Freedom Writers Argumentative Essay

One’s socioeconomic status determines how well one will excel in school. Underprivileged students in low-income neighborhoods get the shorter end of the stick in the education system. As seen in the critically acclaimed movie “Freedom Writers,” the local high school in a low-income neighborhood is filled with underprivileged students who have lost their motivation to learn. This occurs because the students come from significantly different backgrounds in a neighborhood that struggles with poverty, family issues, and gang violence. The movie accurately displays these issues through the way it depicts schools in low-income neighborhoods. Students who come from poverty-stricken families will often times fall behind their more affluent peers.

It has become common today to believe that those who live in poverty are in that situation due to the fact that they rely too heavily on the safety net of government programs. In Jordan Weissman’s article, he claims that poverty is caused by cultural reasons and people’s inability to rely on themselves (Source F). Weissman suggests that government funding has been too lenient with the lower class, and the government should change such programs to make them stricter. When it comes to the topic of the lower class, most of us would readily agree that the poor have not done enough to help their situation. Where this argument usually ends, however, is on the question of what causes people to find themselves in such a situation. Whereas some are convinced that the poor rely too heavily on government programs, others maintain that other reasons hold more weight on an individual’s economic situation. Many people do not work due to personal reasons, such as family issues or disabilities. Moreover, in the movie “Freedom Writers,” the students in the movie come from low-income families who struggle with money for various reasons that hold much more weight on why they are in the situation they are in. Although Weissman argues valid reasons that can apply to some individuals, his argument fails to address the sole fact that government programs are what essentially