So Rich, So Poor by Peter Edelman Essay - 1000 Words

While it has proven to be difficult to end poverty in America, Peter Edelman is optimistic. In his book So Rich, So Poor Edelman makes a call to action. There are four prominent ideas that underpin Edelman’s reasoning throughout the book: (1) More people must understand why poverty is still so prevalent in America; (2) extreme poverty must be taken into consideration as a shocking 6 million Americans’ sole income was food stamps in 2011. This fact alone creates a sense of urgency that drives Edelman; (3) increasing income inequality should be treated as a moral issue; and (4) bold political action will be required if substantive progress will be made in alleviating poverty. Unfortunately, despite President Roosevelt’s New Deal and†¦show more content†¦While it is not until his final chapter â€Å"Young People: Improving the Odds† that we read Edelman’s thoughts on American education at length, I argue that the theme of education is one that motivates Edelman’s writing. In order to best understand how the failure of American public education factors into Edelman’s discussion on poverty, we must first pull the curtain away from the his principle focus on the economy. Edelman suggests that the decline of union power, a weak minimum wage, and an increase in the number of people entering the labor market have had a comprehensive deleterious effect on those who are most economically disadvantaged (50-54). To add to Edelman’s understanding, we must consider the underlying negative effects of the structural failure of public schools and how it compounds issues that influence poverty. We can see, for example, how the public education system fails to match student skills with employer needs, which leads to unemployment and limited job mobility. In his argument, Edelman recognizes that a number of employers â€Å"cannot find qualified workers† (57). Rather than focusing on the economy as the principle point of failure, if we dig deeper in to Edelman’s argument, we find that our current system of education fails to provide students with skills sets that match those employers areShow MoreRelatedSo Rich By Peter Edelman1293 Words   |  6 PagesPeter Edelman wrote his most recent novel, So Rich, So Poor in 2012 and it was published in the same year by The New Press. Edelman is a lawyer and policy maker whom specializes in the fields of welfare, poverty, juvenile justice and constitutional law. He received both his bachelors and law degree from Harvard College. After graduation, Edelman served as a law clerk to Judge Henry Friendly on the U.S. Court of Appeals and then as a law clerk for Justice Arthur J. Goldberg on the United States SupremeRead MoreDancing in The Dark by Morris Dickstein1061 Words   |  5 Pagesmoney on bills, so you have no money left for food to feed your family. We consider poverty to be just being poor. One-Third of our population makes less than $38,000. This is not enough to be able to be above the poverty line. Anything below this â€Å"line† is considered being poverty. How do they decide this line? They take the cost of a very basic diet, and they multiply it by three, for a family of three. That being said, One-half of the jobs in America pay below $38,000 a year, so no wonder we areRead Morepoverty in america2346 Words   |  10 PagesAmerica now has, by many standards, the lowest social mobility of all of the high-end countries, meaning that a child born into poverty is likely to grow up as a poor adult. This is surprising for a country that not only prides itself as being a middle class society, but as the society where anyone can make it and where social mobility is so high. In some places now, it is hard to believe that America is an economic giant. â€Å"One in four young children lives in poverty in the richest nation on earth.†Read MorePoverty And Its Effects On Poverty1826 Words   |  8 Pagesthe face. The poor are not only deprived of things like food, water, housing, and education that make up the typical guidelines of life, but they are deprived of luxuries. As we see the world around us evolve in it’s ways of architecture, transportation, and fashion, we also see that the poor are not welcome to this change. They are so busy longing for the necessities of life, that they don t get to take pleasure in the advances of the world. Some areas affected by poverty have been so deprived ofRead MoreBrand Strategy and Imc11643 Words   |  47 Pagesuntil a certain nicotine dependence has been developed, is somewhat less important than other things. Indeed [sic] strength of taste has not been a factor in the current creative strategy for Player s Filter. The brand has been positioned so that people can apply their own taste qualities to it. (1977, p. 12) According to an ITL document entitled 1971 Matinee Marketing Plans, without price differentials and without easily perceptible product differentiation (except for extremes