Why Poverty Simulations Don't Offer Real World Solutions

It is said that you shouldn't judge a person until you walk a mile in her shoes. It seems like sound advice, but honestly, can one day of "experience" create a legitimate understanding of any situation? When it comes to living in poverty, I have serious doubts. Nevertheless, educators in New Hanover County, North Carolina took part in a simulation last week in an attempt to understand what their many poverty-stricken students face everyday.

The 130 employees participating in the North Carolina Poverty Simulation Experience used role-playing exercises to gain more compassion for their students' circumstances and, in the long run, to help them succeed academically. It's well known that a child's life outside the classroom is directly correlated with how he performs in it. This is the message people are trying to get out -- kids do have a lot to think about, and they can have really serious problems at home that are affecting their schoolwork. I acknowledge that the teachers, nurses and social workers have their hearts in the right place. I just wish they weren't patronizing their students or the low-income bracket in general.

Participants pretended to be loan officers, child care providers, police officers and other professionals while others assumed the roles of affected families. The stories they acted out were real-life situations, meant to represent the 14.8 percent of North Carolinians living in poverty. But the experience simulated 30 days in just three hours. For what the event cost to put on, everyone could have pitched in and bought somebody a monthly bus pass, or a few new pairs of shoes, or paid a utility bill. Instead, what they paid for is a "simulation experience" that could have been an informative e-mail instead.

There is nothing I can tell those of you who haven't lived in poverty about being poor that would allow you to understand the feeling. There is no make-believe game that will give you the capacity to understand how it feels to spend nights at a time in a hidden spot (so you don't get arrested), sleeping in the reclined driver's seat of your 1989 hatchback and waking up freezing every two hours because your blanket is a crappy $5 throw from Walmart. Simulation experience can't tell you what you would think about as you lie awake in a dirty, old bed at the shelter. Simulations like these serve to satisfy the well-meaning participants, but can't translate to trickle-down effects for the people they're pretending to be. Imaginative play is educational -- when you're five years old.

I don't think this sort of simulation has much potential for long-term results. Variables such as mental illness, age, gender, and so on are all crucial elements of poverty, and those can hardly be simulated. People who don't have to live these stories everyday can't relate. While I love that so many people are taking an active interest in how poverty affects their students (with one in five kids in America living in poverty, it should be obvious we need to address this issue with compassion and understanding), I think it's also good to approach the problem with a little humility.

If you can't tell, I'm bothered by this method of "helping" the poor by putting yourself in their shoes. Television shows such as Undercover Boss and Secret Millionaire capitalize on one of the most detrimental social issues of our time. After people play poor, they go home to warm beds and hot showers. People are encouraged to imitate what they see on television, instead of sitting down and saying, "Here is what the statistics are, here is what your children have to cope with, let's find a way to make class time effectual and beneficial in the long run and on a daily basis." As I said before, these folks have good intentions. I don't agree with the nasty reviews of some bloggers and misanthropes. I just hope this "poverty simulation" evolves into a realistic course of action that makes school a better experience for kids who struggle with hardship everyday.

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