Originally posted by Bob Hinton
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Where do I start?
Poverty means fewer books in the home which means few opportunities for sharing early reading. Poverty means stressed parents which impacts on children. Poverty for some children is caused by parents' addiction to drink or drugs or both which means a disruptive lifestyle - no proper routine - irregular meals - no constructive conversations that stimulate litreracy. The connection between poverty - illiteracy and crime is well established and as I work in this area - literacy development - and as I lecture in literacy education and also teach basic literacy to 16-19 year olds - I know what I am talking about.
There is also another type of poverty that stimulates economic poverty and that is the poverty of aspiration. It seeps into families and communities and impoverishes them because to crawl out of the hole is so much harder than to sink back into it. It is much harder for people at the bottom of the pile to achieve things that others take for granted.
I am no softy. I believe in tough love. That means creating opportunities and expecting people to grasp them - with lots of help - because it's good for them.
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