The Toughest Issue for Teachers Is Even Tougher For Students

By Joseph Williams Originally appeared in Word in Black It’s considered a truism in most Black communities: education is the key to climbing the ladder from poverty into the middle class. But a new survey of teachers has found that teaching kids struggling with poverty is one of the biggest hurdles they face in the classroom each day.& In its survey of teachers nationwide, the Pew Research Center found that 53% think poverty is a major problem among students who attend their school. It was the top concern for educators, ahead of absenteeism, mental health, drug use, and gang violence.  While impoverished students have always been an issue, particularly at under-resourced, majority-Black schools, experts say the problem is affecting rural as well as suburban schools, and it has become more acute after the COVID-19 pandemic. But it hits hardest at urban schools, which typically have the highest concentration of Black students, according to the survey.& “Poverty cuts across the urban-rural divide, with roughly equal shares of teachers in urban schools (62%) and rural schools (60%) saying this is a major problem among their students,” according to the Pew survey, released earlier this month. “In suburban schools, a smaller share of...