Brady Michelow

Professor Campbell

UWRT 1104

March 27, 2019

Generational Poverty: Is the Lack of Education to Blame?

I have always had sympathy for those who are in poverty. I want to help them in any way

possible. Going on mission trips to the rural part of Jamaica really opened my eyes. I went there

for the first time in 2016 with my dad. Then I went the following two years as well. Our group

went to a town in a valley known as Harmons, Jamaica. I saw people carrying buckets of water

on their heads, houses as big as my living room, and some houses had tarps as roofs. Throughout

my three trips, I have noticed they are in poverty because of one key factor. The lack of

education. Harmons has one school and it goes through eighth grade. You must take a taxi to

high school if you want higher education. The ride to the school is very expensive, and most

families do not have the money to send their children to school. Therefore, the child does work

around the house and the cycle of poverty starts over again with their generation.

I want to stop the cycle of generational poverty. It starts with baby steps and can grow

into something huge. Right now, my family and I are sponsoring a girl we met in Harmons to go

to high school. Many other families that I know sponsor children to attend high school and

maybe college. It is a great program to be involved in. My family and I have recently been

fostering a seven year old girl named Cailee. She grew up in poverty throughout her first couple

years of her life. We now have been blessed enough to foster her and help in any way possible.

We enrolled her in the same elementary school as my little sister. Education is a key component
when trying to break out of the cycle of poverty. Generational poverty is caused by the lack of

education.

Generational poverty is a global issue, and can be defined as, “families where at least two

generations have been born into poverty.” People have many different opinions on what the

biggest factor contributing to generational poverty is. Some of the ones I see the most include:

lack of capital, lack of employment, and terrible wages. These do contribute to generational

poverty on a global scale. However, the lack of education is the base of all these problems.

Having a good education would allow you to become employed. Then, you would be able to

obtain a better job because of the education you received. After that, you would have access to

more capital. The lack of education is the greatest factor in generational poverty.

People tend to believe the lack of capital is the root cause of generational poverty. Kate

Bird is one of the people who believes this. She is a micro-economist who specializes poverty,

and works for the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). She wrote a paper on intergenerational

transmission of poverty and states, “The factors influencing an individual’s likelihood of being

poor include both the ‘private’

transmission (or lack of transmission) of capital and the ‘public’ transfer (or lack of transfer) of

resources from one generation to the next.” While it is a factor, it is not the greatest factor.

Capital is defined as, “wealth in the form of money or assets, taken as a sign of the financial

strength of an individual, organization, or nation, and assumed to be available for development

or investment.” Yes, many people in poverty do have a lack of capital. However, that is only

caused by a lack of education. About 39 percent of the poor worldwide have no form of

education at all. This means that they never even attended elementary school. If you have no
form of education, then it will be difficult to find employment to gain capital. This is why the

lack of capital is not the root cause of generational poverty. It is merely a branch off the tree of

generational poverty. The root of that tree; lack of education.

Others are inclined to say the lack of employment in a country, state, city, or town is the

root cause of generational poverty. In an article written by Zachary J. McDade and Austin

Nichols, both whom are writers for the Urban Institute, write, “this relationship between growing

long-term unemployment and poverty runs both ways, where poverty can reinforce joblessness

just like joblessness can increase poverty.” While it is a two-way street, having an education

would help alleviate unemployment and poverty. About 40.6 million Americans were living in

poverty in 2016. Of those 40.6 million, 56 percent were working adults. Over half the Americans

living in poverty are also working. This leads me to believe they are employed at jobs that pay

close to minimum wage. As of 2018, the world unemployment rate is about 5.5 percent. The

employment rate around the globe is not that high nowadays. Almost everyone is working. Then

how is it that 3 billion people still live in poverty worldwide? They do not have a good

education. A family in poverty can barely afford to put a roof over their heads. They cannot

afford to put their children through school either. Therefore, the cycle of poverty will end up

starting over. Receiving a good education will allow you to obtain a job and break out of

generation poverty.

Finally, there are other people who believe that terrible wages are the cause of

generational poverty. They assume that if you just raise the wages, then everyone would escape

generational poverty. In an article written by Gwyn Topham, he says, “Painting a picture of huge

numbers trapped on low wages, the foundation said during the decade only a fifth of low-paid
workers managed to move to better paid jobs.” The foundation he is referring to is the Joseph

Rowntree Foundation. This foundation is an independent foundation working to solve poverty in

the United Kingdom. If the people in poverty were to be educated, then they could obtain a much

better job. This is why only a fifth of them were able to gain a new, better paying job. Nearly

three billion people worldwide live off less the $2.50 per day, while around 1.3 billion people

live on less than $1.25 per day. The wages are very low for some people, but they do not have

the same education as others. They would be able to obtain a well-paying job if they had a good

education. Education is the key to success around the globe to escaping the cycle of poverty.

Having a great education seems to be what is needed in today’s world if you want a good

job. Not having that education leads to generational poverty. Around 260 million kids do not go

to school worldwide. School is the greatest avenue for kids to learn how to read/write, how to do

math, and what is right from wrong. We develop skills in school that are used in the workforce.

With little to no education, your options on what to do with your life are very limited. However,

the higher your education, the more options you have. If you do not have that higher education,

then you are stuck. When your family goes through generations without being able to get out of

the cycle of poverty. That is a lack of education causing generational poverty.

Servaas van der Berg is a South African National Research Chair in the Economics of Social

Policy at the University of Stellenbosch. He is a professor of economics and believes that the

lack of education is the root cause of poverty and generational poverty. In a scholarly book he

wrote, he says, “better educated people have a greater probability of being employed, are

economically more productive, and therefore earn higher incomes.” All of what he says in this

statement is true regarding education and poverty. Education allows you to be employed, and
that leads to more opportunities. Better yet, it will be the key to escaping the grasp of

generational poverty. If one generation within a family becomes educated, then the next

generations chances of not being in poverty increases exponentially. This is due to the fact that if

the parents are educated and have a stable job, then they can afford to send their kids to school to

educate them. That cycle will repeat throughout generations, and that is a much better cycle than

the cycle of poverty.

There are some ways to alleviate the likes of generational poverty around the globe. I do believe

that generational poverty can be ended eventually. It is going to take a lot of work and people

will need to come together to end it. There are many organizations trying to do everything in

their power to end it. The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP), the Habitat for

Humanity, One by Won to Jamaica, and the Center for Poverty research are all in efforts in

trying to end poverty. There are many more organizations included in that effort. The one

organization that stands out to me the most that is not listed above is the Annie E. Casey

Foundation (AECF). This organization is trying to stop generational poverty within two

generations. They are doing this while allowing parents to register with the career-development

center to develop their job skills while the kids get free education through pre-K. So instead of

taking care of the kids, the parents will be trying to get a job while their kid gets free education.

This foundation is just one example of what people are trying to do to stop the cycle of poverty,

and how they are doing it.

In conclusion, the lack of education is the biggest factor when it comes to generational poverty.

There are many other factors that contribute to generational poverty. Some people believe that

terrible wages, unemployment, and the lack of capital are the greatest factors. However, the lack
of education is the base for all of these problems. Having a good education is one way to help

alleviate those issues. Many people are working to eliminate generational poverty, and a lot of

them are focusing on education. Generational poverty can be eliminated if we help people obtain

a good education. They can finally escape the cycle of poverty.

 Works Cited

Berg, Servaas van der. “Poverty and Education.”​ Education Policy Series​, The International

Institute for Educational Planning, 2008, France, Web. Apr 2, 2019.

Bird, Kate. “The Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty: An Overview.” ​Overseas

Development Institute,​ Dec. 2007, Web. Apr 1, 2019.

Casey, Annie E. “AECF.” ​The Annie E. Casey Foundation,​ 2019, Web. Apr 2, 2019.

Nichols, Austin, and Zachary J. McDade. “Long-Term Unemployment and Poverty Produce a

Vicious Cycle.” ​Urban Institute,​ 10 Oct. 2016, Web. Apr 1, 2019

Topham, Gwyn. “Record Numbers of Working Families in Poverty Due to Low-Paid Jobs.” ​The

Guardian,​ Guardian News and Media, 24 Nov. 2014, Web. Apr 1, 2019.

Wagmiller, Robert L, and Robert M Adelman. “Childhood and Intergenerational Poverty The

Long-Term Consequences of Growing Up Poor.” ​NCCP,​ The Trustees of Columbia University

in the City of New York, 30 Nov. 2009, ​Web. Apr 1, 2019.