Can't I be accepted too?

By: Shayna Butler 

                    In a recent TED talk by Sugata Mitra, his research in poor countries shows that children, from all backgrounds can learn. He focused his research in poorer countries, gave them a computer with a topic and walked away. Came back two months later, and the children had learned something. 

Anyone can learn! Given the right resources we all can learn and we all can succeed. A friend of mine grew up very rich, went to a private school, parents paid over 50k just for high school alone. She went on to college and dropped out, and ended up at the local diner as a server. She had every advantage to get her college degree at a great school and make good money. Just because you have the right resources doesn't mean you're going to do well. Now I have another friend who grew up in center city, went through the public school system and ended up going to med school. Why such a difference? My friend went to the public library every day and studied, read, and used the free computer to do her homework. 

However, at the end of the day there is still a huge line between the two. One is rich and one is poor. The rich girl graduated high school with a nice g.p.a and went to an Ivy League University for a couple of years. The poor girl graduated high school with a 4.0 and a ton of extracurricular activities. She ended up at a state college and graduating there at the top of her class! But why didn't she ended up at a nice ivy league school? There is was no funding for her to go. (She worked while going to school, saved up money and just made it to med school!)

Here is a list of Economic Diversity in colleges on who receives Pell Grants:

Source:http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/poor-students-at-rich-colleges/

There is something seriously wrong with this picture. Just because you're white and I'm not or you're rich and I"m not. Does NOT mean you should be able to be chosen over me or it doesn't mean I can't learn as well as you. I can't help but feel, that if the Ivy League schools allow poor people into them, then they won't be "Ivy League" anymore. Who the hell cares? Harvard has 20,000 students and only 14% of them need financial assistants paying for a $38,400 tuition payment and that's not including extra costs, or living expenses. 

Allowing someone ANYONE to attend ANY school and get a degree will allow people of all sorts to succeed in this country and make an impact! How can we change this? 

America Gets Hungry Too

By: Christina Tun

For a person from a third world country such as Senegal or Angola, it would be hard to believe that America, being a  First World country, would have such an alarming poverty rate. According to the U.S. Census Bureau,  43.6 million people (14.3 percent) were in poverty in 2009. In 2010,  15.1 percent of all people were in poverty- that being the highest poverty rate since 1993. With poverty, nonetheless leads to hunger. There are many promoted organizations in America specializing in helping feed starving countries, but what about ours? Why is  it that we are able to feed other nations when some of the people right under us in our own homeland struggling to get a meal? 1 out of 6 Americans are silently suffering from hunger and more of us need to be aware.

 Many people would agree to the starving as being the homeless on the streets. Hunger is faced by folks all around us. It is such a big misconception that hungry people are the ones without jobs and are unwilling to work but rather feed off of others (etg, welfare.) It isn’t just the non-workers who are facing hunger, but the hard working class too. It is the single mother of three who can’t seem to make ends meet. It’s the man of the house that recently gotten laid off and doesn't no where else to go to support his family. It is the hungry child whose parents are never home or addicted to drugs. These stories aren't just things you hear about or see in the movies, but are real life struggles.

According to a survey on hunger and homelessness conducted by the United States Conference of Mayors, 88.5% of cities participating in the survey cited unemployment as one of three major causes of hunger in their city. With that being said, no work equals no funds to buy food.  Another major problem to hunger is medicare. High costs of medicare and little help  from insurance leaves lower class to have to choose between buying a meal or paying for their health. It's unfortunate for people who live in such a highly esteemed country to have to choose between the two.

So whom exactly suffers from hunger? Most may assume that people from urban areas do. That is true but not entirely, for suburban and rural areas suffer too. For example, in rural areas, affordable childcare and public transportation is hard to come. Unemployment rates are great and the jobs that there is to offer are those of minimum wage. The saddest part is that these folks have to turn to food banks at the same place food is distributed.

America may be a First World country and not have higher poverty rates as other places, but that percentage still counts. Poverty occurs everywhere, resulting in many hungry people. There is no reason for America to try and save face (as being a rich, giving country- or whatever their objective is) by trying to feed other nations when our people in the shadows behind those tall shiny buildings are silently starving. 

How do you define poverty?

Shakera Dunn

There are millions of Americans living in poverty and struggling to provide for their familes. Some people might define poverty as being extremely poor, but according to webster dictionary poverty is defined as "the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions". Poverty is mostly seen in urban communities where parents with scarce resources are striving to provide for their children. According to Alfred Lubrano in  "A Portrait of Hunger" Philadelphia is one of the poorest of the ten largest cities in the United States. In the video of above UPenn students and Philadelphia residents talks about how poverty is an epicdemic in our communities and in our lives.

The federal goverment assist families who are living in absolute poverty.Their income is lower then 20,444 a year, but what about the families that makes a little more than than 20,444 a years are they not living in poverty? The standards for low income families who are above the poverty line is unrealistic The women in Alfred Lubrano article talks about the stuggles they have feeding their children daily with no assistance from the federal government.How is it possible that these families does not qualify for federal assistance?  

Everyone has their own definition of poverty, but when a mothers and  fathers are working to support their families with limited resources how can the government deny them assistances? Absolute poverty is everywhere in Philadelphia and it cannot be ignored, it affects everyone. The video below is of Philadelphians defining  poverty from their perspective.