argument stated that there needs to be more than just an education for these people to rise out of poverty, which includes but wasn’t limited to more jobs, a higher minimum wage, etc.

I, for the most part, agree with this statement.  While an education is very helpful in combatting the war on poverty, it is not the only villain when talking about ridding the nation of poverty.  One issue in this country is the rising income disparity between the wealthiest 1% and the lower 80% of the U.S. Population.  With the total capital of the 1% population continuing to rise, the lower 80% has less to work with.  The idea of ridding the lower 80% of it’s poverty most likely cannot be accomplished when it has less cash to spread around, even if they have a better education.

Another issue revolves around the jobs being created and minimum wage, as stated in the NYTimes (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/01/business/economy/01jobs.html?scp=7&sq=minimum+wage&st=nyt), the unemployment rate may be getting smaller at the moment, but many workers in these new service jobs are not expected to be able to pay for basic necessities which include rent, healthcare, food, etc. on such low wages that are being provided to them.  While education is definitely something that should be given to every child/person in America for reasons beyond combatting the war on poverty, it cannot be the only weapon used to defeat the antagonist.  With that being said, my question revolves around impoverished areas in the United States where this “war on poverty” was to be implemented.  Should students in this area be taught things like money management, soft skills, etc. to try to combat the war on poverty, or is it just more of a socio-economic issue that people cannot fight with education alone?