Generational Poverty Paper Essay

There are several issues that I have learned about this week. There are several factors that are involved in overcoming generational poverty such as education and relationships. Migrant and seasonal farm workers work very hard but yet live in generational poverty. They face several challenges when working and their families also are at risk in repeating the pattern. I also learned about the challenges that older people face when there is a lack of access to employment. Women also face unique challenges through the different life stages. Generational poverty families are often times large families. The reason why they are so large is because the more people in the family, the more money and the more people there are to take care of aging parents. The parents of these families are usually uneducated and they become intimidated that if their children get educated then they will move away. The fear of their children becoming educated means that they tend to hold their children back from breaking the cycle. When these children get to a certain age, they will drop out and get jobs with low pay. Many children stay with their families and are more prone to getting addicted to drugs. In order to prevent the cycle from continuing it is important that the children of these families become educated. The schools need to develop positive relationships with these children in order for them to be encouraged in continuing their education. In single parent households, the parent most likely will have a low paying job and often work several jobs or hours which impact their ability to provide adequate structure for their children. Many single parents have significant stress just to make ends meet. Generational poverty is also seen in migrant and seasonal workers. Migrant and seasonal workers face several challenges when working out in the fields. Migrant and seasonal farm workers travel throughout the country, they live in temporary housing. The places these workers live in are in areas that they are needed to plant, maintain, and harvest crops. Migrant and seasonal farm workers have one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States. They are  overworked and are often in inclement weather. The ethnicity of the farm workers are mostly Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, Central Americans, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans. More than half of the farm workers earn less than $7,500 per year. Because these farm workers must travel, their families travel with them. The ways farm workers impact their children are that because of travel from school to school, it negatively impacts their stability and education. The job of the farm worker is very important of American society because the farm workers are responsible to providing society with food. If it were not for the farm workers, America would not have anything to eat. Although the farm workers job is very important, they do not get the respect that they deserve. Farm workers have many dangers when it comes to working in the fields. Not only do they have dangers when working in the field but their families are also at risk for being exposed to some of the dangers of the farm workers job. Farm workers are exposed to the pesticides that are used to protect the crops from damage. The pesticides poison the farm workers and cause the farm worker to suffer from headaches, skin and eye irritations, nausea, and breathing problems. The farm workers families are also at risk from being exposed to pesticides because the worker carries the pesticides on their clothing. An injury that occurs when working as a migrant and seasonal farm worker is that they get injuries such as musculoskeletal injuries. They are prone to injuries because they are required to do repetitive movements and uncomfortable body positioning. They get carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, and back pain. Most of these workers do not seek help right away because they try home remedies and over the counter treatments first because many are undocumented and fear being deported. The ones that do seek medical help often wait until the injury gets worse, which makes it harder to help them feel better. Many of these workers are uneducated and will use their children to help with translating information they need. Sometimes their children will quit school to help their parents financially and will drop out of school to work in the fields. Women face several unique challenges. Two choices that women are faced with are when they get married both they marry men who provide lifetime financial support, and they will be able to prevent destitution at the latter part of their lives. Another choice is that if a woman decides that she wants to get a higher education and establish lifetime careers, along with deciding to get  married and have children, she will be able to prevent lifetime destitution. When women decide to have a career, be a wife, and have children, they often times struggle with balancing family and work. If a woman decides to marry a man who provides lifetime financial support then she must focus on her family and take care of all responsibilities for the family. The aged face several challenges when there is lack of access to employment. In order for a person to retire they must work until they are 67 years old. When they are able to retire the aged my receive Social Security and Medicare. Many of these older people that work for companies have been there many years and tend to be paid higher than a younger person. There is a history of companies that lay off their higher paid workers that are over the age of 50 or they will force these workers to retire early so that they can hire someone younger and pay them less. The majority of the workers that are laid off or forced to retire early, leave companies with no health insurance and must use their savings early. When the aged are laid off and go to find a new job they face active age discrimination from other companies. Many companies see the aged as people who do not have the same energy or the ability to perform the job duties that a younger person can do. When the aged is unable to find a job over 50 years old, they are forced to use their life savings before they expected to and some do not have any savings because they have to support their families. I have changed my perspective on several of the topics that where discussed. I work with older staff and I now understand that ageism happens and it is better to understand what they go through than to discriminate against them. Instead of complaining how slow an older person is, it is important to help them. When an aged person loses their job it becomes extremely difficult for them to find another job because companies discriminate against the aged. Generational poverty is an issue that can be reduced by educating families and building relationships with them in order to encourage these families to continue their education. The reason why some generational poverty families are big is so that the more people there are in the family the more money and the more people there are to take care of the aged. I have also learned about the many unique challenges that women have when it comes to living their life. A woman can chose to get married and let the man support her financially or chose a higher education and a career and raise a family. References Anthony, M. J. (2011). Caring for Migrant Farm Workers on Medical-Surgical Units. MEDSURG Nursing, 20(3), 123-126. Understanding the Depth of Challenges People Face Power Point Presentation Hatch, L. (2005). Gender and Ageism. Generations, 29(3), 19-24