Yesterday a student of mine asked if I have ever been poor. I had to think about it and realized that no, as a fact, I have never been poor. I have had to watch my money very carefully. I have had to borrow money in hard times. And I have had a lot of debt. But, I have never worried that I would not be able to eat for days on end, or that my utilities would be shut off and I did not know how to come up with funds to turn them back on, or that I might be out on the street and what to do then. In reality, I have always had resources to draw upon, even if they were from extended family or from credit built up in earlier times. There was no true poverty in my life.
This conversation started when a student came up with a not so brilliant idea of embezzling some funds and then paying me to pass their high school education and get certified. Would I take five million dollars? I said no. The students looked a little incredulous. I had to explain that if I ever took money from a student, I could lose my teaching license. That would mean never working in education again. The student stated that if I had that much money, I wouldn’t need to work again. I stated that there are things more important than money. It was at this point that he asked if I had ever been poor.
It occurred to me at that point that this is the conversation that many of our politicians and people in power never have. If you are poor, really deep down “I don’t know how to survive with no food or shelter and can’t find a job” poor, then cash is king. They would do anything including selling their souls to get the resources to survive. I had to thank my students for having this discussion with me because no matter how many statistics we hear on NPR, or stories on progressive blogs, it is still not the same as having a young person tell you straight to your face that their decisions have to be different because their lives are very different than mine.
I am rich in many ways. And every day that I have a chance to work in this job training program for disadvantaged youth, I realize that no matter how hard I try to change this balance of power, it is going to have to be a bigger movement. All of us who are advantaged, shall I say privileged, need to acknowledge it and give voice to those who are not.
I want it so that all of these students who are striving to achieve can get good jobs and never have to feel that poor again.