In 2001, approximately 11.7 percent of the U.S. population lived in poverty. This number was a slight increase from 2000, after the poverty rate had steadily declined during 1993 through 2000 from 15.1 percent to 11.3 percent (National Poverty Center 1). Thus, after a relatively steady decline during the 1990s, the number of children living in poverty in the United States has been on the rise since the year 2000 (NCCP "Low-Income Children" 1).
Today, there are approximately 70 million children in the United States (National Poverty Center 1). More than one-third of them live in families that are considered to be low-income or poor. Specifically, in 2002, more than 26 million children -- 37 percent of America's children -- lived in low-income families (NCCP "Low-Income Children" 1). Eleven million of these children -- 16 percent of the country's child population -- lived in poverty. This paper addresses the relationship between a lack of education and child poverty in the United States and proposes that the federal government implement more sector-based educational and training opportunities for parents of low-income and poor children as a means of alleviating their poverty.
A parent's lack of education can be a significant contributing factor to whether a child in America grows up in a low-income or impoverished family. Essentially, inadequate education is one of the leading causes of poverty. A parent's lack of education can also cause cycles of poverty. For example, an uneducated parent may be able only to secure employment that places his or her family in low-income or poor economic levels. This family, therefore, will more than likely live in an area characterized by low-incomes and poverty. The children, as a result, will more than likely attend substandard schools. In New York, for example, the average poor student receives only about $1,000 per year in resources at public schools, compared to resource allocations of approx...