Our Faith in a “Culture of Poverty” Never Left
In her “‘Culture of Poverty’ Makes a Comeback” for The New York Times (17 October 2010), Patricia Cohen declared: “Now, after decades of silence, these scholars are speaking openly about you-know-what [the 'culture of poverty'], conceding that culture and persistent poverty are enmeshed.”
While Cohen’s article accurately reflects a scholarly re-examination of claims that a culture of poverty exists (and renewed support for the 1965 Moynihan report), assuming that the U.S. public’s faith in a “culture of poverty” is somehow making a comeback masks that it never left.
Nowhere is popular faith in a culture of poverty more evident than powerful and disturbing trends in education that began mid-decade under President Bush, and have received unprecedented support under President Obama—deficit approaches to poverty as embodied in the work of Ruby Payne and the rise of “no excuses” charter schools such as Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) and Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ).
Since 2005, Ruby Payne’s workbook- and workshop-focused “framework” has spread throughout U.S. public schools scrambling to address the achievement gap as mandated by No Child Left Behind. A rising voice among
