Taxation for Education and Housing Crisis’s Causing Poverty

Poverty is a serious issue that has affected society for much longer than one would like to admit. There are multiple ways in which poverty is embedded into society. Poverty is established into classed societies as a way of providing noticeable divisions. Some major means of poverty in society include taxation for funding public schools and housing crisis's that have occurred. More specifically, the way we are funding public schools through the income taxes of neighboring homes. By doing this, it is putting a standard, or a limit, on these schools because the value of your education is only as good as the homes in your district. The divisions of classes are showing well-defined differences between sets and the value that they are given in society. The real issue here is that people who are in poverty suffer from not being able to afford essential nutrition, shelter, and healthcare. This has proven to be very life-threatening, and the fact being that if they weren't in poverty their lives could have been saved from receiving the necessary means.

While studies show that poverty is short-lived, not lasting more than a year, the number of people affected seems to remain the same (Henslin 2018, 10.6). This culture of poverty is ongoing. Poverty is directly established and disregarded by individuals within the power elite so that they can remain in powerful positions, as so the conflict theory suggests. One solution to effectively fight poverty and end this ongoing cycle for our future, is to get rid of the set divisions that have been instituted by the power elite. Instead, we could create programs intended to shape the poverty-stricken population up.

Diving deeper into the problem with the power elite with regards to poverty, we see that it seems those with power are intentionally continuing the culture of poverty. Therefore, it feels like poverty is never-ending. As previously mentioned, the conflict theory examines how the educational system duplicates the social class structure and the power elite is benefiting from it. In other words, schools disseminate the school divisions of society and help members of power maintain their authority (Henslin 2018, 17.4). This is evident in many ways, and Henslin does a good job of explaining it, comparing how different teachers at different schools within different social classes go about teaching their English courses. It's a matter of hidden curriculum, whereas teachers at a school that is middle class might stress proper speaking and good manners for her students, while a teacher at a lower-class school probably allows street language. The different styles of teaching are preparing their students for the society that their parents are in (Henslin 2018, 17.4.1).

Speaking to the concept of using local property taxes to fund public schools, we run into the issue of schools only being as good as the homes nearby. This creates unequal funding amongst public schools. The wealthier communities, where property values and incomes are higher, have more to spend in education and the poorer communities have less to spend in their children's schools. In richer communities, they can afford to hire more prestige teachers, textbooks, computers, software, music, etc. They have the means to provide the best for their students. However, in poorer communities, they lack in these areas. This means that across all states, the deck is stacked against the poor (Henslin 2018, 17.4.3). It shows that where you are located makes a difference. In a low-income school district, even the most motivated and inspired teachers, students, and faculty are at a disadvantage compared to those in a higher one, simply because one has more/better resources.

Going back to our solution of creating a system that assists those in poverty and decreases the social class divisions, puts up a fight against the power elite. However, this would benefit society as a whole. When a social class is failing to get their needs met, this means society is also failing. It is unfortunate that when one tries their best to end their time in poverty, they find they can't seem to shake it all that quickly, because the power elite created it to be continuous.

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