Review of "America’s Poor and the Great Recession," by Kristin S. Seefeldt & John D. Graham, with a foreword by Tavis Smiley, 2013. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, paper, 158 pages.
This book can help people cut through some of the myths about why people are poor.
This brief text provides in a factual and straightforward fashion the information social workers, counselors, and educators need as we continue to recover—and we learn from—what happened in 2008. This text is important reading for all adults, but social justice workers and teachers especially can learn some very important facts and figures here. Educators in general can make good use of this text as background reading and in professional development settings to educate themselves about what has been happening and how the poor are not being helped enough.
Understanding more about what many students are experiencing in this nation currently is crucial as we try to teach students who are hungry, depressed, nervous, and agitated because of the difficulties they may be facing outside the classroom. Comprehending more about the realities of the struggles out there in our country is very important as teachers try to understand what is happening from a social science perspective.
COVID-19 has since left a huge mark on our nation—in terms of financial and emotional challenges. This book pre-dates those difficulties and focuses on earlier destructive forces strangling our dollars.
Social workers, counselors, advocates for the poor, professors, researchers, and grass-roots street helpers can all make use of this important discussion of what happened in 2008. K-12 teachers can make use of it too.
Social science teachers specifically can use the text to design and better inform units on American business, charities, social groups, and political processes and programs. The text has clear facts and explanation of the myths of the safety net, the origin of American philanthropy, and the different ways to define poverty, the poor, and the poverty gap.
This book can help people cut through some of the myths about why people are poor.
Another myth that can be dispelled is that the safety net is helping the poor and therefore they no longer struggle in this country.
Teachers can use the text to better inform certain lessons. In Illinois, for example, educators may think of this book’s content as being related to all of the Social Science Goals within the Illinois Learning Standards. The themes and data in the text seem to relate especially to specific strands and benchmarks.
Based on the information in this book, I would propose the book includes insights and data helpful specifically related to units addressing these strands in the Illinois Social Science Goals: 14.C; 14.D; 15.A.c; 16.C.b (US); 16.E.b; 17.C.a; and 18.B. These are just a few suggestions; there are undoubtedly more connections, including across subjects.
The two authors are experts on welfare and social policy, one a faculty member at the University of Michigan and the other at Indiana University.
Tavis Smiley writes the foreword; he is an undisputed national guru and advocate on defining, helping, and understanding the poor in America.
I recommend teachers read this book to come to a clearer understanding of the reality of the challenges of 2008, 2009, etc., in our land, and to help them grasp the severity and extent of the poverty out there.
In doing so, they can not only better serve the students struggling in our classrooms after COVID-19 too, for that matter, but also help the students learn about the current situation in the USA and come to ways to make their own decisions and opinions out of the conflicting and sometimes too sparse information covered in the media.
This is an important book I would use in conversations with counselors and social workers out there on the street making use of their education and training to help the poor. The more ammunition one has, the easier it is to understand the complex situations in which people find themselves out there.
I would also use the text in professional development settings and retreats in which the teachers could take time to read the text in one day or one weekend. They could come to a better understanding of the current poverty situation in this country. They could also start forming ideas and approaches to covering the content in their classrooms, better serve students who are facing poverty, and help themselves and their students become better citizens by getting the facts on this very difficult but often hidden reality in our country.
This book serves as a great reference for all adults, but social justice workers and teachers especially can learn some very important facts and figures. Educators at many levels can use this book for background reading and in professional development.
Great stuff from Seefeldt and Graham!