A Framework for Understanding Poverty Paperback – October 15, 2003

Ruby Payne puts together some very interesting facts to explain a difficult subject.

This is a copy of the original book of Ruby Paine’s research into poverty. I originally read it many years ago while teaching in Title One schools. I found the studies insightful and very helpful. I used this book recently as a tool for helping our ladies’ group gain an understanding of poverty. These middle class ladies were surprised to learn many of the facts this study presents. This research is still relevant in our society.

Years ago I had to read this for a class I took. Not only was it excellent reading, but it helped me understand the motivations of some of my poorest families. It helped me understand how each social thinks, why they do the things they do and why it is so hard to change your social class. Apparently I loaned it to someone. Several times I have used the information from this book when talking to my colleagues, but I no longer had a copy to refer to, so I bought another one and convinced another teacher to buy it. It was enlightening.

I enjoyed the first half or so of this book. Towards the end, it was really more for teachers needing to understand how to teach children who come from impoverished families. All in all, it did help me gain a better understanding of people in poverty and why they do the things they do. We are foster parents, so it seems like we are always banging our heads against the wall when it comes to our kids' birth families. I think we have a little clarity now to help us not be so frustrated.

I am grateful for Ruby Payne's incisive analysis. There were behavior patterns in some of my students that had puzzled me for over 25 years. When I was presented with her information and her book for the first time there was a HUGH aha! With her comparison of middle class values and those of generational poverty in mind, I can reach and teach my kids better. I'm lucky that my district recognized how important her work is for our kids. I'm here buying 3 more copies to give teachers I've met in other districts with similar demographics. I wish they could have attended the inservice days. (There haven't been more than a handful of times in the last 30 years when I could say that!) So I'm giving them the book. Enjoy it yourself!

I took the "Framework for Understanding Poverty" workshop offered to us by our district's Title I program. My teaching assignment is in our poorest middle school where approximately 85% of our students receive federal lunch. I have used many ideas from her book, and by continuously teaching middle class values plus raising academic/social skills standards, my students have improved. It is also very important to respect the students value stystem when they are at home, because that keeps them alive. They can be kept separate. We too act differently at home than when teaching in school. I applaud Ruby Payne for helping all of us "middle class" teachers understand the importance of how to teach the majority of "white" not African American children who presently live in generational poverty.

To understand what poverty means in the lives of everyday human beings is illuminating, and to understand the short- and long-term effects is sobering. It's not a matter of poor people having fewer possessions, or less-expensive versions of what middle- or upper-class individuals have. It's understanding, at the most basic level, how being poor and all that that designation and socio-economic level means, affects everything else in life...sometimes for an individual's entire life. This book should prompt us not only to understand poverty, but to do whatever we can to mitigate its often crippling effects.

This might help you build understanding and allies in addressing poverty, but I think it falls short in helping connect people in authentic, respectful relationships that allows both sides to grow and learn.