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Feel free to go into the site and search for "Northampton County, Virginia". The site points out that it's one of the worst counties in the country to be eithe

by JPKab 12y ago

Feel free to go into the site and search for "Northampton County, Virginia". The site points out that it's one of the worst counties in the country to be either poor or middle income. I spent a big chunk of my childhood there, and attended the horrific public schools there. I was one of the very lucky ones, and I'm now living in an affluent suburban community, watching my son attend the kinds of schools that I'm assuming you got to attend. (I'm assuming this by your comment, which shows someone who almost certainly doesn't have a deep understanding of poverty or areas with high poverty.) Notice that the site has a median rent listed for this county of a little over $300. Think about that: You are somebody who lives in a place with a $300 rent, which means that a given landlord, when presented with the income of the area's renters, can only fill a unit if they charge $300 a month. Yes, everyone is that poor. Work is few and far between, incomes are very low, and savings are non-existent. How can you save when you can barely get by? So without savings, how do you finance a move to a place? How do you pay a security deposit that is, by itself, triple your current rent, plus the first month's rent, assuming you landed a job in this richer area? The education offered sucks, period. I went to college on a scholarship, and I was completely unprepared for my classes compared to the other students. I had to work over 30 hours a week while in engineering school to pay my rent/food/books/etc, which put me at a disadvantage compared to my peers. On top of that, I didn't have the knowledge base my peers had. When I graduated high school in 1999, my school only had 4 computers with internet connections for a student body of roughly 900. This is typical of poor, rural schools. How could I have learned to program like my peers from the DC suburbs? Your characterization that these people have made a choice to not move suggests that they ever had a choice to begin with. Most of them don't, and your comment, to people like me who had to claw ourselves out of the trap, smacks of self-righteousness and contempt.

fuzzywalrus 12y ago
Also, simply moving doubtfully would improve the current generation's poverty level, as they'd still be under-educated to compete with the affluent labor groups and still relegated to the same to same remedial jobs even if the parent(s) are aware moving would potentially increase their child's chances for success, potentially increasing their relative poverty. Also, let us not underestimate the value of support networks from friends and family, living in an area may include aid for child care (grandparents/aunts/uncles/etc) and so forth.
analyst74 12y ago
I grow up in a poor family in China, I know what's it's like to only eat cheap food, or choose to walk instead of bus to save money. I'm not going to make comparison though, as being poor in China is probably very different from being poor in America. I've also met a fare share of poor people here in Canada. And most of them choose to be so, by choosing work in arts and music, spending money on parties and drinks, or not follow the worker bee lifestyle and work as little as possible. I don't look down upon them, as they seem to enjoy their chosen lifestyles. Although I have a feeling that the poor you are talking about might be different from what I see. I've also met many poor immigrants who are not as fortunate as I am, working as taxi drivers, manual labours and/or minimum wage jobs. But most of them don't seem to be seriously stuck, as in that they could afford to move to a different city if there is no job locally. So I'm sorry that my question smacks contempt, which is half-true (for people who don't work hard and blame others for their misfortunes). But I am also ignorant about what it's like to be poor in America. Is it really that much worse than Canada?
- JPKab 12y ago
  For the poor, the United States is a far, far worse place to live than Canada. Canada has a comparatively large welfare state, and far better public schools. In the United States, public schools receive the majority of their funding from the local town/county taxes. This means that a poor person who lives in a poor area will attend a bad school. I could go on, but take a look at the data. On basically any metric, the US is a much worse place to be poor than Canada.
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > In the United States, public schools receive the majority of their funding from the local town/county taxes. This means that a poor person who lives in a poor area will attend a bad school. The conclusion is true, but the reason given is not true in many parts of the United States: e.g., California (and I don't think California is the only state with similar rules) requires equal per-pupil public spending statewide, so difference in local tax bases within the state do not affect spending (but schools in poor areas have unique challenges that increase costs, and often get less additional support from outside sources to supplement their equalized funding, so they still end up disadvantaged.)

by JPKab 12y ago

fuzzywalrus 12y ago

Also, simply moving doubtfully would improve the current generation's poverty level, as they'd still be under-educated to compete with the affluent labor groups and still relegated to the same to same remedial jobs even if the parent(s) are aware moving would potentially increase their child's chances for success, potentially increasing their relative poverty. Also, let us not underestimate the value of support networks from friends and family, living in an area may include aid for child care (grandparents/aunts/uncles/etc) and so forth.

analyst74 12y ago

I grow up in a poor family in China, I know what's it's like to only eat cheap food, or choose to walk instead of bus to save money. I'm not going to make comparison though, as being poor in China is probably very different from being poor in America. I've also met a fare share of poor people here in Canada. And most of them choose to be so, by choosing work in arts and music, spending money on parties and drinks, or not follow the worker bee lifestyle and work as little as possible. I don't look down upon them, as they seem to enjoy their chosen lifestyles. Although I have a feeling that the poor you are talking about might be different from what I see. I've also met many poor immigrants who are not as fortunate as I am, working as taxi drivers, manual labours and/or minimum wage jobs. But most of them don't seem to be seriously stuck, as in that they could afford to move to a different city if there is no job locally. So I'm sorry that my question smacks contempt, which is half-true (for people who don't work hard and blame others for their misfortunes). But I am also ignorant about what it's like to be poor in America. Is it really that much worse than Canada?

JPKab 12y ago
For the poor, the United States is a far, far worse place to live than Canada. Canada has a comparatively large welfare state, and far better public schools. In the United States, public schools receive the majority of their funding from the local town/county taxes. This means that a poor person who lives in a poor area will attend a bad school. I could go on, but take a look at the data. On basically any metric, the US is a much worse place to be poor than Canada.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > In the United States, public schools receive the majority of their funding from the local town/county taxes. This means that a poor person who lives in a poor area will attend a bad school. The conclusion is true, but the reason given is not true in many parts of the United States: e.g., California (and I don't think California is the only state with similar rules) requires equal per-pupil public spending statewide, so difference in local tax bases within the state do not affect spending (but schools in poor areas have unique challenges that increase costs, and often get less additional support from outside sources to supplement their equalized funding, so they still end up disadvantaged.)