Empathy and Education:: Malnutrition, Poverty, and Intellectual Development

Empathy and Education:: Malnutrition, Poverty, and Intellectual Development:

Malnutrition, Poverty, and Intellectual Development by: Don Quixote Fri May 10, 2013 at 18:19:47 PM CDT

Malnutrition, Poverty, and Intellectual Development The times have changed.  Poverty is less prominent in the news.  President Johnson's Great Society Plan is a thing of the past.  The War On Poverty that brought into being the Elementary and Secondary Education Act has long since evolved.  In 1994 we Improved America's Schools. In 202, we Left No Child Behind.  Yet, all the while in the United States alone, poverty increased as did the repercussions. Children are most affected.  U.S. Child Poverty Second Highest Among Developed Nations: Report. While much has changed and more has stayed the same or worsened, what remains stable is, Malnutrition, Poverty, and Intellectual Development are inextricably linked. Today, what is begs attention. When we attended to poverty, as a nation, we saw improvement.  Once curriculum became the focus, again the struggle continued. National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP Children represent 24 percent of the population, but they comprise 34 percent of all people in poverty 1 Among all children, 45 percent live in low-income families and approximately one in every five (22 percent) live in poor families. Young children under 6 years of age appear to be particularly vulnerable, with 49 percent living in low-income families and 25 percent living in poor families.There are nearly 24 million young children under 6 years old in the United States. 49 percent - 11.5 million - live in low-income families. 25 percent - 6 million - live in poor families. Malnutrition, Poverty, and Intellectual Development By Larry Brown and Ernesto Pollitt Originally Published in Scientific America February 1996The prevalence of malnutrition in children is staggering.  Globally, nearly 195 million children younger than five years are undernourished. Malnutrition is most obvious in the developing countries, where the condition often takes severe forms; images of emaciated bodies in famine-struck or war-torn regions are tragically familiar. Yet milder forms are more common, especially in developed nations. Indeed, in 1992 an estimated 12 million American children consumed diets that were significantly below the recommended allowances of nutrients established by the National Academy of Sciences. Undernutrition triggers an array of health problems in children, many of which can become chronic.  It can lead to extreme weight loss, stunted