What issue-nutrition, housing, health care, education-should get the highest priority to fight poverty & why?

Question

In both personal efforts and public policy, we could focus on several issues contributing to poverty (nutrition, housing, healthc are, education). Which of these should get the highest priority in the fight against poverty and why?

Answer 1

This is a very hard question to answer. We know that all these issues are important. Education is often the way out of poverty, but children have a hard time learning if they are hungry, ill, or live in unsafe conditions. Yet, it is not enough just to give people health care, food, and shelter. Somehow we have to give them these things, but also give them hope for the future. Somehow we have to do it all. Head Start and Even Start are great programs and they do help. They give children nutrition, health care, and education. Hopefully their families are getting adequate housing at the same time. Workforce job training is a good program if people can be trained in jobs that are in demand and if they can be transitioned into jobs and not just have the rug pulled out from under them as soon as they get a paycheck. Somehow, I still feel that education and training is what is going to give the biggest bang for the buck, but only with the necessary support services to see individuals in poverty through to the end. I have heard it said that many of the education/training programs attempt to give a hand up, not a hand out. I think that is probably true. Nothing can raise a person's self-esteem like feeling like they are successful. Education can do that, whether it is completing pre-school, high school, or college. For that reason, I still feel education is the best way to fight poverty.

Answer 2

Well, to start off I think ALL of these issues need attention and are important, but I feel that health care should be first priority. I am on a poverty level. I am college educated, but mental illness and being bipolar has taken me down to this level. I worked 40 -65 hours a week for over 10 years. The stress level became so great, I just could no longer function. Which in turn made me lose my job, then eventually my existence. All because I could not afford health insurance to get the medicines that I needed to function.
I used all the free medicine programs offered by drug companies like Merch, Bristol Meyers Squibb etc., but even those ALL have a top outs of a year or so. Then I utilized all the sliding scale clinics that would take me, then they too exhaust after a period. So there I was sleeping 4 hours every 4 days, trying to raise a child, no medicine/ or insurance, working 50 hours a week to simply afford daycare and neglecting my own needs just to keep up. People wonder how could a mother like Andrea Yates could murder her 3 kids... I see how it could happen easily, when you are in a depressed or mental state the aggitation and stress become unbareable. How many more tragedies will we have to see before America realizes that Health Care should NOT be an option! It should be mandatory. We seem to only open our eyes to this when these incidents happen directly to us or "our" family, then it may be too late.. So when a school bus driver or teacher losses it and YOUR child is involved, remember that everyone around us being healthy does effect us on some level..
So I am on social security disability, live in Los Angeles I pay my rent out of my check and have less than $160 a month to live on. Yes it is hell, but I get medicare to cover my meds and now I sleep at least once every 2 days, can see a doctor when I am flipping out instead of just driving around like I did at 4:00 am before..
Also, I want to say that I am 35 years old, female, and WHITE, not a minority. Everyone wants to believe that everyone "working" the system is a minority. Yes, there are a lot of people "using" the system. Although I don't see how that can be too fun. I barely make ends meet and go 2 days without eating because my power bill has to be paid. It is sad that people want to label me as "lazy" or a "welfare moms" . If they had the slightest idea how low and how manic and aggressive I have been in the past unmedicated, they would not speak. You truly walk in anyones shoes you have no idea what their "true" story is.... So education, nutrition, housing etc those are symptoms, of an unsound individual..

A positive healthy, sound, spiritual person will some how make a way.. So to be able to get to that point for all humans would be a blessing..

Answer 3

To me it is all intertwined together. Without education you can't succeed in life to get that job that offers you health care. Without that job you can't afford housing and proper nutrition. We see it all the time, it is all over our televisions and all over the country. Why are there people that have more than others? And most importantly why do some of these people that have more than others decide that we will not contribute to the rest of the world?
There has always been a battle between the "HAVES" and the "HAVE NOTS". We live in a society that not only allows homelessness but starvation as well, just like the situation in Africa. Why are we allowing this to continue, I don't think it is just about housing, health care, or education. It is about rolling up sleeves and helping people that need help. While laws are being passed, and groups are gathering together to think of what to do about these situations. Time is ticking and another person is lost because there is too much time and effort waisted on planning on what to do next. Just like this country could give a country like Iraq millions and/or billions of dollars, they could give money to people and other countries that have been struggling with poverty for years. I am not personally attacking anyone, but why are we allowing people like Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, and some members of our government to live in the best conditions, and have so much money when there are so many people and children suffering and not just abroad, in this country.
I believe that the extremely rich should have some guidelines, there should not be any reason why there are 6.5 million dollar homes and at the same time millions of starving people. This country spends money on frivolous things, and there should be a stop to it. That is how I feel how poverty should end, how can the poor dig themselves out of a hole that will never go away?

Answer 4

All four issues given are needed to curb poverty, so it's not a matter of which priority is highest, but what is the most optimal order of these priorities. I've noticed that many have responded by education first, which rhetorically sounds like the obvious answer. However, no child can concentrate and perform at their best when their environment outside of school does not reflect the same support.

I hope that these families in poverty value education because parental support is as vital to children then any other given priority. Having said that, the home environment needs to be improved first, meaning that we need to improve housing and the community as a means to support not only the children but each family and each other. To enhance concentration, the next priority to tackle would be to improve nutrition, which in turn would lead to health care reform (with proper nutrition, it may lead to a slightly lesser need for health care). I put education last only because the community improvement would include the local schools, somenutritional responsibility would be placed on the schools, and children's success will only come once their community values their learning.

Answer 5

There really isn't a simple "one thing end all" answer here, it has to be a package deal. A person can't maintain their own health, or even have a chance at getting a passable education, without proper nutrition, or without adequate shelter. Policy would have to start with those three things together. Provide a proper place for someone to stay, make sure they get nutritional meals, and see that they are getting proper health care, all at once. People who are in good physical health feel better emotionally, and are more productive in terms of work, and contributing back to the community. An aggresive multiple angle attack on poverty is what is needed to take control of the problem. Sitting around trying to debate which one way is best to spend funding is just another Public relations ploy for the rich to stay rich by only putting out as little money as they can get away with to one area, when they know it takes more than just putting a roof over someone's head, or giving them a good meal, or paying for their medicines to bring them out of poverty. For all the choices available, I'm surprised I didn't see mention of a work program. That would be a solution that would make sense, pay people to do a job. A program like that could be set up to cover wholly or the majority of health care, housing, and nutritional needs, while giving the people in it the sense that they are being productive, and not just getting a ride from the government.

As for fighting poverty, education is worthless. I know people who have degrees ranging from Associate to Doctorate, yet they're stuck working minimum wage jobs, that's how far their education can get them. A person can know a lot of things, but knowing a lot of things doesn't guarantee a person work, it doesn't guarantee a person will rise above poverty. All education does is make people aware that they are bad off and can't do a thing about it on their own. Having been unemployed myself for close to six years now, I am a living example of that. Being smart means nothing when it comes to earning a living, keeping a person healthy, and in adequate shelter.

Answer 6

education is important but education takes time and people will suffer while we are training or reeducating them. A faster fix for this problem is to pass a federal law requiring that all employees be payed a livable wage or to raise the minimum wage to at least $14.00 an hour. Why should executives make millions and sometimes billions while the average person is making nothing.

Something else i simple do not understand is this: how can any economy be doing well when the average person can not afford to buy items like a new car, a new TV, a new DVD player, and so on. Can you imagine the economic impact if 4 million poor people who can not afford to spend money on extra items could suddenly afford to buy what ever they want? That's 4 million Tv's that could be bought or sold; that's 4 million cars that could purchased that would have never been bought. Let's say that these 4 million people can suddenly afford to buy a new TV at a cost $200 a piece. That comes to 800 million dollars if my math is correct. That's 800 million dollars going into the economy that would not have gone into the economy if the rich conitued to horde their money. Seriously, how does it help the economy or the poor if some rich person has 50 billion dollars in their bank account? Please note that i am not saying that people should be able to become wealthy, i am simply saying that there needs to a balence or a more reasonable distribution of the wealth of our country. Can't a person who makes 10 billion a year live on 9 billion instead of ten? Can't we use that extra 1 billion and give it to the poorest workers?

we will never ever fix the problem of poverty as long as we allow greed to govern our economic policies in this country. We need to have "Controled Greed" and make companies distribute their wealth more evenly or fairly among their workers. This is the only way we will ever fix the poverty within the United States, and please note that if we do pass some law to fix this problem, that the law needs to simple and to the point with no way of getting around it because greedy people can not be trusted to do the right thing for others or the country.

thank you for your time

Answer 7

Thank you for the posted question. From my own point of view education should be given priority. Education is like a sun shine, that lightens so many things at the same time. When a family is educated , there is tendency that poverty will be minimal or even absence.
Poverty encompasses poor nutrition , housing and poor health. Even ignorance of basic human right.
Poverty is infectious , if child is borned into poverty , there is tendency that the subsequent generation will be poor. Unless there is break the chain of poverty , when the sibling are getting good education.
If Government redirect fund into education especially the minority who had history of neglect, there will be change in poverty level , in future generation.
With new technological era where some people with minimal or no education still doing well, but the percentage of such group of people is low. Like the rappers, who are not educated and making it in big way. Many youth still believe that going to school is not necessary because some are lucky. Even those who are successful by chance without education find it difficult to maintain there wealth.
Long term control of poverty requires mandatory education for all.

Answer 8

I have taught Chemistry, etc., since 1960, owned small business, been an engineering professor at the graduate level, and finished life teaching at a 99% black school in SC.
Poverty is the result of a state of mind. The way people think determines what they can and can not do. Education in language, science, math, etc., is nice, necessary, but not sufficient.
Kids need education in "A philosophy of living" that will produce a prosperious, psychologically healthy, and happy society."

Before being judgemental, finish reading this statement:
Look at the last six of the "Ten Commandments" and make
a scientific analysis of each. They came from some sort of space visitor. Some call him God. Others don't think on the topic. But if you examine each using the null hypothesis, you will see that they are the ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENTS for a
1. Prosperous Society
2. Psychologically healthy society
3. Happy Society.

To see what I mean, simply take each one and propose a law requiring the opposite of the commandment.
Make it a law that you should steal whenever possible.
How long would businesses be able to survive and provide jobs?
Make it a law that everyone should lie and bear false witness in court.
How long would the idea of a society controlled by law last?
Make it a law that everyone must commit adultery at least twice a month.
How long would the children of the community feel secure in having the support of their parents? step parents? step, step, step parents?
As any educator can explain, the children would stop learning, which means they would become poor, which means the nation would become poor, which means the nation could not afford a military to protect itself.
Make it a law that no one should respect those older than themselves.
People do not learn from those they do not respect. Therefore the educational level of the society would drop, with the results mentioned above.

Successful techniques of having a good life in a good society have been around for thousands of years. Only when people decided that the old (who have survived better than they have) need not be listened to has society started to disintegrate.
Vaniah H. Baldwin, Ph.D.

Answer 9

I don't think that any of these issues are the most important. We aren't going to keep poverty from being an issue. The only thing we can do is become the change that we want to see. We can't force others to do things and we cant say that by educating people we will eliminate poverty. The only way to eliminate poverty would be to eliminate capitalism. And the only way to eliminate capitalism is through compassion. When we find within ourselves a true heart of love for other people, we will carry their burdens. It is up to the individual to make a difference. There is no secret to fighting poverty. People have always lived in poverty and always will. The real issue is whether we as a whole are going to look at the world through eyes of love: helping the each other, and picking each other up. Or look at it through selfish eyes: i worked hard for my money so why should i give them a dime? Where is a selfish attitude going to get any of us? Sure, you can make a lot of money. But what good is it doing if all you are spending it on is a new sports car or a brand new watch, when it could go to feeding a starving human being, or clothing the naked.

Answer 10

I take the education has the highest priority in the fight against poverty. It is because only by educating everybody will understand how we should improve the daily life including health, nutrition, birth control especially educating a girl that is equal to educating a family . Educating on the issue on the birth control is the most important as today because of the over population the world is facing the problems of housing, health care and poverty . Take the case of Africa no matter how we help there will be no improve as the birth rate is too high inspite the basic of life can not meet they keep on producing children without planning and where is the hope for the children .

Answer 11

Among the issues listed above it is my opinion that each and everyone mentioned should receive equal attention and addressed simultaneously. Why? It should be done so because nutrition, housing, health care, and education are all elements that exist all at once in our human reality, so to place one over the other would produce a turtle-like process of change and progression; it should be proposed by a large proportion of not only the country but the world that these issues should be totally FREE to the people. And while this may seem overly optimistic, as long as few can afford it and most cannot poverty will remain. Also there are so many other factors that contribute to poverty that have to be taken into consideration as well..like..... the peoples "Dependency State". A good example of this Mr Marsalis is the Katrina catastrophe where right now as I write, the areas damaged by the hurricane are still in ruins. The Dependency State is that the people affected are so "dependent" on the government and other humanitarian aid organizations that they as a whole have lost the ability to clean and re-build their own community's!