Public debate

STUDENT 1

STUDENT

English 1102 Section 16

O’Dell

November 18th, 2024

Choices Are A Luxury

My dad was nineteen years old when he entered the Air Force. He enlisted because his

dad told him he needed to get his life together. Due to my dad’s lower middle-class status and

adolescent delinquent behaviors, the military was an idea option to get himself “straightened

out.” My mom on the other hand was eighteen years old when she enlisted. She grew up dirt

poor in a farming town in the foothills of Appalachia. Her mom worked three jobs as a single

mom to barely keep her family afloat, and the rest of the family worked in agriculture, either in

chicken houses or tobacco fields. My mom felt like she was never going to escape her small

town, and the military provided her with a way out. For her, the military was a chance to see the

world and make some real money. For both of my parents, enlisting meant a chance at a better

life. In some ways, they got it. In other ways, they didn’t. As a family, we saw the world, we

kept ourselves straight and out of trouble (for the most part), and we worked hard. But we still

rested in the lower middle class, and at times, we couldn’t even afford necessities. Why were we

still stuck in this cycle? Why did working hard not earn us the ability to rest? Why do so many

families in America struggle with the same problem? It’s simple: They didn’t have a choice.

There is not just one reason America’s poor stay poor. It’s a combination of factors,

including but not limited to the social climate, the ever-warming global climate, the economic

climate, and the polarizing political climate. The one consistent fact is that: “A quarter of the

workforce ... earn less than $9.04 an hour, which translates into a full-time salary of $18,800 a

year—the income that marks the federal poverty line for a family of four” (Conlin & Bernstein).

As the title of that 2007 essay states, “The Working Poor Are Not Getting by in America.” But

again, this brings up that pesky question again. Why are they not getting by? Due to the sheer

size of the population that exists in or around the poverty line and given the fact that the working

poor are influenced most by economic and political changes, it’s a systemic issue. If all anyone

had to do was “work harder” there would not be so many people struggling to make ends meet.

Any systematic issue is born, raised, and festers from underlying smaller issues that are serving

as a funnel. In this case, income inequality and the lack of socioeconomic mobility guides

America’s working class back into this system, keeping the poor, well, poor. How can a

population whose goal is to move up socioeconomically, and to just be comfortable in life,

struggle so much to achieve that goal? Again, the answer is not so simple. Factors such as the

accessibility and quality of college, the current economic situation, and political/governmental

policies are the conductors, organizing who goes where and what they can do in America.

STUDENT 2

College gives people opportunities. Overall, “Americans often have seen education as the

great social equalizer. Regardless of one's class or family background, education has been

viewed as a key to social advancement” (The Rising Cost of College). Going to college and

getting a degree, generally, is what gets a person a better job, and what allows them to live more

comfortably in the long run. College is part of the stereotypical image of the “American Dream,”

it’s viewed as a core building block to a better life. But tuition costs have doubled since 1982

(How Valuable is a College Degree), leaving more and more people stranded without that chance

to get a degree, a job, and a better life. How can anyone make money if the first thing they can

do to make money costs a fortune? They can take out loans, but that leaves former students in

debt, regardless of if they get their degree or not. Tuition and fees have also started to outpace

inflation, leading “students and families responded to this trend by increasingly relying on

student loans” (Gorfine, et.al). Getting poorer to get richer is counterproductive and often leaves

grown adults with debt decades after getting their degrees. America’s working class only have a

few options when it comes to college.

Option One: don’t go to college. Again, this leaves very few options left for climbing up

socioeconomically. Without a degree, the only way anyone can get a job is networking or getting

extremely lucky. If a person doesn’t have the qualifications for a job position, they need to know

someone who does who will vouch for them. Due to the social situation in America (and the

growing income inequality), those with more than enough money and those without enough

don’t typically meet randomly. Option Two: take out loans. This option leaves plenty of

relatively successful people in debt still. It can work, but it can also reign as an ever-looming

sum, forcing the hand of people again and again. It also serves as a deterrent, leading people to

avoid going to college if loans are their only means to, “With higher costs and debt, however,

some students may make less desirable choices, potentially affecting the quality of their

education” (The Rising Cost of College). Option Three: Use scholarships. While this can also

work, if the funding river runs dry, so does the opportunity to move up. Using scholarships can

also affect how someone goes to school, especially if it’s not feasible to go back, even later on. If

a person knows they only have so much money to attend college, they may choose a cheaper

program in a career field they don’t enjoy. Plenty of colleges from two-year institutions, four-

year institutions, and even Ivy-league schools have a variety of options and programs for their

students to pick from, all so they can aim to get a job they want to have. If someone can only

afford a program for a certification/degree they don’t want or enjoy, they may end up stuck in a

job they don’t enjoy. This can severely affect GPA while in school, and well-being in and out of

school. Even financial aid and the government itself is struggling to keep up as, “U.S. spending

on higher education is among the highest in the world, but allocations of resources could be more

targeted and efficient” (Gorfine, et.al). A college degree isn’t a guarantee of more money or a

better life. It’s only a step up, making goals easier to reach. Not everyone can pay an exorbitant

cost for a small chance, or a “maybe” for a future job position. Here there is a choice, and

theoretically, there is always a choice. But the number of choices a person can make, and the

STUDENT 3

quality of those choices, diminishes with their income. Plenty of people don’t even have the

choice to go to college at all, it’s simply not an option.

Personally, I fall into category three. I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to

qualify for and receive merit-based scholarships. On the other hand, if I lose my scholarships, I

can’t attend college. If I am anything short of brilliant, I lose my chance. It is a lot of pressure.

Without a degree, climbing up is less of a jump to the next rung of the ladder, but a leap (A leap I

won’t make, seeing as I am 5’1” on a good day). When I was thirteen, my parents got divorced.

My dad was the sole breadwinner at the time and held that above my mom’s head during the

dispute. My mom was trying to get her master's in social work since she knew it was one of the

only decent chances that she had to be able to comfortably take care of me and my siblings. My

dad withheld any sort of financial support from her for several months, leading my older sister

and older brother to contribute to our bills. At thirteen years old, I wanted to help. I planned on

getting a work permit from my school and getting a job to help pitch in. When I told my older

sister about this, and the fact that I had given up on going to college altogether unless something

dramatic happened, she got upset. More upset than she was at our dad, more upset than she was

about the job market, and more upset than she was at herself for dropping out of college. She told

me, “I will work 80 hours a week if I need to. You are going to college; I got you.” When I asked

her if she was sure, she said, “Of course, I love you.” I only understood what she meant later

when I looked back at it. She was saying I had more potential. I was the one who had a chance to

break the cycle. Maybe it’s because I am the youngest, maybe it’s because I’m more book smart,

maybe it’s because I didn’t move around from school-to-school as much as my siblings did,

maybe it's a bit of everything. She was willing to give up her life and her chances if it meant a

better life for me and my family, if it meant a chance to break the godforsaken cycle of the

system that we lived in. All because she loved me, and she loved our family. My twenty-year-old

sister was fully prepared to give up her opportunities and the ability to make choices about her

own life if it meant I would have choices instead. Being the classic little sibling I am, I got mad

at this, and decided I was going to do everything in my power to pay for college on my own.

Hence the merit-based scholarships. I decided I’m not going to fail, and if I do fail, I am not

going to take someone else with me.

Another reason the working poor struggle so much in America is that the economy is a

mess, and the job market remains an ever-lasting struggle. People across the country are

struggling to find jobs that pay enough to support themselves and their families. “The median

weekly earnings of a person holding a bachelor's degree are almost double those of a high school

graduate” (Gorfine, et al.). Those without a degree make less money. This is a common idea in

America, and it is in-line with the “American Dream” philosophy. In most cases it’s true,

although it is becoming increasingly less true. “The Working Poor Are Not Getting By,” by

Conlin and Bernstein gives plenty of examples of this in its introduction, naming at least 4

accounts of individuals and their families who work as much as possible in important jobs like

Security and Nursing and still struggle to support themselves. It’s even said that “the majority

STUDENT 4

possess high school diplomas and even some college—which 30 years ago would virtually have

assured them a shot at the middle class” (Conlin & Bernstein). A degree does not guarantee a

job, and life happens. If life were predictable, this four-thousand-word paper wouldn’t exist, and

I wouldn’t be struggling to afford to fix my car’s busted transmission.

Various unexpected life events like accidents can leave families and individuals without a

buffer. Plenty of families are only an incident away from debt or even bankruptcy, “[In 2001]

more people went bankrupt than graduated from college, and even in boom times bankruptcy is

increasing more rapidly than college graduation” (Clawson). These accidents and incidents put

people into various kinds of debt, with the most common type of debt in America’s working-

class being credit card debt. The reason credit card debt is the most common is its accessibility to

people and how profitable it is for banks. As stated, “The reason, as a Federal Deposit Insurance

Corporation study indicates, is that credit card lending is ‘more than twice as profitable as all

other bank lending’” (Clawson). Interest rates have also increased due to economic events like

inflation. Common interest rates now would have been considered “Loan Sharking” back in

1970, and flat out would have been illegal. A common incident that can put individuals or

families in debt is losing a job. “A Bureau of Labor Statistics study of displaced workers found

that ‘only about a fourth of the displaced workers were working at full-time wage and salary jobs

paying as much or more than they had earned at their lost job’” (Clawson), and a third were still

unemployed. While unemployment may be lower than in previous years, it is difficult to find a

job that pays enough. Wages have, at best, stayed the same, while inflation has gotten worse and

worse. If a widespread economic event were to happen, people would be out of jobs, out of

money, and out of luck. In 2001, Clawson finished the piece, “The Fragile Middle Class:

Americans in Debt” off by saying, “If these are the bankruptcy experiences during a booming

economy, imagine what may lie ahead of us if the economy enters recession.” This prediction

played out rather unfortunately starting in 2007 during the Great Recession. Incidents like these

can change the course of a person’s life, and it is usually far from fair. Accidents and incidents

take away options and can make it impossible to make a good choice. Sometimes, the only

choice available is between two bad options.

I was born in January of 2007, so I can’t comment on what the recession was like. All I

can say is that once my family was back into “civilian life,” we, like many other American

families, had issues with credit card debt. My mom is smart with money, and always has been

since she grew up poor. We stayed afloat, but debt was still holding onto us, trying to pull us

under the waves. I officially entered the workforce at age 14 in February of 2021. I started off

making $8.25, and when I left that first job, I made $10.25. It was fine for my needs; I was a

freshman in High School and only needed to pay a cell phone bill at the time. As I got older, I

had more and more expenses to worry about though. In November of 2023 I bought my first car,

an old minivan that has so many problems, but that I love very dearly. Car insurance, as a young

driver, was (and still is) stupidly expensive. I bought the car by myself with the money I made at

that first job and relied on my next job to pay my bills. It barely covered it. One month, I had

STUDENT 5

25$ left over. I made $10.00 an hour at the time, and I still suspect that my tips were being cut. I

was lucky if I made $10.00 in tips from a busy night. Ultimately my first two jobs proved to be a

hostile environment for me, given my queer identity. Since then, I have found a better paying job

that accepts me as I am. While I was hopping between jobs and putting monetary value on

myself, my sister moved out and was working full time, and only then just making it by. One day

I stopped by her house to drop something off and I found her hiding away in her room. Despite

helping cook some potatoes and pork with her roommates and offering it to her, she still

wouldn’t get out of bed. Her job crushed her. Literally. She couldn’t quit though, because she

had an obligation to pay rent. She had been looking for jobs for several months and still couldn’t

find anything that worked. If she had been working at that job still, it would have crushed her.

The only choice she was offered was a trade. Trade well-being and mental health for rent.

Unfortunately, she is not the only one in this situation. Even across the world, millions of people

suffer to house themselves or the ones they love, “There were positive relationships between

objective SES (Socioeconomic Status) and individual mental health [and] subjective SES

(Socioeconomic Status) and individual mental health” (Liu & Liu). Simply put, those with an

actual and/or perceived higher status/wealth are typically happier. This study was conducted in

China but still applies in America as every country’s economy is connected. The American

economy doesn’t function in a vacuum and is heavily reliant on external trade and other

economies. The people who supported me until this point, and still support me now, have traded

in their happiness and health to make sure I was taken care of. These sacrifices wouldn’t have

been necessary if the system actually followed the “Hard Work Pays” mentality that is so

prevalent in American culture. Working hard doesn't give anyone a chance at climbing the

ladder, it just lets them stay on the same rung, and even then, they can still slip. If my family had

more choices, we would have thrived.

A potential career field that offers decent pay and benefits is military enlistment. Military

careers of course, have their flaws just like any other job. But it is a reliable government job that

is available to nearly everyone, especially during times when enlistment is down. One benefit of

enlistment that is often taken advantage of is a college education. Plenty of veterans have the

chance to go to college for free or extremely cheap post-service. Basic training and technical

schools while in service also provide education in various fields (with varying degrees of use

outside of a military context). All the benefits a military career can offer can lift someone out of

poverty, or just give them a chance to reach the next rung of the ladder. The sinister nature of

this practice lies in the fact that these benefits mainly appeal to those who can’t attend college

otherwise. It’s well known that recruiters specifically target low-income areas, because that is

where they can get the most enlistments. This means that,

Military service appears to be most likely among those with a pattern of

underachievement. Regardless of socioeconomic background, those characterized as

underachievers (with relatively high cognitive ability and relatively low high school

GPAs) are likely to enlist for opportunities to fulfill their potential. On the other hand, the

STUDENT 6

model students would be inclined to enlist to take advantage of tuition benefits in light of

their modest socioeconomic backgrounds. (Wang, et al.)

Those who couldn’t or wouldn’t get into college (either by not having the money or not having

the grades), were more likely to enlist to pursue better opportunities. They had no choice if they

wanted to take control of their own lives.

I am an Air Force “brat,” which means that I am the child of an Air Force family. Both

my dad, Mom, and eldest sister have enlisted in the Air Force. I wouldn’t have had the

opportunities that I have today if they didn’t. Originally, my dad fell into the underachiever

category, while my mom and sister were good students with little means. My dad spent over a

year in military technical school training learning about bombs, explosives, and safety

procedures. This left him with a skillset, but not a very applicable skillset outside of a military

setting. This led to a traumatic experience during deployments, which only narrowed the

selection of options he had in civilian life. Although I have received many great things because

they enlisted, enlisting and serving also left my family with deep scars as well. My dad didn’t

know when he went in that he was going to end up disarming IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan, only

two weeks after I was born. He said goodbye to me before going overseas, knowing that he may

never see me, my mom, or my siblings ever again. This naturally had huge effects on his

psychological state, and paired with the atrocities he witnessed on deployment, left him never the

same. He retired not long after he got back. When he was nineteen years old and signed the

paperwork and got on the bus to head to basic training, and when my mom said goodbye to her

family and one of the only places she had ever known, and when my sister cut off all her hair and

took the leap as well, none of them knew the things they would see. I doubt they would have

enlisted as eagerly as they did if they had known, if they would have even enlisted at all. The

things people see and hear about, even during peaceful times, can change them. Post Traumatic

Stress Disorder is a beast, one that is impossible to know the depths of without experiencing. I

have seen plenty of people I have loved fall to PTSD, either while trying to slay it or by giving

up to it. The military can provide an excellent chance to move up and to live a better life, but it

usually comes at the cost of some degree of a person’s sanity and well-being. People who enlist

usually trade their well-being and any semblance of normalcy in their lives for a chance to be

able to make choices for themselves.

In line with military and government involvement, policies can hold people of a lower

socioeconomic status back as well. Federal aid programs and affirmative action support can help

provide opportunities for those who are “stuck.” They also serve as extremely controversial

topics in modern economy-oriented politics. For example, “[The Census Bureau] shows that the

official poverty rate dropped 0.8 percentage points from 2015 to 2016, to 12.7 percent, which is

not statistically different from 2007” (Chang), can be interpreted as, “the war on poverty has

‘failed miserably’ because of the country’s ‘high poverty rates’” (Chang). However, this isn’t

necessarily the case. Statistics and understanding them is a complex science, and it can be

extremely easy to take the numbers at face value and draw that conclusion. When trends are

STUDENT 7

considered, it's found that, “48.3 million more would be under the [poverty] line without the full

gamut of programs” (Chang). Federal aid programs have kept poverty from increasing in

America. It is important to note that, “Although such programs will not, by themselves, end all of

society' s economic problems, they are worth pursuing to make sure that relative equality of

opportunity remains a consideration” (Reece). The misconception of federal aid programs often

causes harm, and often leads to the programs being questioned. People who rely on federal aid

(Social Security, Food Stamps (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), etc.)

are often perceived as “leeching” off taxpayer dollars. This idea can be fueled by the idea of the

“American Dream” and “Hard Work Pays.” As previously mentioned, many families are only an

incident away from bankruptcy. Anyone can be a victim of the system and Federal aid programs

exist to keep those people afloat while they try and make a better life for themselves. Federal Aid

Programs are not intended to “fix” or “eliminate” poverty, because the United States is a

capitalist society, there is always going to be someone with less money than someone else. No

policy will “fix” it, as a country and society, America is built on some people being higher and

lower up. Federal Aid Programs exist to keep the issue from getting even worse. Just because

someone is lower down than someone else on the socioeconomic ladder doesn’t mean they have

to suffer. Federal aid programs give people who are already struggling more options, and in

some cases, the ability to make a choice at all.

Throughout my life, I’ve been on food stamps and other federal aid programs several

times. My family has always hovered around that line of making just barely too much money or

definitely not enough money. As a result, I’ve always viewed food stamps as a “boost.” I was on

food stamps most recently when my parents were getting divorced. My dad, for lack of a better

term, “cut off” my mom and siblings. Our only income was my siblings' part time work and

some minor VA (Dept. Of Veteran’s Affairs) assistance. Of course, that wasn’t nearly enough to

support us. I had been using some of my squirreled away Christmas money to pay for instant

ramen at the grocery store when we went. My mom broke down crying one afternoon, because

she couldn’t afford bread for our sandwiches. She saw her not being able to afford food as a

personal failure, even though she was trying her best to manage a divorce, being a full-time

mom, and being a full-time college student a semester away from her masters. My brother went

to the store and got a few essentials to get us through the week, and my mom applied for food

stamps. Needless to say, we got them. I previously was skipping meals because it was more

“convenient” to be hungry. I didn’t have to do that anymore when it wasn’t an inconvenience to

be hungry. I was happier, my siblings were happier, and my mom was happier. She didn’t have

to worry about making sure we had food, and we were able to focus on taking things one day at a

time. Then when my parents got the divorce figured out, my dad’s alimony and child support put

us just above income level for us to receive food stamps. It was sad to see that “boost” was gone,

but we were still able to afford everything we needed now that we had more income. It served its

purpose. That’s what Federal Aid programs are for, to keep people alive and to give them a

chance to stand on their own two feet. To this day, my mom keeps the food stamps card in her

wallet for if or when we will ever qualify for it again. Our ups and downs have caused insecurity,

STUDENT 8

almost fear, to the point that even after we were stable and made enough money, my mom still

holds onto it, “Just in case.” The stupid hunk of plastic in her wallet is a representation of options

we couldn’t have without that federal assistance, which she holds onto even when we finally

have choices. Trauma is a reoccurring theme in low-income circles, and some people never

escape the mentality of financial insecurity even if they actually achieve financial security. Not

having choices in the past also limits the choices a person can make in the future.

Being able to freely make a choice in and during the course of a person's own life is a

luxury. Not everyone is given a choice, and even most of those do have severe limitations.

Sometimes all anyone can do is desperately hold on and do anything they can to stay afloat.

Having a choice is a luxury. The American economic, social, and political system all serves to

keep poor people poor. Me and my family have been victims of the system and have tried our

best to climb the ladder. All that effort and struggle has afforded me a luxury: choices. I can

attend college, even with its caveats. I will take it. The choices I have are built on the lives and

souls of people I love and know and people I will never have the chance to meet. Almost

everything in this world costs money, that or sanity, time, or health. I’m lucky enough to have

one thing that doesn’t cost money. I am loved. I have the opportunities I do because I am loved,

because others have sacrificed for me. I am fortunate, but not everyone is. Plenty of people are

struggling to make it, and they are completely on their own. How can a single person stand up to

a brutal system and build a better life for themselves if almost every aspect of the system is

intended to beat them down? Any “easy” solutions have their own prices, and unfortunately

people pay with their lives for a chance. The system we are trapped in may be comfortable with

wasting poor people's lives, but I am not. There is no easy solution to this issue, it's a macro-

problem, not a micro-problem. But either way it has to stop. As a society, and as people, we have

to find a way to help ourselves and to help others, or else the system will eventually collapse. By

then, it won’t only be the poor paying with their lives for the ability to make choices.

STUDENT 9

Works Cited

Chang, Clio. "Under Donald Trump, the Poor Have Never Been More Vulnerable." Gale

Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2024. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints,https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/JGYPFB981922587/OVICu=ggcl&sid

=bookmark-OVIC&xid=defcac54 Accessed 18 Oct. 2024. Originally published as

"Under Donald Trump, the Poor Have Never Been More Vulnerable," New Republic, 12

Sept. 2017.

Clawson, Dan. "The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt." Social Forces, vol. 79, no. 4,

June 2001, p. 1537. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A75830907/OVIC?u=ggcl&sid=bookmark- OVIC&xid=59c021d9 Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

Conlin, Michelle, and Aaron Bernstein. "The Working Poor Are Not Getting By in America."

Poverty, edited by Viqi Wagner, Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale In

Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010159273/OVIC?

u=ggcl&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=c64004a3 Accessed 18 Oct. 2024. Originally published as "Working ... And Poor," Business Week, 31 May 2004.

Gorfine, Daniel S., et al. "The future of higher education and how America will pay for it: A

roundtable discussion: June 2013." The Future of Higher Education and How America

Will Pay For It, Milken Institute, 2013. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A439363094/OVIC?u=ggcl&sid=bookmark-

OVIC&xid=993e87d6 Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

"Introduction to How Valuable Is a College Degree?: At Issue." How Valuable Is a College

Degree?, edited by Noël Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2016. At Issue. Gale In Context:

Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010971101/OVIC u=ggcl&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=c483b580 Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

"Introduction to The Rising Cost of College: At Issue." The Rising Cost of College, edited by

Ronald D. Lankford, Jr., Greenhaven Press, 2009. At Issue. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010584101/OVIC? u=ggcl&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=ede5c629 Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

Liu, Kewen, and Junji Liu. "Effect of subjective and objective socioeconomic status on physical

health, mental health, and well-being." Social Behavior and Personality: An International

Journal, vol. 51, no. 11, Nov. 2023, pp. 1e+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A773797327/OVIC?u=ggcl&sid=bookmark- OVIC&xid=b7cf5f82 Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

STUDENT 10

Reece, Jarrod D. "Revisiting class-based affirmative action in government contracting." Washington University Law Review, vol. 88, no. 5, July 2011, pp. 1309+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A271514300/OVIC

?u=ggcl&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=47bcf493 Accessed 18 Oct. 2024

Entering Public Debate Sample.pdf