M5@1-hum

Article Review: America’s Shame

Abcde Brown

Cornell Notes

Name_____________________ Topic: __American Shame-Peter Singer_____________________

Points to Remember	** Notes **
	The decrease in poverty is a problem of morality
•Poverty	There is presence of poverty in both developed and developing countries
	The United States is not committed enough to help the poor countries in developing nations
	The education system in the United States has not provided people with the most appropriate skills for tackling poverty
	The lack of funds by both government health agencies and non-government health agencies is what has prevented them from helping the needy people
	The United States population is also ignorant in their individual mandate of helping poor people

Summary:

The article by Peter Singer titled; America’s Shame provides a positive criticism on the education system of the United States and also the rate of poverty around the world. It aims at providing some feasible solutions to the problems and in so doing provides some critical impressions as evidenced above. There are divergent opinions that can be got from the article. One of the impressions that is got after analyzing the article is the fact that the education system in the United States does not effectively address the issues of poverty around the world and more particularly in the developing nations (Singer, 2009).

Peter Singer postulated that the responsibility of fighting poverty around the world is not only the responsibility of the governments in developed nations, but also the responsibility of the citizens both in developed and developing nations. He presents the issue of poverty as a moral and ethical dilemma and it was therefore important for all people around the world to share their inputs in order to come up with a lasting solution (Singer, 2009).

Singer further reveals that the United States was not doing enough in order to address the problem of poverty and disease around the world despite much talk on both subjects. He reiterated the need for the United States and the other global leaders to increase their commitment in order to save the people that were suffering from those issues. Despite the commitment from the governmental and non-governmental health agencies, I get the impression that what has prevented them from eliminating the issue of poverty is the apparent lack of funds to support their initiatives across the globe (Singer, 2009).

There is also the impression that the current education system in the United States does not give people the proper skills and knowledge to address the issue of poverty and there was therefore a need to change the education system or incorporate new dimensions in the current education system that will enable the general educated population to provide solutions to their communities. The fact that there is limited support from the education system implies that the focus on the repercussions of poverty has reduced and also the involvement in developmental projects that are all aimed at reducing the rate of poverty (Singer, 2009).

The fact that the reduction of poverty is both a moral and ethical problem implies that all people should be involved in providing a solution to the problem at all levels of the society. Lastly the United States government should also their commitment to fight poverty by equipping government health agencies in order for them to have the capacity to fight poverty. It is also imperative for the United States government to be at the forefront in providing solutions by passing laws and policies that are geared towards eliminating poverty. In so doing, the government will augment the work that is being done by the health agencies and also the local citizens and thereby increase the coordination between different levels of society; all of which will be critical in providing an amicable solution for eliminating poverty around the globe (Singer, 2009).

References

Singer, P. (2009). America’s shame. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(27), B6–B10.