WEBVTT - Mythbusting Poverty and Education 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:15.360 Greetings and welcome to wokaf with me Danielle Moody. As 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.200 we settle into life under the Biden Harris administration, I've 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.279 been having thoughtful conversations with expert guests about what the 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:25.160 new Democratic administration can do to not only repair our 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.160 country but set it on a better path forward. Every 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.440 week I invite thought leaders to share their knowledge and 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:33.640 expertise with the wokaf community, and I invite you to 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.280 join us over on Patreon for just five dollars a 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.880 month at patreon dot com slash wokeaf to hear five 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.879 new shows every single week featuring these stimulating discussions as 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.760 well as my own perspective. This week, I wanted to 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:49.320 share with everyone the beginning of my interview with doctor 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:53.440 Mark Rank, co author of Poorly Understood What America Gets 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:57.080 Wrong about Poverty. I asked Mark to bust open some 0:00:57.160 --> 0:00:59.880 common myths about poverty, and what he told me is 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:04.840 important to share with everyone. What are some of the 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:10.840 common misconceptions and myths that we share as a country 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:16.840 around poverty. There are obviously a lot of different myths 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:21.080 out there, but I think one to start with is 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:26.320 this idea that well, poverty is going to affect somebody 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:30.240 else but not me, that it's an issue of them 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.200 rather than an issue of us. And one of the 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.959 ways we start out in the book is to say, actually, 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:42.360 if you look across people's lifetimes, majority of Americans at 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:46.959 some point will experience a year below the official poverty line. 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:51.560 So between the ages of twenty and seventy five, sixty 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.320 percent of folks will find themselves in poverty, and three 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:59.920 quarters of Americans will find themselves either in poverty or 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:04.520 near poverty for at least a year. And this really 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:08.840 puts a different perspective on it because it says, you know, actually, 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:12.120 poverty is an issue that affects most of us in 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:16.200 one way or another. So that's that's one sort of 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:21.000 variation on this idea that the myth of poverty being 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:23.560 an issue of them rather than an issue of us. 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.000 There are many others as well. For example, we often 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.560 our image of poverty is often that of folks of 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:34.799 color in inner city areas that have been in poverty 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:38.040 for long periods of time and that are using social 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:41.839 safety net programs. It turns out, it turns out that 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:48.440 that's that image is not correct. Actually, most people in 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:52.960 poverty do not live in high poverty inner city neighborhoods. 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.200 They live in a variety of places. They live in suburbs, 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.800 they live in rural America. So I guess the point 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:03.480 of this is to say that the reach of poverty 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:08.040 is very wide, and it affects a lot of folks 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:11.360 at some point in their lives. Why do you think 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.920 that we, I mean, from your research and the work 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:18.600 that you've done throughout your career. Is it just the 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:24.840 storytelling aspect that needs to shift because we've perpetuated the 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:27.240 lie the media And when I say we, I mean 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:31.799 the media has perpetuated the lie with regard to poverty 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:34.680 and what we're seeing. You know, but while we have 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.960 this image right of black and brown people in the 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:43.040 inner city, in these dilapidated communities as being impoverished, what 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.000 we know to be true is that if a four 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.960 hundred dollars bill were to come due in most American household, 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:52.400 seventy five percent of those households would be unable to 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:56.680 pay that bill. Right, we know that healthcare continues to 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:01.400 bankrupt families, which is why we had the push for 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.680 the Affordable Care Acts so that you're regardless of your 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:10.680 economic situation, you could still get healthcare outside of an 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:15.480 emergency room. So we hold those facts while we still 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.360 perpetuate the lie. And so how do you think that 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:22.960 we disrupt that? Well, I think you know, one thing 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.279 is is addressing that and addressing that with you know, 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:30.440 good solid evidence and facts and research, which is what 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:34.480 I've tried to do throughout my career. But I think 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.760 you know, an interesting question here is to step back 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.440 and to say, look, so we go in the book, 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.640 we go through all kinds of miss and basically show 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:46.520 that those myths are not true. So the question is, 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.920 if that's the case, how come we continue to hold 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.440 those myths, which I think one of the things you're 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:56.520 asking here. And we can step back and say, well, 0:04:56.560 --> 0:05:01.400 who's benefiting from these myths? Who's benefits from the perpetuation 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:03.520 of these myths? And I think we can point to 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:08.880 several different groups. One would be political actors and politicians. 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:13.760 Politicians have used the issue of the undeserving for the 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:19.040 lazy person on welfare to score political points over and 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:24.120 over and over again. So Ronald Reagan was infamous in 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.800 terms of his use of the welfare Queen Bill Clinton 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.080 talked about we want to end welfare as we know it. 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:36.520 Donald Trump railed against welfare recipients, and what that's done 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:42.080 is it's scored them political points in the American population, 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.279 and so they've had a vested interests. But there's also 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:48.479 we could step back and say, you know, actually, these 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:54.000 myths that the poor are deserving of their situation really 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:57.280 benefits those on the top, because what it says is 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:01.640 that I don't have any responsibility. It's not my problem 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:05.560 if you're poor. Whereas if we say, actually, these problems 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.600 are structural. It has to do with our economic policies, 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:13.680 it has to do with our political and policy programs. 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.440 If we do that, then we have to say, you 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:19.400 know what, we all have a responsibility in terms of this. 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.719 So I think that's a really important question to ask. 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:25.920 You know, who's benefiting from these myths? And I would 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.040 argue that the folks that have benefited have been basically 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:32.680 the folks in power who are content with the status 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:37.120 quo of widening inequality and more of the gains going 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:43.080 to those at the top. This week on woke f Daily, 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.039 I also spoke with Evan Stone, co founder and CEO 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:50.200 of Educators for Excellence. His organization survey teachers working through 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:54.160 an unanticipated year of remote learning and staggering reopenings, and 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.120 he joined me to share his results. The full conversation 0:06:57.240 --> 0:06:59.880 was so extensive and informative, so to hear the full 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:03.000 half hour interview, head over to patreon dot com slash 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.800 woke a F and subscribe. But for now, here's Evan 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:09.159 Stone telling us how teachers have been working through educating 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.480 in a pandemic and what he thinks the Biden Harris 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:16.480 administration can do to pave the road ahead. As folks 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:18.560 that listen to Woke a F No, they know that 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.480 I'm a former educator. My sister is currently an international 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:26.680 school teacher. She's in Bangladesh teaching there remotely from her apartment. 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:32.600 And I have always had a deep affinity for educators. 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:36.160 I think that it is the most important job. It 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.240 is why I went to get my master's degree in 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:41.520 early childhood education. It's why I wanted to work on 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.600 the hill in education policy because I felt that if 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:51.000 we could create a global citizenship, if we could create 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:57.080 critical thinkers, if we could create young people who believed 0:07:57.120 --> 0:08:00.880 in their power and responsibility, then we could change this country. 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.440 And that's what I've always been about, is how do 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:07.240 we change this country? How do we make it more equitable? 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:14.400 And so teachers have been going through. I can't even imagine. Honestly, 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.560 I can't even imagine what it would be like, because 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:21.360 I know how I feel just having my life turned around, 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.760 as everybody else's life has been turned upside down. But 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.640 I have largely been able to take my profession into 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:31.280 my home and do it and interview adults all day 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.199 who know how to sit in front of a zoom. 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:38.200 Whether or not we want to we do. How have 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:43.680 teachers been, evan like, how are the teachers that you 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:47.439 talk to the administrators? How are they faring? Because if 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.360 you don't have kids, I don't think that you have 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:55.360 a deep window into what the educator's experience has been 0:08:55.440 --> 0:09:00.320 over the past year. Yeah, I mean, like many of us, 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:04.640 teachers are grappling with this change, but they had, as 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:08.280 you mentioned, both their personal lives and their professional lives 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:11.600 completely upended. One of the things we know is over 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:15.079 three quarters of teachers are caretakers, either they have children 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:18.280 or elderly family members or others that they are taken 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:21.120 care of. And so in the spring of last year, 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:23.920 we did the right thing by saying we don't understand 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:25.960 this virus, we don't know what it could mean. We 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.360 need to close schools because it could have been a 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.600 massive threat to teachers and to students. But in doing that, 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:35.160 teachers had never taught online. For the most part, they 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:39.320 school systems didn't have the structures set up to support 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:43.680 educators to move their lessons online. Their curriculum wasn't adaptable 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:48.479 to an online environment, and their students, particularly historically marginalized 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:52.080 populations of kids, didn't have the technology and the access, 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:56.079 and so there was no guidance, There was very little support, 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:59.599 and we were waiting for teachers to solve this problem. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:01.640 Then I think over the course of the summer, there 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.360 was an expectation of we're going to solve the virus, 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:06.760 and so let's plan on what reopening could look like. 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:11.040 And it seems like we all wasted time that could 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:13.280 have been spent on thinking about how we support teachers 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.680 to prepare for a year that was going to be 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.120 mostly virtual. And so teachers are grappling with this. They 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:22.280 are feeling like they aren't as successful as they want 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:25.040 to be, and they're feeling very guilty about that. They 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:29.199 are feeling totally overwhelmed with trying to manage their lives 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:33.000 during this pandemic and an entirely new profession that looks 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:37.040 entirely different, and they're grappling with how disconnected they feel 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:39.600 from their colleagues and from their students. So they are 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:42.520 looking for solutions to this. They really want to get 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.040 back into the classroom, and they want to get back 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:46.800 in front of their kids, but they want to do 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.400 that in a safe way, and they're feeling right now 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.840 like there is a narrative that is pitting teachers against 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.800 students that I don't think is representative of where most 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:58.560 educators are. And it's really unfortunate that that's sort of 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.839 the conversations turned into, like opening schools for kids or 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:05.120 you keep schools closed to keep teachers safe. Is I 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:08.680 think a far too simple narrative that doesn't represent where 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:12.360 educators actually are on these issues. And is I think 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:15.199 penny blame on them for things that they're not fully 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.679 responsible for or don't have complete control over. What kind 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.559 of faith do you have, Evan in the new administration 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.360 to be able to create some type of continuity in 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.960 our public education system. We know that the last administration 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:35.680 did a gut job, and that there was a let's 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.959 just say, a detracting of money going into public schools 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:43.719 and a rerouting into religious entities and private schools and 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.000 charter schools and what have you. How do you feel 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:51.680 your level of hopefulness about this new administration and the 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:57.199 desperate rehabbing that our K through twelve system needs. I 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.880 am hopeful, but I have been hopeful in past and 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:03.600 have been disappointed. So this time I want my hope 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:08.240 to be complimented with some real strategy and a greater 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:11.520 level of advocacy from across the country. And I'm hopeful 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.880 for a couple of reasons. One, President Biden has made 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:18.160 clear he wants to triple funding for Title One. There's 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.560 probably nothing more important that the federal government could do 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:24.400 than to get more dollars directed towards our most disadvantaged 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:26.720 populations of students like that would be a huge win 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:30.600 if they can actually execute on that. To his current plan, 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:34.160 his current stimulus or Recovery bill would drive dollars to 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.440 prevent massive layoffs of teachers from across the country and 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:41.319 disproportionately protect teachers of color and teachers in low income schools. 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:43.600 So we can't go through the same thing that we 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:45.920 went through in the last recession and see ourselves lose 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:48.560 thousands and thousands of teachers at a time when we're 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:52.600 already struggling to recruit and retain teachers. Three. Doctor Cardona, 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:56.679 who's the Secretary designate but flew through his initial confirmation hearing, 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.760 is somebody we have worked closely with in Connecticut, and 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.120 I believe both his life experience and his leadership in 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:06.559 Connecticut have demonstrated that he is committed to the real 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.720 role of the federal Department, which is about increasing equity 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:13.000 in our education system. It was created the Federal Department 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.520 of Education was created to drive equity in a system 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.920 that we knew was inequitable, and so I do think 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.720 that will be his primary focus. We've worked closely with 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.160 him on teacher diversity in Connecticut, and so I think 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.520 that will be a key focus of his And so 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.880 I'm optimistic about the team that they've built, the priorities 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:31.120 that they put out to start, But there is a 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.760 lot of work to do, and it can't be done 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.440 just by the administration. Congress needs to play a role, 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.160 and we've continued to see Congress do as little as 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:45.559 possible to help drive change across the country. Folks, if 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:47.560 you've been following me for a while, you know that 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:49.720 I often say that you need to take a break 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.679 before you have a breakdown. Well, this week, I am 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:55.400 practicing what I preach and we'll be taking a break 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:58.840 to myself all week to wind down and decompress. But 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.199 if you are a Patriot subscriber or thinking about subscribing, 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.960 don't worry. I still have five full prerecorded shows Monday 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.640 through Friday. If you haven't subscribed yet, It's always a 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:12.079 great opportunity to hear so much more of the conversations 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:15.040 I share here every week, so head over to patreon 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.720 dot com slash woke f and check it out. It 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:19.680 really does take a lot of work to put out 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:22.720 five fresh, hour long shows every single week, so I 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:25.960 appreciate everyone who listens and supports me and trying to 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:28.960 make the world a woker place. Until next week or 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:31.320 when I see you on Patreon, Power to the people 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.480 and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:35.440 woke as fuck.