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Book Review: Framework for understanding poverty, by Ruby Payne
Anna Price
EDUC 6331
Spring 2014
Dr. Leiker























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Currently in the school setting many students that we have sitting in our
classroom live in poverty. Often times we forget what each child goes home to when that
last bell rings. Some students go home to a loving and supporting family, while a large
majority go home to an environment that lacks the love and support that they need in
order succeed in school and in their future. In many if not most situations the only
stability or support that these students have is their teacher. In the book Understanding
Poverty, written by Ruby Payne, it explains the frameworks of poverty, what they go
through, the culture and how the teacher can help each of these students.
A Framework for Understanding Poverty was Dr. Ruby Payne's first book,
written for teachers with adaptations for work and community members. Its purpose is to
educate people about the differences that separate economic classes and then teaching
them strategies to bridge those gulfs. Ruby discusses at length the social cues or "hidden
rules" that govern how we think and interact in society - and the significance of those
rules in a classroom. Other topics include why students from generational poverty often
fear being educated, discipline interventions that improve behavior, and the eight
resources that make a difference to success.
Poverty is the extent to which an individual does without resources. Resources
such as financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, support systems,
relationships/role models, and knowledge of hidden rules all play a huge role in poverty.
Financial resources do not explain the differences in the success with which individuals
leave poverty nor the reasons that many stay in poverty. Emotional resources come from
role models, and provide the stamina to withstand difficult and uncomfortable emotional
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situations and feelings. A mental resource deals with being able to process information
and use it on a daily basis. Spiritual resources help the individual not see himself/herself
as hopeless and useless, but rather as capable and having worth and value. Physical
resources are having a body that works, that is capable and mobile. Support systems help
with financial, emotional, and knowledge based needs. Relationships/role models help
nurture and teach and individual how to live life emotionally. Knowledge of hidden rules
is crucial, because hidden rules exist in poverty, in middle class, and in wealth. Some
suggestions for solutions to situations may be good suggestions for the middle-class
students, but not so much from the poverty students stand point.
Ruby Payne discusses three aspects of language which include: Registers of
Language, Discourse Patterns and Story Structure. Register of Language is made up of
the Frozen Register, Formal Register, Consultative Register, Casual Language and the
Intimate Register. The Frozen Register is a language that is always the same; Formal
Register is the standard sentence syntax and word choice of work and school.
Consultative Register is the formal register used in conversation, Casual Register is the
language used between friends and is characterized by a 400-800 word vocabulary. The
Intimate Register is made up of the language between lovers or twins. The next main
topic in chapter two was Discourse Patters. The two types of discourse patterns are the
Formal-Register Discourse Pattern and the Casual-Register Discourse pattern. The
Formal-Register Discourse Pattern is when the speaker or writer gets straight to the point
when telling a story or making a point. The Casual-Register Discourse Patters is the
opposite of the Formal-Register Discourse Pattern, the person using the Casual-Register
Discourse Pattern goes around the issue before getting to the point. The final main topic
in chapter two was Story Structure; the two types of Story Structure are the Formal
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Register and the Casual Register. The Formal Register Story Structure the narrator of the
story begins at the beginning of the story and goes to the end in a chronological or
accepted narrative pattern. The Casual Register story Structure begins with the end of the
story or the part of the story that has the greatest emotional intensity.
The third chapter of this book explains what one needs to survive in all the
different classes. It contains quizzes to take to see if one can survive in poverty, middle
class, or wealth. It further explains how the concept of the world is in they eyes of people
in the different classes. The world to people in poverty is an immediate locale, for
example if the children live in Houston Texas, they see their town as the world. For
people in middle class the world is more of a national picture. For people in wealth, the
world is as an international scene. It goes further into how teachers should deal with the
hidden rules and how they feel about them. Most teachers believe that all children should
know the hidden rules among classes just for their own well being.
Generational poverty takes action when one has been in poverty for at least two
generations. The attitude of one living in generational poverty is usually bitter and
believing that society, government, and everyone else in the world owes them something
better. Characteristics of this poverty include importance of individual personality,
significance of entertainment, importance of relationships, matriarchal structure, survival
orientation, belief in fate, ownership of people, lack of order and organization. Families
in generational poverty usually have complex and confusing patterns. A lot of the times, a
woman will conceive children with more than one man, and those men will begin or
continue other families. This causes more and more families to be in generational
poverty, increasing the numbers of this poverty in schools.
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When a child must give up his needs to meet another individuals needs, the
system is dysfunctional. To become an adult, one must move from being dependent of
others, to being independent, to being interdependent. When an individual has to abandon
his own needs for someone elses at an early age, he becomes caught between
dependence and independence as an adult to the extent that the individuals emotional
resources are scarce, and they become co-dependent. When a child has the appropriate
role models, he/she can develop and build emotional resources, which are key to getting
out and staying out of poverty. Teachers can provide emotional resources to students who
do not have appropriate role models 1] Through support systems. 2] By using appropriate
discipline strategies. 3] By establishing long term relationships (mentorships,
apprenticeships) with adults who are appropriate. 4] by teaching the hidden roles. 5] by
identifying options. 6] By increasing individuals achievement level. 7] By teaching goal
setting.
The two anchors of any effective discipline program that moves students to self-
governance are structure and choice. This program must emphasize that the individual
always has a choice either to follow or not follow the expected behaviors. This approach
is available to schools. Kids who are in poverty dont know how to have self-governance
of behavior and all they really know what to do is fight physically. Many students may
display behavior, such as disrespect to a teacher, they cheat or steal, they cant follow
directions, and they might have angry responses. All of these behaviors are common for
children in poverty; most of these behaviors are because of fear, they may no know any
adults who respect other people, or simply because they want to feel protected, so they
fight with other kids. Also, while the teacher is analyzing, the student must do as well. To
help them do so, they are given a four-part questionnaire. It explains what the student did
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and how they could have handled the situation better. One of the biggest issues for
children in poverty is that many children in poverty function as parents. Inside everyones
head, they have three voices, the child voice, adult voice, and the parent voice. In the
situation of kids being in poverty however, they skip the adult voice and go straight to the
parent voice. A good method about teaching discipline in is using hidden rules. They help
the teacher with a student who might be laughing because he/she got in trouble. The key
to the hidden rule is to look sorry and keep a straight face. The basic concept of this
chapter over discipline should be to promote successful behaviors, structure and choice
need to be an approach, and discipline should be seen and used as a form of instruction.
The last point in the book is the importance of improving the achievement of
students. Traditional notions of intelligence on how individuals in poverty have on
average of an IQ of nine points lower than individuals in the middle class. The IQ is
impacted by the way groups have been raised and the type of lifestyle they have while
being in school. There is a difference between teaching and learning since teaching is
what occurs outside the head, and learning is what occurs inside the head.
Reading this book really did open my eyes and help me understand what I see
many of the students at my school are going through. It has inspired me to reach out to
students that I know are greatly affected at school due to their home life. I have changed
many parts of my day to give them the positive attention and support they need and never
get. I have already seem the progress that they have made, especially in their behavior.
School should be a place that a student needs to have a sense of positivity and a will to
continue coming to school. They need someone there that will give them an inspiration to
keep trying and most importantly learning.
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Works Cited
Payne, R. (2013). Framework for understanding poverty; A cognitive approach.
Highlands, TX: aha! Process, Inc.