by Rosemary Redfern

Created on: March 15, 2009

Poverty equates with deprivation. While it is usally taken to mean a lack of money, poverty is more complex.

With a lack of money it is impossible to have the designer style clothes that show the child is in the know. Children can be very cruel and not wearing the current fashion can leave a child isolated, bullied and mocked. The effect of being outside' the in' group is detrimental to the mental health of the child and can affect his or her school performance. It can reduce the self worth of the child. Even when there is school uniform, there will be fashions in pens, bags and other items. To an adult, they seem petty, to the children they are important. Also, lack of money means clothes or uniform cannot be up to date. Because children grow, when there is little money, clothes are sometimes bought too big to grow into and then they grow out of them. There is only a short time when they actually fit. Another cause for mockery.

Poverty often comes with a lack of other resources. School trips might be too expensive for the family, even if they are a vital part of the ciriculum. Homework which involves finding out things can be difficult. Most families now have computers but not everyone can afford or use them. Libraries are complex to understand at times.

Poverty can sometimes come through the lack of education in the parents. While they love their children and want good things for them, there can be a lack of understanding about the reasons for some of the work done in school and the point of assignments. Books are not likely to be in the home and reading matter can be limited to the newspaper. The culture of education is not understood. The things a child in a well set up home assimilates unknowingly are missing.

Poverty has it's own culture. What financially comfortably off families take for granted, poor families cannot consider. The experience of holidays and the sometimes educational elements derived from them are out of the question. The chance to try different foods from home, see a different way of life, experience how other people live is missing.

Often poor homes have no where for the child to do homework in peace. Poverty often comes with cramped living conditions. It can also come with poor quality housing which can be damp and affect the health of the child. This can mean the child does not get enough sleep which affects their performance in school. Statistics show children from poorer homes do less well in school than their better of classmates.

Poverty has a profound and subtle effect on education.

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