Customer Reviews

A Framework for Understanding Poverty

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

For a middle class reader and former teacher like myself, it is easy to like this book. There is so much that jumps out from the page to make a reader say, "I know people like that" or "I've seen that before." Still, a more considered, less emotional reading shows that Ms. Payne's analysis does have some limitations.

The strengths: I was impressed by the opening with its reference to the types of resources (of which financial are only a part) people need to break out of poverty. I was intrigued by the section on the "hidden rules" of the different classes. Equally intriguing was the section on use of the "formal" and "casual registers" in speaking. There are also a number of practical classroom techniques described in the latter part of the book.

The weaknesses: Payne did a great job of describing resources but never brought out anything useful from it. The practical examples of speaking registers seemed silly and out-of-date, lessening the impact of a useful idea though I think many teachers already take this into account even if they can't articulate it as well as Payne. Payne also has a tendency to make generalizations I'm not sure stand up across the board. In the end, though I think her analysis is useful in connecting better with parents and students stuck in generational poverty, it is less effective in understand other situations; particularly, borderline cases.

All books are impacted by the experience a reader brings to them. This one, however, even more so. For a someone deeply entrenched in the middle class, this books speaks directly to you. I think that a reader from poverty or wealth (or a middle class reader with wider experience of other classes) will hear a more sour notes in this text. Nevertheless, there is much of value here.

Payne's work is rife with oversimplified, stereotyped caricatures of people from every class, conjured in her head (as opposed to being based on interviews, or personal experiences). It's difficult to take her writing seriously when her approach is so absolute, yet generalized at the same time. (All women in poverty understand that values don't put food in the table, and are therefore willing to use their bodies, sexually, to survive.) Her portrayal of people as defined by their socioeconomic status disregards paramount influences such as one's personal nature, possible role models, and ethnicity. Instead, she pigeon-holes people based on gender (women are caretakers; men are rugged and prone to violence), religion (religious folks are of the "deserving" poor), and a myriad of stereotyped ideas about poor folk - they all know how to use a pair of scissors like a knife, they all know where the best garbage cans are in town, they all know how to obtain a gun, they all accept jail as a part of regular life and don't see it as such a bad state to be in (warm bed, regular meals). Her portrayal of the middle class and the wealthy are equally one-dimensional, and hilarious. I wish that I had my book with me so that I could cite, exactly, some of the egregiously over-simplified statements she makes.

I believe that it's important for educators, and all people, to remember that not everyone has access to the same resources - everyone is NOT equal. In line with this, one cannot expect that everyone will respond in the same way to any given approach, or program. Payne does emphasize this point, and I feel that she has good intententions. Unfortunately, her approach smacks of condescending, patronizing prejudice.

[...].

I stumbled across this title as I was searching through university materials being taught in current education courses. As a non-profit circuit employee experienced in my own history of poverty and that of the South Louisiana/ New Orleans area, I find her ideas and presentations of the poor to be unrealistic in the least. For example, Payne cites her 3-year (at the time) marriage to her husband Frank, who grew up in poverty, as a source for her ideas and experience in poverty. She also included a list of "Could you survive in..." and lists various classes. Under wealth, she lists being able to order from menus in various languages as a staple for survival. Dr. Payne, these are not necessary for survival in the middle and upper class -- they are mainly ways of fitting in. When addressing poverty, she states one needs to know how "to use a knife as scissors" and "which churches have the best rummage sales." These reflect survival, although creating or enforcing stereotypes if not followed up with field experiences or more VALID research.
My main concern however falls on educators. Teachers and administrators alike have praised Payne's work and used it as the basis for their own understanding of poverty. PLEASE look to more salient research and prominent authorities. Too often have I overheard educators fall all over this book, despite its extreme flaws. I DO NOT recommend this title to anyone looking to learn about children or poverty. However, I do recommend Lisa Delpit, bell hooks, and the Rethinking Schools publishers for accurate information about classism, racism, and social justice in the classroom.

Please do a web search (google) this author and book before buying it. Many professionals are criticizing this work. I am very concerned about the table in this book that lists common behavior problems in children from poverty (poor concentration, anger, etc.) and gives reasons why, such as the child may not know adults worthy of respect or rule differences among classes. Ms. Payne does not educate the reader on other reasons why children in poverty may experience these behavior problems, such as learning and good attitudes are extremely difficult when one is tired, hungry, raging against an unjust world, worried about their own or loved ones health and safety, etc. Nor does she address that many children in poverty have limited access to items and professionals children in higher incomes take for granted, such as access to computers, internet, books, highly trained teachers, classrooms not overcrowded or access to extracurricular activities due to limited money and transportation. As Paul Gorski writes, just as we would question any book that claims how to teach/understand any "cultural group" we should also question this book. How quickly would you buy or believe a book marketed to educators titled "A Framework for Understanding...Christians, Jews, Blacks, Whites, Women, Men, etc"?
I would give this zero stars if possible.

I teach developmental English in a community college. Unfortunately and regretably, I used to enter my classrooms with my middle-class perceptions. Heck... I am middle class. What else could I enter with? I didn't know any better. However, this book has changed my perceptions and therefore my teaching strategies and practices. I want my students to succeed. I'm addicted to student success. I live for it! Still, I just couldn't seem to get my students to think beyond the immediate present, to see a world beyond their own neighborhoods, to see that options do exist, to accept responsibility for their choices, and to stop blaming someone or something for their failures -- that's in the past - deal with what you can do and use NOW! No more "victim" mentality! Where was their motivation to strive instead of slack? Where was their motivation to go to school for something more than a financial aid check? Why did they seem addicted to their adrenalin rush of chaos followed by the crash of their roller coaster lives of happiness and then sorrow? Why were they stuck? Why was it okay to just "get by"? Overall, why weren't they like I was as a student? After reading this book, I found many of the answers I needed to help my students change their thinking -- their perceptions - their unproductive behavior -- most of all my attitudes, teaching methods, and best practices for reaching them and helping them.

In spite of my personal affinity for each student, I often felt frustrated, defeated, lost, angry, unsure of where to turn, but then I read this book. Seriously, I would advise all to turn here! Turn each page! Learn about the defeatist and survivalist mindset so many of our students enter our classes with. Learn about how to change that mindset and inspire a special and unique individual buried within that limiting shell. I am realizing that I can help do this! I can help students make this change. This book is one of the major keys to doing so!

Highly recommended!

This book was well-intentioned, and provided some strategies and information that could help students of all backgrounds. However, it was quite short of being a framework for understanding and working with students from diverse backgrounds. Ruby Payne was able to articulate some good arguments for why students may not be as prepared as other students who come from more affluent backgrounds, but most of her examples and explanations were overgeneralizations and lacked credibility of those who really experience poverty firsthand.

This book should be read with a critical eye, and the ideology from which Ruby Payne writes should not be taken at face value. Many of her examples were negative and stereotypical, sometimes offensive; in fact, her view on poverty was based on a deficit model in which people are in poverty because they lack middle class values, beliefs, language use, knowledge and skills. It could be dangerous to recommend this book to teachers and employers who are not critical, and take the author's ideology as universal truth without further research.

Ruby Payne attempts to provide some kind of "framework for understanding poverty," but it is more like trying to analyze people who come from such a background, and not necessarily poverty in and of itself. She makes some good points; however, we do not agree with everything she states about people who live in poverty. "Violence and jail" as a part of their everyday life and seeing it as normal is highly questionable. As a teacher, this book may provide some insight as to how to work with people from different classes, but there are many other strategies and theories that prove to be more powerful than some of the ones she explains. Some exemplary alternatives to this book are Christine E. Sleeter's "Un-Standardizing Curriculum," "Sonia Nieto's Affirming Diversity," and George Michie's "Holler if You Hear Me."

Although there is useful information in Ruby Payne's book, it abounds with gross stereotypes and generalizations. In order to read this book, one needs a highly analytical disposition.
Payne provides a clear and specific working definition of how she sees poverty. In asserting her usage of the additive model, she identifies specific classroom management and teaching techniques. For instance, she provides a tool for students to evaluate their negative behaviors in order to develop coping strategies.
Although Payne sets out to write a framework, she falls drastically short. The book is littered with assumptions about the thought processes and behaviors of people on a grand scale. "Many individuals stay in poverty because they don't know there is a choice- and if they do know that, have no one to teach them hidden rules or provide resources" (pg 62). This statement demonstrates how Payne victimizes people in poverty. For Payne to assume that a person in poverty wants to stay in poverty is presumptuous to say the least.
Ruby Payne wrote from her privileged lifestyle about individuals living in poverty. A Framework for Understanding Poverty is not a framework, but one woman's attempt to articulate her opinion.

Payne has done much to further the "it's their own fault" view of poverty. She makes broad, sweeping generalizations about class for which she cites little to no research. Her view of poverty comforts us white middle class folks because she doesn't ask us to look at any of the systemic causes of poverty, all we have to do is know that the po' folk is different than us and it is mostly their choice and ignorance that leads to poverty. It is up to teachers than to "fix" the poor so they can be more like the dominant classes. She claims that poverty is a "relative" term. No, Ruby, there is a level of income at which it is nearly impossible to live and many people are there despite the fact that they have strong families, a strong work ethic (the full time working poor are expanding at an alarming rate) and want the same things in life for their children as more affluent people do.

Do not read this book unless you want to read simplistic stereotypes and want to be assured that you're okay and "they" are not. My suggestion is to read something by people who have truly studied poverty and the people who live in it.

Ruby Payne's Understanding Poverty is an excellent start for teachers and others to understand how different economic classes have different perceptions and attitudes about a variety of things. Payne provides ideas and strategies to work with impoverished students. The vignettes in the book explain the thinking of individuals in the types of poverty explained in the book. Once you have read Frameworks of Poverty, I would suggest that you search for additional sources on the subject so that you understand the more complex issues involved. I used this book in a graduate class in education. Interestingly, many teachers had not thought deeply about their value systems as compared to the students in their class.

I teach at a Title One school that is 96% minority and 98% free and reduced lunch.

While the author does make some salient points about poverty she does use stereotypes quite liberally. I am a white teacher at a school that only has two white students out of a 400 student body population.

That said, if I chose not to listen to my own students and didn't want to take the time to make home visits her book might be helpful.

It does suggest some strategies for dealing with economic differences among students. I agree with her assessment that most standardized tests are culuturally biased. I'm not going to go so far as call her a racist for her use of stereotypes -- but, I do agree with an earlier review that this falls far short of being a "framework". It is merely one teachers experience dealing with students who are less fortunate.

I do think this book should be read by teachers in Title One schools because sadly many of our Title One schools attract teachers who are unable to gain employment elsewhere. Those teachers probably do not have the desire to actually learn about the community they are teaching in and this book makes a fairly decent 'cliff notes' description of what they may expect.

In the end, any competent teacher will understand that affluent schools are going to have different problems than Title One schools.

What I don't find Dr. Payne doing is addressing the question "what happens when the children don't learn?". Sadly some teachers may see her writings as a reason not to have high expectations of their students. I am sure that is not the intended message of the book but, I can see how a person could arrive at that conclusion.

While Dr. Payne goes through the motions of arguing that poverty isn't about race -- any socially aware person knows this isn't accurate. School zones are still drawn to separate the good neighborhoods from the bad. Schools are given monies based on the property taxes in their neighborhood. You would be hard pressed to find a majority minority population school in an affluent neighborhood.

That just to say this: If you are a white teacher in a minority school I think this book is worth reading. If you are a non white teacher I think its also worth reading -- not that you will learn anything you don't know -- but, if you can look past the paternalism it is a different way of looking at the issues.