At the end of the social class video with the mother and her sons that lived in the trailer, how did you guys feel? I felt bad for the mother that her son puts her down and basically verbally abuses her. The mother is walking miles to clean the bathrooms at burger king to provide for her family. We did not see the son working to provide and better his family, we just saw him complaining. I think it's great the son wants to go to college and better himself, but trying to change people and better yourself are two different things.

I too, felt sympathetic towards Tammy (her name was Tammy, wasn't it?) and her sons. My family and I are originally from a very poor part of Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains- Haysi/ Grundy- small, old coal-mining towns. There, many people live like Tammy- in poverty. They struggle to live on the very little money- mostly from social security or welfare, and if they are lucky they have a job. It is an all too common scene.

I think the problem is that poverty is a viscious cycle. Children of poverty become trapped- they are in a completely disadvantaged position. I am not saying its never possible to overcome poverty or to change social status BUT its extremely DIFFICULT.

Do you think Tammy's son will be given the opportunity to pursue his goal- to become a lawyer? From his viewpoint- how much power does he really have over his future?

I agree... it was very sad to see that. The mother was obviously trying to provide her sons the best that she could, and it was very sad to see how her sons responded. It's a sad situation, but there are many kids who don't appreciate what their parents have done or trying to do for them. It seems like more and more kids are being disrespectful to their parents as well as their teachers.

I gotta agree with Brandon, "It's a sad situation, but there are many kids who don't appreciate what their parents have done or trying to do for them. It seems like more and more kids are being disrespectful to their parents as well as their teachers." JUST HERE AT ASU there are TONSSSS of people who a. could care less that they are in college, b. could care less how much anything costs, c. don't respect anyone, including themselves, and d. weren't even taught what respect is!
MY question is why would her kids respect her if she didn't teach them to? My guess is that she puts herself down and her children are simply acting accordingly. To me, she seemed to have very low self esteem. The children seemed to "wear the pants" in the house, and she was simply there to provide for them. If her children were raised knowing they didnt have to respect their mother... then it's understandable why they would look down on her... NOT because of their status or living situation, but because there was no respect at their home by anyone, FOR anyone.

How is it that the son had those nice sweater vests and clothes on, and the mother wore her burger king outfit everyday, whether it was at work or home? I agree with you, i think it is really sad that the son sits there and complains about how is life is and doesnt do anything about it to fix it. If he isnt going to get off his butt and help around the house then he has no right to sit there and complain about things. I was really glad to see that the mother hasnt given up and is doing everything she can whether her bratty kid aprreciates it or not.

Tammy does seem to have such low self-esteem and yet remains motivated to get to work, even when she has to walk in the rain to get to that minimum wage job.

When I was in high school, I knew a couple of familys like Tammy's. One mother worked in a factory full-time, sold Avon on weekends and was married to an alcoholic who binge-drank himself into a stupor every two or three months. He was abusive to his family until he'd just slump in his drunken stupor yelling out obscenities to my friends, never realizing I was there, too. It was tragic. My friend was one of three beautiful girls. Unlike Tammy's son, they were proud of their mother. However, their father said such horrible things to them all that I do not know how many years, or even now, if they can walk around feeling whole and confident. But the daughters all have families of their own now and are stable.

Why didn't Tammy's neighbors assist? I hope that son was able to go to the Community College. I like to imagine that he met some compassionate, knowledgeable people who may have actually been able to help direct the whole family into an improved state of life... Even if he's not a lawyer, age and life experience may give him more respect for his mom. I like to think that, anyway.

One of my biggest frustrations is to see children bad mouthing their parents. The majority of parents work entirely too hard to have their kids look down on them. My parents have given me too much support to ever think about putting them down.
To bring it into the classroom: parent appreciation days! Then there is the situation, what if they live with grandparents. Well, bring them in too!

I agree with Amy about kids bad mouthing their parents. This usually happens as the child gets older, but I think that one of the reasons it happens is because the parents do not do anything to stop it when the children are younger. I know that parents work and have too much to do sometimes to get angry at and punish their kids, but they are the parents and can put a stop to their kids bad mouthing them.

Anyways, back to the video. It was sad to see the son just sitting around and not helping his mom out when he could. He would say how his mom wasn't do as much as she should when he wouldn't do as much as he could. Sometimes you just have to wonder about some people.

I thought the boy was disrespectful as well, but I think that Genevieve had a good point that . This boy certaintly could have done more to help out his mom, and should have, but he has also led a very different life than most of us have. I personally have never lived in that kind of poverty but I would imagine that I would be angry at my situation as well. He is a teenager who does not seem to fully understand the situation that he is in. I think that age and life will help him to understand what his mother does to provide for him. Perhaps then she will get the respect she deserves.[/quote]

Just recently here in Ashe County, I became familiar with a similaar situation of poverty. The son, who was in third grade, was bad mouthing his mother for not having money to buy his basketball pictures and for not having extra money for him to put in the video games at a Boy Scout Party. However, his mother responded by yelleing back at him in front of others in regards to their situation. It just broke my heart. Poverty leads to frustrations for both parent and child. He was to young to understand why he didn't have what the other children had, however, she did understand therfore reponding with an emotional out burst.

As future teachers, we will probably have children and parents like this in our classooms. We must be a resource for help.