The working poor is a class of individuals who have regular employment although they live in poverty as a result of low pay and expenses. They usually have a negative net worth and are unable to escape economic and personal emergencies. Different nations around the world have different levels of measuring and defining poverty. This means that the extent of working poor conditions varies from country and country depending on economic conditions and geographical location. Sometimes, the methods used in collecting and reporting data also cause a variation since there is no global standard for data collection and recording.
This makes the causes of working poor conditions to be debatable and this is a result of political, economic, and social variations. Schooling depends on various factors for it to occur thus those living in the working poor can be affected due to the struggles they experience. There are various reasons why the poor experience problems when it comes to going back to school or upgrading their competencies. The working poor has trouble returning to school or upgrading their skills due to the cost of education.
Education is associated with both direct and indirect costs that may act as a barrier, especially for the working poor. Even when a country chooses to offer free schooling for its citizens, some people may still find it hard to return to school since there are additional costs needed for schooling. This includes money for buying books and uniforms and school maintenance among other costs that become a barrier to individuals.
This has kept many people from advancing their skills or returning to school. The working poor is usually associated with a lower household income that makes it difficult for them to set aside money for schooling. These costs end up making the affected individuals feel depressed and their lives are usually characterized by depression. Linda Tirado narrates that poor people usually experience situational depression that arises from continual worry and stress concerning finances. She claims that being poor requires some form of toughness to live and this results in continuous anxiety that can be intensely released at any time. With this level of anxiety, it becomes difficult for one to do schooling.
The working poor live in poverty meaning their lives are subjected to struggles. This is so since schooling is directly linked to finances and so little income causes them to leave schooling and seek jobs. Some people fail to return to school since they may be needed to travel for long hours by public bus to reach school especially when they live in the village. The expenses may also be too much for them to pay thus they end up despairing at schooling and as a result, they face other life struggles like being married off while some end up engaging in alcoholism and smoking to cope with that kind of life. Linda says that she has bigger problems that are hard to solve and to cope with them, people employ various mechanisms.
She says that smoking and drinking are the common methods for relieving stress by the poor and as the schooling model suggests, they do not feel like the money should be spent on something else.
The working poor lack the mental and emotional stability that is needed for schooling to be possible. As a result, they end up using alcohol, and other drugs to feel good, as explained by Tirado. Their mental stability is usually affected by their financial lack meaning that they cannot be able to afford the cost of education both financially and when it comes to time. Their time is spent more on working to obtain finances for meeting expenses. The drugs used by the working poor strain the brain thereby inhibiting its abilities as a result of constant stress. Due to this, it becomes hard for one to think about returning to school or upgrading skills.
Linda explains that the stress is caused by multiple sources including financial strain. According to Tirado, other people engage in sex to feel wanted and they also use it as a currency to meet some needs for example exchanging sex for living rent-free. It is hard for those using sex as a currency to advance their skills or go back to school since these things do not mix up.
The schooling model helps explain differences in individual earnings using the years of schooling and regional differences. The cost of education is usually the reason why people choose not to go on with their studies. Poverty has many effects on education as it hinders the working poor from advancing their studies. This causes individuals from poor backgrounds to experience some disadvantages in their schooling. Their readiness for school gets to diminish due to poverty and in most cases, their memory and concentration are reduced thus they become less attentive and motivated. The cycle of poverty can, however, be broken by education only therefore people need to prioritize it. Schooling can uplift society and its different aspects as it enables individuals to make smart life decisions.