make poverty history

Glad you found that an interesting research project, Kristy! ;)

...sorry it took me so long to reply...golfing has been rough on this man this week...

What planet do you live on man..

I live on the same planet you do, this place we call Earth. I may have never been West of the Rockies, but I've been east of the Appalachians, and I'm sure poverty looks the same on both sides of the mountains, or wherever you may roam.

Would you be saying the same thing if you were living in 19th and Yesler where the schools are underfunded, the teachers aren't paid as much as they deserve because they are supported by property taxes.

Yes, I would be saying the same thing. I grew up in poverty, so this subject hits close to home. I spent 18 years in a town of 195 people. You think property taxes in a town of 195 people (less than 80 houses) can support large teacher salaries? No, it wasn't a crime-ridden area, though I did get in more than my fair share of trouble.

maybe you could understand what being poor and living in the projects means to these people when there are no jobs for them and they are purposely put on the outskirts of the cities.

Do not feed me the BS line that anyone is FORCED to the outskirts of the cities. If they are on the outskirts of town, they are there because of easier access to drugs, closer access to shelters, or cheaper housing (I.E: trailer houses, abandoned buildings). Give me one city, just one, and I will find you 13,000 jobs that any homeless person could get if they had the motivation to do so. Please, just one city.

I'm not a completely bad guy, I feel absolutely terrible for the children of these drug addict parents. These parents need to take care of their kids, but no amount of money (thanks Malibu) is going to fix the problem. No amount of money is going to make these parents take better care of their children. No amount of money is going to get these parents to get a decent job and move into a house in a decent neighborhood. What are you going to do....create communities where you give them houses and jobs? All you will be doing is creating a new slum when they quit their jobs and start selling drugs out of the house you gave them. I think you need to wake up and go east of those Rocky Mountains.

The cycle of poverty keeps on going on throughout their life and thier childrens's life.

I don't believe that you know the facts behind poverty

Again, I grew up in poverty, and I, nor my brothers, nor my mother, live in that lifestyle anymore. When I got into Middle School, my mother went to school, and she now has her Master's degree and is a Nurse Practitioner. It is entirely possible to get out of poverty, but you have to want to get out. You cannot simply expect others to pull you out of that pit, you need to see that you are in the pit and stop digging deeper. When you realize that you are in a hole, you need to stop digging. It may seem impossible to get out of that hole when all you have in there is a shovel and some dirt, but with enough desire and innovation, you can dig yourself a set of stairs to walk yourself right out and carry yourself even higher.

...and no, I don't read. I've read one book in the last five years.

Mattboy Slim,
You should be very proud that you did get out of poverty and I am very glad for you and your family. And I do agree with you that not everybody in poverty doesn't do drugs and chooses to do diviant things. It is a choice. But I do believe that these people don't always see the light at the end of the tunnel because we can't predict the future. The book I did read (the one I mention before) is about the housing projects in chicago and they were put in the outskirts because they didn't want the rest of the community to see it, which is very sad because they are there and you can't ignore it, but they chose to.
Did your teachers have a good attitude when they taught you? Because that could make the difference to. If they have a good attitude and encourage you to graduate then you probably would. I do believe in a better education for the children living in poverty with encouragement to get themselves out and find a job. When I read about the reforms to the Wisconsin's welfare system I thought it was a great thing and I believe that should happen in every state. It would only take a second for you to read it as well, try it in-between golf?
I am sure I will talk to again about this subject soon. Have fun golfing, get an eagle for me!
Kristy

:rolleyes: ;) :D :confused: :( :mad: :p


make proverty history

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BRITISH TRUE FACE
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What do you know about an university, beside the Name?? Do you know well about the Foreign University besides its city name, are they really that good to your kid as their prospective student?

However, there is no evidence of a relationship between the amount of money thrown into university education and genuine educational accomplishment. For university course, British University cost more than double than a same degree course that held in one of the universities in Hong Kong. Beside the difference in the price tag, there are employment restrictions as well. Nowadays, besides discrimination of SE Asia students for the exonerating excuse of SARS. British University charges the whole year tuition in advance even the students might have scholarship and loans coming in. In Britain, Hong Kong Students are simply the MILK COW for the British Economy. The local student only paid one-third of what the Hong Kong student paid. Furthermore, their Local Education Authority (LEA) will lend them all the tuition fees and let them have some living expenses too.

I have studied in UK before, what I have got is: continuous bullying [pushing around] and mis-treatment from the UK university. I have got very good A-Level and my parents were very generous to spend all their money in my further education. Most Hong Kong students get the worst rooms in the British School accommodation. Always in a weird corner, size is tiny and an inhumane place to live in. I was put in a storage room that was under the staircase with the University Hall warden arrangement; the ceiling is so low that I could touch the bottom of the staircase if I raise my hands. It is tinier than the maid bedroom or a substandard kitchen in Hong Kong. I could not move at all if I would like to put my bicycle inside. The furniture is old and extremely tiny.

This is in contrast to other single student bedrooms on the same floor, the room is big enough for them to park a couple of car inside. We were all paying the same single room fees. Once and once again, these things happen to every Hong Kong student. It is just because British are arrogant and the Hong Kong students are too polite to make a complaint. It is not about the fairness, but Hong Kong students always get an inhumane room to live in, British look at us as tiny slave in one of their many colonies. They created unfair hardship for all Chinese students. Other British parents use their car to help their children to move in, does the Chinese parent take an extra suitcase, fly there and see the room that their devoted child will be living ? They could get a shock. How would you feel to live in an under-the-staircase small child bed with floor space just as big as 2 BATH TUBS put together. British have strong biased prejudice culture against Chinese or Japanese. Charging hotel room price for worse than refugee treatment !

Very few Hong Kong parents really know what Britain is like. There are a lot of confusing Indians there, as many Indians could immigrate to Britain when India became independent. They keep on reproducing exponentially, most are either belong to Muslim or Islamic or Hindu religion. Their accent is the worst in the world and their minds are just simply crazy. In cities like London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, Indian made up a big portion of the student population. Many black people behave much better and much more educated than the always smiling-for-nothing Indian people. Those Islam and Muslim students never play fair during exam; they got a variety of cheap tricks during examination. For example, some of them will keep on shaking their legs during the whole examination. At the end of the exam, I complained to the teacher for such incident. She simply said, she did not saw it to avoid any further investigation.

In one summer, I left the textbooks for safekeeping in an university accommodation storage facility. The whole box of textbooks got stolen before I came back to collect them. I simply could do nothing about it. Long distance phone call and small amount of pocket money is not guardianship. I just wonder when will the Hong Kong parents get notified if something happen ? The schools will not blow their own horn and blow the money earners away !! Who will tell, are we too polite to make any complaint as our students used to the Education System that will take care of ourselves ??
Independent would be difficult when Hong Kong students face constant bullying by their own kind and other white students. Though looking happy, independent, excited and eager to explore a new environment; deep down in the students hearts, all students are suffering from the loneliness of leaving all their closest family and friends, and the Chinese environment that is so familiar to them. Facing new friends, new school, new hallmates, it had to be tough so as to survive. British treat Hong Kong students just like orphan refugee. That is exactly how I felt while I never able to tell my parents about the mistreatment. In my heart, I realised how much money they paid for an overseas opportunity, I don't want to disappoint them even when I was put in a modified storage room under a staircase that other students walk up to their decent size rooms. In reality, the parents just put their students in mentally handicap British schools because the Hong Kong schools of their choice got no place for their own children.

The level of mathematics and science in Britain is well below the average standard of schools in Hong Kong. In the last few years, the GCSE O-level examination standard has dropped dramatically. What is the rationale to send their children to a handicap-alike school overseas ? What is the point of spending life saving for an unworthy Briti**** education? Will it be better to save up those money and buy a Real house (in many cities expect HK or Tokyo) with a real lawn using the money for a degree course. I’ve go almost perfect A-Level and went for the most intensive course called MEDICINE; rather than getting a scholarship for my outstanding academic performance [I’ve got rank 2 out of the 200 medic students there in the first MCQ], I have to tell you a disastrous real story here that is worse than the treatment that Harry Potter get from his adopted Uncle guardian.

There is a Chinese proverb that is well known among china town:
英國人 好窮 好賤 好黑人憎 It is so true.
[British People are very poor, very nasty, just nuisance group]

For students considering Britain for their further education. Australian and American students pay the same fees as the overseas students for their University Education, they are much friendlier than the arrogant British. In those countries, Chinese are generally consider to be brighter in science subjects, however, they are all right about that. Unlike UK, jealousy is not an issue when fair competition is the fundamental drive of their economies for centuries. The biggest fear of mankind is Uncertainty, why the Hong Kong parents would pay a fortune to a mysterious old school in Britain for an uncertain academic attainment that they knew little about while certain that the British would be biased against a young tiny Chinese kid ?

When the students in Hong Kong still concerning the new year activities; “how much excitement that it’s got into this year”, “did I miss any good rapport by not joining the camping trip.” Will you have some serious thought about you’re your kids’ university experience: does Hong Kong treat you well ? Everyone have a fair chance to go through the allocation SYSTEM, some get the ideal courses that they prefer while other get to build good relationship in the next few years with a group of people that’s got a wide diversity of personalities and interests.

As a metaphor, WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A FOOTBALL OR A POPULAR SCORER WEAR A NO.10 FOOTBALL T-SHIRT WHO SCORE EVERYONE OR A SHY GOAL-KEEPER WHILE THEY ARE HERE IN THE UNIVERSITY. Give it some thought. Make the stay in the university worthwhile. Best wishes.

British Local Student (standard single room fees)
1. Single Room about the size of 2-3 persons flat in HK (300 sq feet)
2. The bed is between a single and double bed
3. Plenty of space, very high ceiling. Decent Furniture
4. 10 other single student rooms on the same floor

HK Chinese Student (standard single room fees)
1. Storage Room Right under the stair case smaller than the smallest kitchen in HK (the space of 2 doors -- 40 sq feet)
2. A child bed that is about the same as a door size
3. Second Hand Furniture that look like rubbish, cram space
4. Just a tiny space right under a noisy stair case

What's this have to do with poverty?
Kristy

What the hell? .....

I always find it funny to read the conservative view of why people are homeless. They are quick to point to drug use, among several other things as the cause of poverty and homelessness.

What about the veterans?

[quote=http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm]
Although accurate numbers are impossible to come by ... no one keeps national records on homeless veterans ... the VA estimates that more than 299,321 veterans are homeless on any given night. And, more than half a million experience homelessness over the course of a year. Conservatively, one out of every four homeless males who is sleeping in a doorway, alley, or box in our cities and rural communities has put on a uniform and served our country ... now they need America to remember them.
[/quote]

I would find it hard to beleieve that the majority of those vets who came home had their substance abuse problems prior to their arrival back in the united states. I'd venture to guess, their drug use is a result of their being homeless, not the cause.

What about the mentally disabled/ill?

To quote Dennis Leary. "I'm sure part of the requirement for the job at McDonalds is that the underwear go inside the pants". Have you ever known anyone with a true, dibilitating mental defect/illness? I'm not talking about your garden variety obsesive compulsive. I'm talking about the guy who walks down the street talking to the voices in his head...outloud. Do you honestly thing this guy could hold down a job at a fast food joint? I doubt he could.

We, as the richest nation in the world, have a responsibility to the people who can't do for themselves. If someone is unable to work due to mental illness, there should be provisions for them to make sure they are able to eat and sleep some place warm. It's a sad thing to see an older man scrounging through a dumpster for a scrap of food that was thrown away by someone more priviledged than he. Our veterans should never even have to worry about a place to live. These are the people who defended our freedom, some even injured while in combat. There is absolutly no reason that they should have to sleep over a manhole with cardboard box to keep from freezing to death.

On the flipside...there are people in this country who sit on their asses, collect disability/unemployment or other state/federal aid simply because they are lazy. I wouldn't be surprised to find that, of those people, the majority do not have a substance abuse problem...they're just too lazy to get up off their butts.