Ain T No Makin Analysis

conditions, it would almost be impossible for me to have any motivation to “make it”. Similarly, to the Brothers, I had the outlook that my future would be hopeful, and that education would play a crucial part in changing the outcome of my future. Students from poor background are always fed the narrative that education is the gateway to their success, but many students who believe and pursue the directions of this narrative learn the harsh reality that the manner in which education is currently structured is not always the answer. As Oliver and Shapiro (1995: 12) state, parents who were not able to get out of the inner city or the older suburban communities “entrust their children to school systems that are rarely able to provide them with …show more content…
I come from a low-income single-parent household that falls below the standards of the national poverty line for a family of four. Being able to see how difficult it is to budget under these circumstances truly exposes me the realities of the economic injustices that we speak of in class. As I learned in this project, when you are poor, you essentially do not have any opportunity to save any money, which continues to perpetuate the cycle of poverty. Being poor, I can understand both attitudes presented in Ain’t No Makin’ It; sometimes I feel hopeless like the Hallway Hangers, and at times I feel hopeful like the Brothers. Looking at the repeating cycle of poverty in the lives of the people in my neighborhood and on a larger societal scale, it is easy to understand why the Hallway Hangers felt like they could not achieve anything in life, as there are times where I feel this way. I know so many students that graduate and end up being in an immense amount of debt, only to not end up with the incredible careers that the American dream narrative sold to them. On the other hand, education can be seen as the great equalizer because in our current society it is not easy to find a job that does not require a degree. More importantly, as is seen in the case of the Brothers, it is expected that I focus on doing well in school, because of how deeply embedded the American …show more content…
This idea is evident in this particular budget; in the ideal budget, I was able to allocate money towards gifts and vacations, and in the median income budget, I was not able to have either. This phenomenon continued to this current poverty level income. Although sacrifices have to be made to fit the poverty level income, one does not truly see the difference that the money and jobs can make until one has to remove them and learn to live without them. Moreover, it is important to realize that after some point, a family is no longer making sacrifices to “get by,” but are rather altering their entire way of life to fit the social class. Families should not have to cut their grocery budgets below the recommended value by the Department of Agriculture, and they definitely should not have to remove their health insurance to be able to have enough money for their basic expenses. Unfortunately, this is the reality of many families in the United States. The inequality in income breakdown in the United Status continues to be reinforced by the lack of employment in the United States, and by the myth of the American dream. Income shapes what we can do and becomes a part of our identity. To be poor in this country is to be seen as a failure to comply with the standards of the larger society, and this is rooted in the