As a youth, poverty robbed me of a proper education. Thereby, poverty has robbed me of my youth. First, it is necessary to define the term proper education when making such a strong claim as the one proffered above. Proper education is not just confined to the domain of the pedagogical intuitions, but it also refers to the instruction that an individual receives collectively from the community environment to which an individual is succumbed to. Therefore, the community and pedagogical institutions play an important role in the instructing-educating-an individual.

Without quoting any statistical data, we are all aware that impoverished communities experience some of the worst pedagogical institutions and we are all aware that there is a lack of domicile from professionals in these impoverished communities. This is a cogent formula for conditioning such that, if an individual has a lack of role models and experiences failing pedagogical institutions then that individual is more likely to to receive improper instruction. 

I grew up on the West side of Cleveland. The community that I grew up in is still ravished today with high crime. Specifically, drug trafficking, prostitution and murder. I must admit, the city has done a great job of beautifying the lower part of Detroit Ave, but that process has been slow to reach the 80th-85th area where I was raised. 

I can remember the gauntlet of high school. My mother did not have a car so I had to catch a bus to school. I would leave for school at 5:30 a.m. or 6:00 a.m depending on the choice of riding the RTA or to school bus. Either situation pitted me against an early morning obstacle. I had to wait for my bus around the drug dealers, prostitutes and addicts while standing at the corner. Unknowingly, the school system arranged for its students to be picked up right where all the crime was. While knowingly, the drug dealers, prostitutes and addicts would pretend to wait for the RTA as a covert way to loiter and conduct their criminal activities. Describing that scene may be a shock for a few to hear, but for me, at that age it was normal because the drug dealers, prostitutes and addicts all lived in the neighborhood. They all wanted me grow up from a little boy into a teenager. These were my neighbors. 

The gauntlet did not get any easier upon arrival at school. I would arrive to various classes only to find all the seats had been taken. There may have been 40 students assigned to a class that seated 20-25, So, I learned early on that the early bird gets the worm. Moreover, what may be just as bad as the overcrowding was the fact that there weren’t any books for the classes to hand out. If we were lucky that day then we were given printed handouts of the material. You would think it couldn’t get any worse. However, that wasn’t always the case. Everyday there was a fight between rival neighborhoods. Going to school seemed hopeless.

At this point, the only reason why I attended school was because my mother always told me that education was the key to success. The conundrum to this is that she was right but substandard and unsafe pedagogical institutions did not provide me with proper instruction. Honestly, I learned more life skills from my community than I did at school. 

I was confused. Every older person told me to stay in school but none of them had any of the success that I yearned for, nor did the school I attend provide me with proper instruction. So, I did what many in my situation did. I dropped out of school and I started to find my way through life. Thus, the reasoning of my claim that I had been robbed of my youth. 

How does this correlate to poverty robbing me of my youth ,Well, that is simple. No child should experience life at an early age for any reason, let alone because of improper instruction. When a child receives improper instruction then that child is more likely to make erroneous life choices, The only exposure to role models that impoverished communities have are the sports athletes, entertainment personas, and the neighborhood drug dealers. It may sound bias, and even somewhat criminally dehumanizing to include a neighborhood drug dealers but it is a reality. No child should have to experience what I and so many of my peers experienced. No child should feel as though school is hopeless and that s/he could do better without it. No child should have to live in a community ravished by so much criminal activity that it becomes normalized in the eyes of its residents. 

I enjoy gardening now that I am older and I see strong parallels. So many impoverished individuals have strong and beautiful minds, but not many of them will be able to flourish and grow because of the environment that they are in. Just as a flower needs to be nourished and cultivated in a great environment to blossom and reach its full potential, so too must a mind. When society fails its children through improper instruction it essentially robs them of their youth.