Persuasive Essay On Child Poverty

Despite having the largest economy in the entire world according to GDP, the U.S. shamefully owns the second highest poverty rate among the 35 industrialized nations that were examined in a research conducted by UNICEF (Adamson, 2012). There are multiple countries with fewer resources than the U.S. that have lower child poverty rates such as Hungary, New Zealand, Czech Republic, and the U.K. The extreme distinction between our economy health and child poverty rate is unacceptable and should be a bigger concern for our lawmakers. Child poverty reaps children of their future and greatly hinders their opportunity to succeed in life. Specifically, child poverty results in gaps in cognitive skills in babies. As stated by Children’s Defense Fund, “Poor parents have fewer financial resources and often experience more stress, and as a result their young children are less likely to be read to, spend less time talking to adults, and hear many fewer words each week than children from more affluent families.” Research shows that by age 4, children raised in high-income families had heard 30 million more words than children raised in poor families (theatlantic.com). This disadvantage can be observed in babies as early as 9
This is because the statistics are based off our country as a whole. Although it is a macroeconomic concept, it can be broken down into individual regions or states. This topic can especially be applied to Florida because according to the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs, Florida’s child poverty rates have been higher than the nation’s since 2008.
In conclusion, child poverty is a major issue our nation faces and needs to focus on instead of protecting the wealthy upper class’s wallets. The richest nation should not have one of the world’s highest child poverty rates; this is a clear indication of us ignoring a serious problem, and festers our reputation as the land of equal