Hardship makes learning difficult
Outpouring of public generosity benefited school, but political commitment is needed over the long term
Iteach at Seymour elementary, an inner- city school in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Eighteen months ago, I wrote a letter about the children I share a classroom with every day. This letter told the story of the poverty that surrounds my students, that hurts them and affects them in quite alarming ways.
I wrote about children coming to school without proper clothing, children who were stressed and crying in my cloakroom and families who did not have safe or secure housing. The message was clear. It is hard to learn if you are cold, hungry and worried. Need interrupted learning every day and there were many unmet needs.
The community response to this letter was huge. People were shocked and outraged this level of poverty exists in neighbourhoods and communities all over our province. Donations poured in to our school. Volunteers stepped up to provide additional support in our classrooms. We received a variety of tangible items for children and families including winter clothing, grocery gift cards and books for children to own. Private donations and Adopt- a- School money have allowed us to do things like create a transportation fund for field trips, offer a week of hip- hop dance lessons for every child in the school, and organize parent workshops. We have been able to purchase books to enhance classroom and home reading libraries and fill holes in our library. Donations have provided art therapy sessions for children with a high level of anxiety or other social emotional needs. Our students have also benefited from the gift of experiences. Many children had never been to the beach, the forest or the mountains despite living in such a beautiful city. They lacked background knowledge and experiences to connect to new learning. Now, students recall and celebrate experiences such as dragon boating, snowshoeing, visits to the aquarium and a trip up Grouse Mountain.
This degree of generosity has benefited other schools and school communities, particularly in the Lower Mainland. Breakfast programs have been sponsored. Technology has been purchased for students with special needs. Sports equipment. New playgrounds. Musical instruments. Art supplies. There has been much to celebrate.
Unfortunately, what we can do in the classroom does not affect the realities of poverty that exist at home and that are rooted in a lack of systemic supports for children and families. Even though we began meeting immediate needs and made changes for children at the school level, the larger reality for children and families remained. The stressors of poverty have a deep impact. Poverty creates circumstances that put children who are already behind across various developmental domains even farther behind. The daily reality for many of our children is still completely unacceptable. This affects classroom success.
Our province needs social policies that will support families in raising healthy children. When students arrive at kindergarten already vulnerable, it is a sobering reminder there is no second chance at early intervention. If we don’t want the effects of poverty to define an increasing number of vulnerable children — children who sit in my classroom and in classrooms all over this province — then it is time to fully and firmly commit to policies that will reduce childhood vulnerability.
B. C. needs a comprehensive povertyreduction plan that includes such things as affordable, accessible child care and income measures that will ensure families are not living below the poverty line. We need to adequately invest in early intervention supports and services for children in the early years.
Poverty in B. C. is a choice. As the late Clyde Hertzman frequently emphasized, “It doesn’t have to be this way.” The answers to child and family poverty exist. We need to stop ignoring evidence and start adopting solutions. Research about child development and vulnerability should be driving political change. But it isn’t.
The problem of child poverty isn’t about what we know. We know a lot. It is about what we do. Right now, what we do is not nearly good enough when it comes to how we support children in this province. The public must insist there be a political commitment to change.