Calvin Coolidge Scholarship Essay

Poverty is not natural. It is something man made which means it can be overcome or wiped out by the actions that the human race does.Gordon Parks created a journal entry originally published, June 1961 in LIVE magazines named, “ Flavio’s Home”.Parks essay was widely considered one of the most photographic essay on the subject of poverty. Flavio’s home described Park's visit to el Rio De Janeiro and meeting a family who was living in a severe poverty stricken area. Parks wrote this essay mainly to get attention to people who are blessed to have a sustainable life and can lend a hand to others that are struggling to survive. This issue is very concerning and it is emphasized by the use of imagery to inform the audience of the infamous poverty in Brazil which is a growing concern or: “the most savage of all human affections.”(Parks 1)

The Working Poor: Invisible in America David K. Shipler is a book that could be most accurately described as eye-opening. Shipler opens up the book on his claim that “nobody who works hard should be poor in America.” America is built upon the idea that the harder one works, the better off one will be. Shipler then goes on to explain how the poor, often times, work the hardest jobs and are put into the worse conditions, but still do not grow to become the most successful.

Although most of my involvement has centered around politics, where I have been an active volunteer in the current election cycle, my service also extends to the homeless community in the Quad Cities. After recognizing the extent of homelessness in Davenport, my friend decided to start a nonprofit 5K to benefit a local shelter and I immediately joined in the venture. By working with the shelter rather than independently, we were able to avoid the faults set forth in To Hell With Good Intentions. Our good intentions have donated over $10,000 to King’s Harvest Ministries, who uses funds in a way that raises the standard of living for the local homeless

I viewed Frontline a documentary series, which episode was entitled Poor Kids. The frontline personnel spent time with three children Kailey, Johnny, and Britany along with their families as they all struggle financially. We perceive a glimpse of what it is like to live below the poverty line in America through a child’s eyes. While observing the documentary, I became consciously aware that children who are considered poor or living below the poverty line were more mindful of the responsibilities of life. The children were worrisome of the lack of employment for their parents, bills, and in Britney’s case; how they would accommodate their way of living to support a new addition to the family. They feared to lose their homes and dreaded departing with

Many people are undermined by the drawbacks of belonging to a low socioeconomic status. In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is raised in a poor, Latino community, causing her to be introduced to poverty at an early age. This introduction of poverty affects Esperanza in many ways, one including that she is unable to find success. Esperanza struggles to achieve success in life because the cycle of poverty restricts her in a position in which she cannot break free from her socioeconomic status.

In preparation for this paper I chose to read Fire in the ashes: twenty five years among the poorest children in America by Jonathan Kozol. In this book Kozol has followed these children and their family’s lives for the past twenty five years. In his writing Kozol portrays a point of view most from his background and standing would not be capable of having. He portrays what life is like for those who have been let down by the system that was meant to protect them. Kozols writing style can be very blunt at times, not for shock value, but for the sake of portraying these children’s realities, and not sugarcoating the inequalities that they are faced with. There was a lot of balance within this book. In the book there are two parts: part one

In Bell Hooks’ essay, “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor”, Hooks addresses and clarifies the misinterpretations that people have of the assumptions made of the poor, how poor individuals are viewed in human culture and how the poor are represented on television. She helps the audience understand how these assumptions are wrong.

Wealth is a possession that many individuals inherit, yet Trevor Noah 's memoir, Born a Crime shows that he worked against all odds in order to gain his wealth. Beginning with his birth as an illegal child, he and his mother were at a disadvantage. As such, she had to hide him from society because if the police caught him, she would face imprisonment. Poverty did not help his situation. In fact, it made him put his plans of getting a university education on pause, and caused him to engage in criminal activities. When a child is constantly at risk and suffers from poverty their life becomes tough, but adding abuse to the situation makes it even tougher. His abuse, in particular, illustrates that danger could come in different forms, from a bus driver to a

In America, a teenager can be easily drawn into witnessing a family member being stabbed to death, trafficked into drug/gang cults, or receive severe damages to his/her physical body. Commonly, these kinds of circumstances call the responsible leaders in our community to action, but in the forgotten part of America, they continue uninterrupted. During the late 1980’s, the United States ranked as a developed nation with a competitive capitalist economy and better living standards for the higher social class. Their promises to defend critical human rights remained unrivaled around the globe; yet the United States still possessed areas with lower class people compressed into high rise projects and who struggled to overcome poverty, violence, and prejudice. The lower class people were often given very little to no resources or the

The speaker is Franklin Delano Roosevelt is trying to convince congress to go to war with japan for bombing pearl harbor(December 8, 1941); The speech is a persuasive speech but also a rally at the same time because he knows that they will probably go to war, he used words such as “disastrous” and “infamy” to describe the attack on the U.S, he uses small phrases such as “last night” and “so help us god” witch gave people a sense of nationality they haven 't felt before, and made them want to get revenge and fight the japanese (japs). He uses repetition and anadiplosis to repeat his message and drive what he is saying into his spectators/listeners heads, as well as pre-empting, which makes things sound way more serious and crucial and get back at them for what they 've done. Roosevelt 's purpose was to make the people of the U.S.A. to want to fight the Japanese empire in order to get them back for what they 've done to us. President Roosevelt is addressing Congress and people of the

President John F. Kennedy 55 years ago, during his inaugural address, called for Americans to serve their country with the powerful quote: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Since then, a million Americans have signed up for service through AmeriCorps. I can testify that data because I’m one in a million that is currently serving as an AmeriCorps member at City Year Washington D.C.

70% of wealthy parents make their kids volunteer 10 hours or more a month, while only 3% of low income parents do the same (Dindar). While volunteering is generally a positive action that leads to positive outcomes to those in need, it can be problematic. Parents who use concerted cultivation encourage community service to gain resume boosters, networks, and a sense of pride in helping those who are “less fortunate.” Often the only time the upper class and middle class communities interact with low-income communities is through volunteer work. Though their very limited interactions, they form stereotypes, prejudices, and mental hierarchies of each other. Even though generosity is a virtue, installing this sense of charity can actually lead to the people who are doing the volunteer work to feel like they are superior to those they are

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. - Said Franklin D Roosevelt in his First Inaugural Address. I think that franklin D Roosevelt was scared and knew the United States were scared and he needed to put hope into America’s heart. Franklin D Roosevelt served as president from 1933-1945 and is the only president elected four times in a row. And I am going to tell you the important impacts he gave to America.

This documentary film explores the poverty issue in America. They follow three families who are struggling with financial difficulty due to the down fall of the economy. They interview the kids from each family while allowing them to freely express their feelings about being poor. These families do not come from the infamous welfare system. They are the victims of the market crash that led to the economic recession that started in late 2000’s. They explain how their parents became jobless or struggled to maintain and find new jobs. How they lost their homes due to being unable to pay for rent or the mortgage. All of their possessions were confiscated from the storage location due to unpaid rent. They share their tragedy to overcome the hunger and the frustrations of being poor. They also share their thoughts and dreams about the future. They all wish to have a steady job one day where they can make enough money and not live in poverty like their parents. All of them know that the only way they can escape from living in poverty is through education. They talk about maintaining good grades in order for them to go to college and pursue their future dreams.

The Ted-Talk, “What It Means to be a Citizen of the World” given by Hugh Evans was seemingly directed towards those individuals who “self identify first” as a “member of a state, nation, or tribe” and therefore are focused solely on the improvement of their closed-community rather than the improvement of the entire “human race”. Therefore, centering his audience at those individuals who remain outside the lines of being a global citizen. The main idea that Hugh draws up throughout his speech is the impact that the actions of a single individual; no matter how small, can have when one acts with the purpose of combating “extreme poverty, climate change, and inequality” on a global scale rather than a local one. In order to do so, Hugh introduces the stories of a few individuals who have been able to impact people that are “not [themselves], not in [their] neighborhood, [their] state, or even in [their] country” and along the way reveals his own journey to becoming a global citizen.