growing up poor gave me a good work ethic

Surveys also indicate that the poor prefer work to receiving help from the government or from family members. 1 But people in poverty often fail to translate educational values into concrete goals, in part because they do not know about or have access to local educational resources, or because those resources are limited or difficult to reach. A study in Milwaukee showed that most teens, including teenage mothers, regarded education as being valuable for its own sake, as a source of personal pride and as an example for their children, as well as a route to upward economic mobility. Other studies of the poor typically reveal that values among the poor are remarkably similar to those of the rest of society. Their responses suggest they believe that motivation and hard work can pull people out of poverty, regardless of their background. Most Americans, including the poor, said they strongly believe that America is a land of opportunity. Differences in responses by poverty status were surprisingly small. The NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy School poll, in fact, showed that 52 percent of the American public believed that lack of motivation was a major cause of poverty another 35 percent believed it was a minor cause of poverty.

One persistent stereotype is that the poor, especially the welfare poor, are unmotivated: They lack aspirations to “get ahead,” or don’t work hard enough to succeed. Even with work-based welfare reform, a sizeable share of the American public holds unfavorable views about poor people. The poor themselves share this belief: About one-fourth believe the poor have lower moral values than other Americans. But about one-fifth thought the poor had lower moral values. The poll also showed that about two-thirds of Americans believe that the poor have the same moral values as other Americans. The poor were more likely to blame “circumstances” than themselves for their financial hardship. About 50 percent of the more affluent people polled believed that the poor were not doing enough to help themselves, but so did about 39 percent of the poor. In early 2001, a national poll conducted by National Public Radio (NPR), the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University’s Kennedy School asked nearly 2,000 Americans 18 or older, “Which is the bigger cause of poverty today: that people are not doing enough to help themselves out of poverty, or that circumstances beyond their control cause them to be poor?” Respondents were roughly equally divided between “people not doing enough” (48 percent) and “circumstances” (45 percent), as shown in Table 1. Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.Policy and Advocacy Communications Training.Management of Complex Technical Programs.Distilling Research for Non-Technical Audiences.Adaptive Learning and Knowledge Management.Family Planning, Maternal and Reproductive Health.Then, start developing rich habits, such as creating a vision for what you want in life and setting goals to get you there, spending your time educating and improving yourself, networking with successful people and constantly looking for ways to make more money. So pinpoint any negative beliefs you might have about money - you must accept that it’s OK to have money and stop telling yourself that you can’t get ahead because you’re poor. In other words, hating the rich will keep you poor. If you think negatively about wealth and wealthy people, you’re more likely to have a lower income. However, there are strategies that can help you build wealth.įor starters, you need the right mindset. Although growing up without much can help motivate some people to become rich, it doesn’t guarantee that everyone breaks the cycle of poverty.

Growing up poor gave me a good work ethic