Discrimination of kids suffering from poverty in school?

Question

What do these kids have to go through. Do people discriminate them? Please explain. School situation please!

Answer 1

it is a power thing, and also shows what parents are teaching there kids as far as important in life.

say a kid doesn't dress as well as the other kids, a kid will notice, and mention it to a parent, most times the parent will say, Oh, they are poor and don't work or are lazy and get welfare. the kid hears this and views it as bad, and tells the other children, then they all get together and tease the poor kid.

If parents take the time, and explain to the child that not all people have the same things, but that doesn't mean that they are any less of a good person, kids would view it that way.

We have to teach our children values, other than material goods

(TV advertising doesn't help the cause)

Answer 2

YES!  I really do think there is discrimination in schools for children living in (or near) poverty.  I am working on my MSW and I am actually doing a project on this very notion.  I currently do an  internship at a school where about 80% of the children live in poverty.  I see the discrimination every single day.  I believe it stems from classism.  

Examples include:

teacher believing that some students are "a waste of time and space"

teachers not understanding why some of the children are not as "clean" as other children, due to the fact that they are functionally homeless.

teachers want to put a lot of these kids in special ed, not because they lack intelligence (as many school systems want to think) but because they do not have the support at home to carry over what they have learned in the classroom.  Not because thier parents do not want to help them, but they either can't (due to an inadequte education themselves) or they have bigger things to worry about (such as where they will get thier next meal)

counselors do not encourage these children to attend college in the same way they do middle class students.  

These are just a few examples.  I am sure there are plenty more.  Thank you for asking this question, as I believe it is a very important issue.