MIGRANT FARMING AND GENERATIONAL POVERTY

Generational poverty is often defined as poverty that has lasted at least two generations. It is a devastating cycle whose victims see no choices, no opportunities, no resources to escape their condition. Children who are born into the cycle tend to get trapped in the atmosphere of hopelessness. Education is the key to breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

A good school can open countless doors for a child's future. Supportive and resourceful, it can be the only place where impoverished children can learn how to escape poverty.

Education means more employment opportunities, happiness, and even a longer life expectancy...

...And dropping out of school to work on farms means just working on farms. Forever.

Despite the benefits of education to impoverished children, thousands drop out of school to work in agriculture. Trying to make ends meet, their families see no alternative. When a child leaves school at a young age, the cycle of poverty grows by another generation. In order to break the cycle, families need to have the resources to keep their children in school, at the very least until they finish high school. When a person is educated, they can get a job that will support their family without their children having to leave school to work.

WORKS CITED

• "Education Indicators in Focus." OECD. N.p., 01/2013. Web. 15 Mar 2014.
• Cleveland, Leona. "Chapter Four: Characteristics of Generational Poverty." Yale.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar 2014.
• San Martin, Gilles. File:Intensive agriculture - Corn field. 2007. Photograph. Wikimedia CommonsWeb. 15 Mar 2014.
• Two Kids Rummage Through Trash (Close-Up). 2001. Photograph. FlickrWeb. 15 Mar 2014.
• The Sixth Form Area - School Library - Ryeish Green School. 2010. Photograph. FlickrWeb. 15 Mar 2014.

WORKS CITED (CONTINUED)

• Pride, Maryland. File:Northwestern HS Hallway.jpg. 2009. Photograph. Wikimedia CommonsWeb. 15 Mar 2014.