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WABASH - Teachers and staff from Manchester Community Schools, along with several Wabash County schools, Peru Community Schools and North Miami Consolidated Schools, attended a seminar Tuesday at the Honeywell Center in Wabash.
Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D., author of a book titled "A Framework For Understanding Poverty," national consultant on children in poverty, native of Elkhart and graduate of Goshen College, was the featured speaker at the seminar. Payne speaks to thousands of teachers and staff each year on improving the achievements of children who come from poverty.
Specifically, Payne discussed poverty, wealth and the middle class. She educated teachers and staff on the differences in thinking between social classes and how it affects children in school. She also discussed hidden rules in society by class.
"This is a workshop about class," Payne said. "Money is important, but after you get past survival, it's not that important."
Poverty occurs in all races, Payne said. And children under age 18 statistically have the most individuals in poverty.
"The greatest numbers and percentages in the U.S. in poverty is children," she said.
When Payne talks about poverty, she said, she means "patterns that have been there two generations or more."
"Schools operate from middle-class norms and values," Payne said. "I'm not going to apologize for that, because you know what - so does business."
Some reasons behind poverty include educational attainment, family structure and immigration. Payne said it is not possible to have economic expansion without immigration because there is either a shortage in labor or the cost of labor goes up.
Other facts supporting the poverty rate include the difference between men's and women's wages in the work force and household income.
In the future, Payne said, the poverty rate among school-age children will get higher.
"People 55 and older get four times the federal dollars than people under 18," she said.
In one study, Payne found, 70 to 80 percent of teacher expectations were based on appearance.
And appearance often can be based on social class. But to move from one class to another, "one must give up, for a period of time, relationships for achievement. You have to do that because you don't have enough time," Payne said.
"We have hidden rules about everything, even food," she said.
Hidden rules are "never articulated. If you don't follow them you're either stupid or rude." She also said the group with the most power or the most money is the group that sets the hidden rules.
"Individuals bring with them the hidden rules of the class in which they were raised," Payne said. This means children bring into the classroom different hidden rules.
People in poverty, she said, have only one possession - "and that's people." Their responsibility is loyalty to relationships.
"People in generational poverty fear education because you leave," Payne said. Those who become well-educated leave and move up the social ladder.
Recognizing poverty among young children in the classroom is important, she said. The five hidden rules teachers can expect to see in school include: 1.) a higher noise level, whether it be voices, television or radio; 2.) your value to your group is your ability to entertain; 3.) you are not respected unless you're personally strong - don't show fear; 4.) there's a much wider range of acceptable behavior; and 5.) important information is passed nonverbally.
"In school, we teach verbally," Payne said. Young school-age children in poverty "decide whether they're going to work with you (teachers) based on whether they like (you).
"Young children miss a lot of stuff because they've been keyed to pay attention to non-verbal (information)," she said. "Non-verbals are so important in poverty because they're recognized by the brain sooner than verbal." She said non-verbals also are much more accurate on intent.
The key issue in all this, Payne said, is learning.
"We must teach them that there are two sets of rules," she said. For example, in poverty, if a person can't fight, they won't survive. But if a person fights in school, they'll be kicked out.
"This is called code switching," she said. "If you don't know the rules out there, you can't play the game even if you want to.
"Educators in the next decade in America are going to do more to shake the future (of America than any others)," she said.
Payne offered phrases for teachers to use with students and parents. Some phrases include: "Your mind is a tool or weapon no one can take away from you"; "You need to learn this or do this: - so that you can win more often" " - so you won't get cheated" "- so you'll be smarter."
Payne also urged teachers and staff to find out in their schools whom students respect.
"If they don't give you names of people who achieve, you have your answer," she said.
