A Framework for Understanding Poverty

by Ruby K Payne

  4. In the classroom, tell stories both ways. Tell the story using the formal-register story structure, then tell the story with the casualregister structure. Talk about the stories: how they stay the same, and how they're different.

  5. Encourage participation in the writing and telling of stories.

  6. Use stories in math, social studies, and science to develop concepts.

  7. Make up stories with the students that can be used to guide behavior.

  WHAT DOES THIS INFORMATION MEAN IN THE SCHOOL OR WORK SETTING?

  ? Formal register needs to be directly taught.

  ? Casual register needs to be recognized as the primary discourse for many students.

  • Discourse patterns need to be directly taught.

  ? Both story structures need to be used as a part of classroom instruction.

  ? Discipline that occurs when a student uses the inappropriate register should be a time for instruction in the appropriate register.

  ? Students need to be told how much the formal register affects their ability to get a well-paying job.

  CHAPTER 3

  Hidden Rules Among (lasses

  idden rules are the unspoken cues and habits of a group. Distinct cueing systems exist between and among groups and economic classes. Generally, in America, that notion is recognized for racial and ethnic groups, but not particularly for economic groups. There are many hidden rules to examine. The ones examined here are those that have the most impact on achievement in schools and success in the workplace.

  But first .. .

  A LITTLE QUIZ

  Take the quiz on the next three pages, putting a check mark by all the things you know how to do.

  Could You Survive in Poverty?

  Put a check by each item you know how to do.

  Could You Survive in Middle Class?

  Put a check by each item you know how to do.

  Could You Survive in Wealth?

  Put a check by each item you know how to do.

  The first point about this exercise is that if you fall mostly in the middle class, the assumption is that everyone knows these things. However, if you did not know many of the items for the other classes, the exercise points out how many of the hidden rules are taken for granted by a particular class, which assumes they are a given for everyone. What, then, are the hidden rules? The chart on pages 42 and 43 gives an overview of some of the major hidden rules among the classes of poverty, middle class, and wealth.

  Several explanations and stories may help explain parts of the quiz and this chart. The bottom line or driving force against which decisions are made is important to note. For example, in one school district, the faculty had gone together to buy a refrigerator for a family who did not have one. About three weeks later, the children in the family were gone for a week. When the students returned, the teachers asked where they had been. The answer was that the family had gone camping because they were so stressed. What had they used for money to go camping? Proceeds from the sale of the refrigerator, of course. The bottom line in generational poverty is entertainment and relationships. In middle class, the criteria against which most decisions are made relate to work and achievement. In wealth, it is the ramifications of the financial, social, and political connections that have the weight.

  Being able physically to fight or have someone who is willing to fight for you is important to survival in poverty. Yet, in middle class, being able to use words as tools to negotiate conflict is crucial. Many times the fists are used in poverty because the words are neither available nor respected.

  The one deep experience that distinguishes the social rich from the merely rich and those below is their schooling, and with it, all the associations, the sense and sensibility, to which this education routine leads throughout their lives.

  As a selection and training place of the upper classes, both old and new, the private school is a unifying influence, a force for the nationalization of the upper classes.

  - C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite

  Hidden Rules Among Classes

  One of the biggest difficulties in getting out of poverty is managing money and just the general information base around money. How can you manage something you've never had? Money is seen in poverty as an expression of personality and is used for entertainment and relationships. The notion of using money for security is truly grounded in the middle and wealthy classes.

  The question in the quiz about using a knife as scissors was put there to illustrate the lack of tools available to those in poverty. Tools in many ways are one of the identifiers of middle class-from the kitchen to the garage. Therefore, the notion of maintaining property and repairing items is dependent upon having tools. When they are not available, things are not repaired or maintained. Students do not have access to scissors, pens, paper, pencils, rulers, etc., which may be part of an assignment.

  One of the biggest differences among the classes is how "the world" is defined for them. Wealthy individuals view the international scene as their world. As one told me, "My favorite restaurant is in Brazil." Middle class tends to see the world in terms of a national picture, while poverty sees the world in its immediate locale. Several fourth-grade poor students told us when they were writing to the prompt, How is life in Houston different from life in Baytown? (Baytown is 20 minutes from Houston), "They don't have TVs in Houston."

  In wealth, to be introduced or accepted, one must have an individual already approved by that group make the introductions. Yet to stand back and not introduce yourself in a middle-class setting is not the accepted norm. And in poverty it is not unusual to have a comment made about the individual before he/she is ever introduced.

  The discussion could continue about hidden rules. The key point is that hidden rules govern so much of our immediate assessment of an individual and his/her capabilities. These are often the factors that keep an individual from moving upward in a career-or even getting the position in the first place.

  WHAT DOES THIS INFORMATION MEAN IN THE SCHOOL OR WORK SETTING?

  ? Assumptions made about individuals' intelligence and approaches to the school and/or work setting may relate more to their understanding of hidden rules.

  ? Students need to be taught the hidden rules of middle classnot in denigration of their own but rather as another set of rules that can be used if they so choose.

  ? Many of the attitudes that students and parents bring with them are an integral part of their culture and belief systems. Middle-class solutions should not necessarily be imposed when other, more workable, solutions might be found.

  ? An understanding of the culture and values of poverty will lessen the anger and frustration that educators may periodically feel when dealing with these students and parents.

  ? Most of the students that I have talked to in poverty do not believe they are poor, even when they are on welfare. Most of the wealthy adults I have talked to do not believe they are wealthy; they will usually cite someone who has more than they do.

  CHAPTER 4

  Characteristics of

  Generational Poverty

  Life is lived in common, but not in community.

  - Michael Harrington,

  Four Horsemen

  enerational poverty is defined as having been in poverty for at least two generations; however, the patterns begin to surface much sooner than two generations if the family lives with others who are from generational poverty. Situational poverty is defined as a lack of resources due to a particular event (i.e., a death, chronic illness, divorce, etc.). Generational poverty has its own culture, hidden rules, and belief systems. One of the key indicators of whether it is generational or situational poverty is the prevailing attitude. Often the attitude in generational poverty is that society owes one a living. In situational poverty the attitude is often one of pride and a refusal to accept charity. Individuals in situational poverty often bring more resources with them to the situation than those in generational poverty. Of particular impo
rtance is the use of formal register.

  What, then, makes generational poverty so different from the middle class? How is it that school is such an unsatisfactory experience for many students from poverty? Several of these differences were mentioned in the last chapter on hidden rules. To examine the differences, a case study will be used.

  CASE STUDY: WALTER (Cau(asian male)

  Italicized type indicates the narrator; plain type indicates comments from various listeners. Names have been changed to protect the girl.

  AS THE STORY WOULD BE TOLD IN POVERTY ... PROBABLY BY A RELATIVE OR NEIGHBOR:

  Well, you know Walter got put away for37 years. Him being 48 and all. He'll probably die in jail. Just couldn't leave his hands off that 12-year-old Susie.

  Dirty old man. Bodding's gonna whup his tail.

  Already did. You know Bodding was waiting for him in jail and beat the living daylights out of him.

  In jail?

  Yeah, Bodding got caught for possession. Had $12,000 on him when they arrested him.

  Golly, wish I had been there to cash in!!!! (laughter) A man's gotta make a living!

  Susie being blind and all-I can see why Bodding beat the daylights out of Walter. Lucky he didn't get killed, old Walter is.

  Too bad her momma is no good.

  She started the whole thing! Susie's momma goes over there and argues with Bodding.

  Ain't they divorced?

  Yeah, and she's got Walter working for her, repairing her house or something.

  Or something, I bet. What's she got in her house that's worth fixing?

  Anyway, shegoes over to Bodding's house to take the lawnmower ...

  I reckon so as Walter can mow the yard?? I bet that's the first time old Walter has ever broken a sweat! Reminds me of the time I saw Walter thinking about taking a job. All that thinking and he had to get drunk. He went to jail that time, too-a felony, I think it was. So many of those DWIs. Judge told him he was egregious. Walter said he wasn't greasy-he took a bath last week!!! (laughter)

  Bodding and Susie's momma got in a fight, so she tells Walter to take Susie with him.

  Lordy, her elevator must not go all the way to the top!! Didn't she know about him getting arrested for enticing a minor???

  With Susie blind and all. And she sends Susie with Walter?

  She sure don't care about her babies.

  Well, Walter's momma was there 'cause Walter lives with his momma, seeing as how he can't keep no job.

  Ain't his other brother there?

  Yeah, and him 41 years old. That poor momma sure has her burdens to bear. And then her3o-year-old daughter, Susie's momma, at home, too. You know Susie's momma lost custody of her kids. Walter gets these videos, you know. Those adult videos. Heavy breathing! (laughter)

  Some of them are more fun to listen to than look at! (laughter) Those people in the videos are des-per-ate!!

  Anyway, he puts those on and then carries Susie to his room and tells her she wants him-and describes all his sex-u-al exploits!!

  Golly, he must be a loooooooooover. (laughter) He should be shot. I'd kill him if he did that to my kid!!

  Then he lets his fingers do the walking.

  Kinda like the Yellow Pages! (laughter)

  I guess he didn't do anything with his "thang," according to Miss Rosie who went to that trial every day. And Susie begging him to stop so many times.

  Probably couldn't do anything with it; that's why he needs to listen to that heavy breathing! Pant! Pant! (laughter) What a no-count, low-down creep. I'll pay Bodding to kill him!!

  Bodding says the only way Walter is coming out of jail is in a pine box.

  Don't blame him myself.

  Yeah, Miss Rosie said Walter's momma said at the trial that the door to Walter's room was open and there ain't no way Walter could have done that. That she is a good Christian momma and she don't put up with that.

  Oh Lordy, did God strike her dead on the spot, or is she still alive??? I'd be afraid of ending up in eternal damnation for telling a story like that!

  Miss Rosie said her i2-year-old nephew testified that the door was closed and his grandma told him to say it was open!!!!

  Ooo! Ooo! Oooo! That poor baby tells the truth? His grandma's gonna make him mis-er-a-ble!!!

  And then Walter's momma tells that jury that she never allows those adult videos in her house, leastways not that she pays for them!! (lots of laughter)

  I bet the judge bit on that one!! How is Walter gonna get videos except for her money? Mowing yards? (more laughter) No, I bet he saves his pennies!! (laughter)

  All these years she has covered for Walter. Guess she just couldn't cover no more.

  Remember that time Walter got drunk and wrecked her car, and she said she was driving? And she was at the hospital at the time with a broken leg. And the judge asked her how she could be driving and in the hospital "simultaneously." And she said that's just how it was-simultaneously-she had never felt so excited in her life. (laughter) Who turned Walter in?

  Well, it wasn't Susie's momma. She was busy with Skeeter, her new boyfriend. I hear he's something.

  Remember that one boyfriend she had? Thought he was so smart?

  Speaking of smart, that Susie sure is. Her blind and all, and she won the district spelling bee for the seventh grade this year. I hear she's in National Honor Society, whatever that is.

  Wonder if it's kinda like the country club. Instead of playing golf, you just spell!!! (laughter)

  Susie calls this friend of hers who tells her mother and they come and get her and take her to the police and hospital.

  Some rich lady, not minding her own business, that's for sure.

  Well, it was a good thing for Susie, 'cause that momma of hers sure ain't good for Susie. She don't deserve a kid like Susie. SHE oughta be the one who's blind.

  Ain't that the truth. Way I see it, she already is. Just look at Skeeter!! (gales of laughter)

  (The preceding was an actual court case heard in Houston, Texas, during March 1995. Italicized print indicates what came out in the trial; plain print indicates the kinds of comments that might be made by others in generational poverty.)

  Using this case, check which of the following characteristics of generational poverty are present.

  Even in telling me some of those stories that involve a great deal of humiliation at the hands of hospital or welfare personnel, she usually manages to find something that's funny in the madness of it all and keeps on saying things that make both of us laugh (in describing Mrs. Washington).

  - Jonathan Kozol, Amazing Grace

  DEBRIEFING THE WALTER CASE STUDY

  The Walter case study is an example of many of the issues in generational poverty. The family members all live together. Momma is still the most powerful position and these children are nearly 50. Momma will always make excuses for her children. After all, they are her children. The matriarchal structure and possession of people are there. She decides their guilt and punishment, not some outside authority. She leans on the self-righteous defense of being moral and Christian, but not in the middle-class sense of Christianity. For her it is simply one of unconditional love. Reality is the present-what can be persuaded and convinced in the present. Future ramifications are not considered by anyone. Entertainment is key, whether it is moral or not.

  The neighbors' view of the situation gives more insight into the reality of generational poverty. While there is a deep distaste for sexual abuse of children, the story is really to make fun of Walter and his family, as well as spread the news. Humor is used to cast aspersions on the character of Walter and his family. In many of these stories, aspersions would also be cast on the legal system and "rich lawyers." But there is an attitude of fate or fatalism; what are you going to do about it? That's the way it is.

  FAMILY PATTERNS IN GENERATIONAL POVERTY

  One of the most confusing things about understanding generational poverty is the family patterns. In the middle-class family, even with divor
ce, lineage is fairly easy to trace because of the legal documents. In generational poverty, on the other hand, many marital arrangements are common-law. Marriage and divorce in a legal court are only important if there is property to distribute or custody of children. When you were never legally married to begin with and you have no property, why pay a lawyer for something you don't have, don't need, and don't have the money to purchase?

  In the middle class, family diagrams tend to be drawn as shown at the top of page 55. The notion is that lineage is traceable and that a linear pattern can be found.

  In generational poverty, the mother is the center of the organization, and the family radiates from that center. Although it can happen that the mother is uncertain of the biological father, most of the time the father of the child is known. The second diagram on page 55 is based on a real situation. (Names have been changed.)

  In this pattern, Jolyn has been legally married three times. Jolyn and Husband #i had no children. Jolyn and Husband #2 had one child, Willy. They divorced. Husband #2 eventually married the woman he lived with for several years, and they had a child together. She also had a son from a previous marriage. Willy has a common-law wife, Shea; Shea and Willy have a daughter. Jolyn and Husband #3 lived together several years before they were married, and they have a son named M.J. When M.J. was 13 he had a child with a 13-year-old girl, but that child lives with the girl's mother. Husband #3 and Jolyn divorced; Jolyn is now living with a woman in a lesbian relationship. Husband #3 is living with a younger woman who is pregnant with his child.

  DIAGRAM OF MIDDLE-CLASS FAMILY

  DIAGRAM OF FAMILY FROM GENERATIONAL POVERTY

  The mother is always at the center, though she may have multiple sexual relationships. Many of her children also will have multiple relationships, which may or may not produce children. The basic pattern is the mother at the heart of things, with nearly everyone having multiple relationships, some legal and some not. Eventually the relationships become intertwined. It wouldn't be out of the question for your sister's third husband to become your brother's ex-wife's live-in boyfriend. Also in this pattern are babies born out of wedlock to children in their early teens; these youngsters are often raised by the grandmother as her own children. For example, the oldest daughter has a child at 14. This infant becomes the youngest child in the existing family. The oldest daughter, who is actually the mother of the child, is referred to as her sister-and the relationship is a sibling one, not a mother-daughter one.