Questions for Dr. Payne

Hello, Dr. Payne. My district has a program for high school students called “Practical Careers”.  We have students with special needs, on IEP’s and who are slightly short of the 26 credits required to graduate.  This program allows students to work outside the classroom in paying jobs and earn high school credits.  It employs a “job coach” who assists with finding these students jobs and then monitors them on the job site until it is determined they are able to fulfill the duties on their own.  A high percentage of these students are from poverty.  I would like to add too, these students also develop a relationship with this “job coach” and look at her as a mentor.  Throughout your book you express how important education is in order to move out of poverty.  What are your thoughts on this program?  Do you feel that these students need to be in the classroom receiving more education from a teacher?  Do you feel that because these students are working, making money they will not further their education if given the chance and they will never move from poverty?  Please explain.

I have another question for you. When addressing your critics you have said that your goal from your entire work is, “20 years from now no one will say, that child is poor and he can’t learn”.   Our education system was not losing state funding at the time, No Child Left Behind existed and our economy was not in a recession or supposedly coming out of a recession at that time.  Can you give me insight into how you feel about this goal now with our current economic situation and education system today?

Impact on Professional Practice

As I mentioned earlier my district already has in place a mentoring program for our students but what about mentors for the parents of these students?  As a school nurse I work closely with these parents and I see the struggles they go through from my middle class point of view.  In discussing this book with our school social worker (she has already read it) she agreed with me and thought our parents needed to form influential relationships and having a “parent aide” would be one way to achieve this.  Also, a way to break the cycle of poverty is to educate the parents, especially the mothers of these students in poverty.  My social worker and I have decided we intend to start a program of mentoring parents.  These mentors will be referred to as “parent aides” and will first undergo a training/screening process before being matched with a particular parent.  These parent aides will then go out into the homes and help educate and assist parents as needed with hopes of forming relationships and bonds with these parents.  We plan to hold seminars and classes at the schools on subjects such as health care, parenting, money management and even GED preparation.  Our mentors will be educators or community members who volunteer their time.  The goal of this program is to provide the parents with influential relationships that will provide support and knowledge of the hidden rules of the middle class.   Our hope is that the result of this will affect the children in their education and relationships with others. 

Key Understandings

As teachers we need to be aware of the different hidden rules between poverty, middle class and wealthy.  Students of poverty will bring their hidden rules into the classroom.  Teachers need to teach the hidden rules of the middle class as another set of rules that that students of poverty can choose from.  By knowing the hidden rules of the middle class, students of poverty can achieve success in learning and possibly eventually move from poverty to middle class.  Ruby Payne was able to put the different hidden rules into perspective for me by the quizzes she provided in chapter 3.  It is important for teachers to know the differences amongst these hidden rules.  Knowing this will allow for student empathy and understanding.  Teachers can provide the encouragement needed for student success.

Relationships are a motivator for students from poverty.  As an educator if I intend for my students to learn I need to form a relationship with them or allow for a relationship to form with another type of mentor.  Ruby Payne mentions on pg. 110 that students who had been in poverty and transitioned to middle class were asked how they made it out of poverty they name an individual who made the difference for them.  My district has a district-wide mentoring program for students.  Teachers, coaches, board members and community members are mentors to “at risk” students within the district.  When I say “at risk” I am referring to those who are at risk of not graduating or going to college because of financial means or academics.  Students who are missing parental figures or have discipline problems are likely to receive a mentor too.  Is it coincidental that the students that I know of being involved in this mentor program are on free and reduce lunch?  Most likely not.  After reading this book I feel I need to encourage more of my parents and students who are from poverty to become involved in this mentoring program.

Many students growing up in poverty are acting as a parent to themselves and even to younger siblings.  Acting as a parent at a young age prevents the student from experiencing the three internal voices that guide an individual; the child voice, the adult voice and the parent voice.  These students lack the internal adult voice, which allows for negotiation.  Teachers approach their students in a parent voice, especially when disciplining the student.  This can cause anger with the student who lacks the adult voice and the student will respond back with their parent voice that sounds sarcastic and defensive. They lack the “language of negotiation” (p. 83).  It is up to us as teachers to teach the language of negotiation to enable success and prevent physical aggression.  I see this quite often among my middle school students.  These students who lack the adult voice are very defensive and quick to react to the teacher or administration and show no respect.   By teaching students to use the language of negotiation we as educators can help promote success in school and life.