Jessica expertly lays out the many challenges of poverty and asks us to consider empathy and action; something currently missing from our public discourse. Thanks for this!
I’m currently 20 years old and I now see the affects of low income. I am working so hard, so that I can defeat this. I don’t want my children to experience the pains of growing up in low income and having to learn how to escape it. Prayers for anyone else who is young like me trying to escape
I raised my children in poverty. They are graduates of Yale, Cornell, Boston College, and Syracuse U. Two are doctors, one is a Director and Project Mgr in a major insurance company, and one is an analyst at Lockheed and a Major in the Air Force Reserves. The all received academic scholarships . And yes, we’re African Americans.
Well congratulations for you and yours for making it out cause NOT EVERYBODY DOES!! All you did was reply completely out of your emotions to try to prove a point but did you even fully listen to the message before you tried to brag abt your children. As an African American woman, no one cares abt you being African American because poverty doesn’t discriminate due to ethnicity! Your comment shows your lack of empathy because instead of bragging about your children what are you doing to help others in need?!? You totally missed the whole purpose of the message because you were either too emotional to listen while you rushed to prove a point, or you’re too proud to care for others, or you’re simply do selfish that you do not care for others…
Amazing! However, this is not the majority. Your children are an exception. It’s possible to pull yourself out of poverty absolutely. However, this is not the case for many of us.
@@Cherry-kc8dmempathy will not solve the problem especially when the persons in poverty does not have the empathy to get themselves out of their poverty!
Great ! Nobody said ALL children raised in poverty cannot have academic success. Most importantly having academic success does not mean you don't have emotional trauma.
Ohho! Living in poverty can really kill someone. What a great thing you said. What a new thought . And about 'cortisol' and all those things it was just wow!
It's like reading a book, 'how poor people are like' Seems like the people who you are lecturing have never seen anyone on the road in some other country.
I grew up I poverty and worked my way out of it. What I did notice that all poor people had in common, they regularly made poor life choices, they lived in the now and rarely planned for the future, they had little to no education, they partnered with people who could not help them improve their situation, they were survivors of some sort of life altering trauma, they all had children, and they had no clue how money worked. One or two of the aforementioned issues can lead to a person ending up in poverty, having all of the aforementioned issues will keep generations in the poverty trap.
@@floriandc5695 They complain and do nothing because they don't know how to solve the problem. And, they don't know who or what to ask for. It's a circular issue.
The thing is, poverty is systemic. That is, there's just not enough social "slots" for all or even a majority of the poor to claw their way into the middle class. This is, bluntly, because the top 10% have 77% of the wealth. Too, there's a vast number of jobs that pay a low wage and society needs a big pool of people to do those jobs. There's hardly enough kids just out of high school to do them. Most poor people work hard. But they don't succeed. Add to that that social mobility is really dropping...The born poor tend to stay poor. The well off tend to stay so. Obviously, not always, but the odds against upward mobility are increasing. So...It really infuriates me that poor people are judged to be moral failures, all of them. Well, sometimes, yes. Mostly, no. But the system creates poverty, just as it allows the creation of enormous wealth...And these self made, so-called, men and women often have contempt for the society that allowed them to create their wealth.
You are absolutely right. A documentary called "Poor No More" shows how income inequality is created by legislation, and that poverty can be eliminated in the same way. Its also interesting to observe that poverty is the down side of wealth. The poor can easily be exploited by the wealthy...and they are.
@@estheradaoyou’re talking about generational wealth?!? 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the 2nd generation, 90% by 3rd generation. These stats have stood the test of time globally!
@@floriandc5695Yes, it’s b/c the other generations don’t push. They become relaxed, and unmotivated. Look at the Vanderbilts. They were one of the richest families in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Now the last heir received roughly $1million in inheritance. In today’s money they would have had a peak worth of $3billion.
Poverty is just lack of money. Rich countries like America should reduce their huge income unequality by taxing the rich, raise minimum wage, introduce universal free healthcare rather tham stack up weapons with their huge military budget and waging wars on over the world.
I guessed your father correctly because your articulate Tedx Talk life seems most likely from being the daughter of the eldest brother rather than the other 2.
I am a white woman who has worked very hard against racism in my life--I wanted to say this, because I have a bit of a beef with all the TED talks on poverty---I never see any white people who have been struggling with poverty all of their lives in any of these talks. Racism causes a lot of poverty--but can also please talk about white people who struggle with poverty? It is really important . I ad a child in my early 20's and have never gotten out of poverty, despite a great deal of higher education but am disabled--and would love to be able to address these issues as well. And also to say that many of us are also very intelligent.
I think you are incredibly right! I want to say, though, I hope my TEDxTalk does not imply that only one race experiences poverty because that is not true. Furthermore, I actually have not lived in poverty. It is not my lived experience. My experience is with young people and members of my family who do. I have done research that matches what I see in day to day life.
I am white, grew up poor in rural America, father alcoholic, mom never graduated high school. I can tell you I was behind. Even though my family and I are doing well, my family really had to give up a lot. I dealt with food insecurity, not having clean clothes or not enough. Bullying because I was poor, etc. it impacts all aspects of life.
Jessica Sharp your talk does not imply that only one race experiences poverty, and I am very glad you have- we must fight racism and poverty consistently.
Overall your TED talk was good until the very end with your emphasis on emphatic solution. The solution is clear. Those in poverty will need to solve their poverty. The solution is internal not external. If those in poverty do not do anything to get themselves out of poverty, no amount of external empathetic support will help. Case in point, we have already spent trillions to combat poverty!
Exactly 💯 well said! Give a man fish and you can feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish and you can feed him for the rest of his life. The question is , does he want that?
This is a dim-witted response to poverty. Unless you have inhabited the system of poverty and dealt with the labor abuse, landlord abuse, low quality transportation, violence of lower income neighborhoods, lack of Healthcare, etc that every several years knocks down the house of cards that gets you to the next level, you have no idea wtf you're talking about. Poverty always requires a shifting of resources, and that shift should be happening at the job you have providing you with enough resources to survive no matter how menial. In America, we use "personal responsibility" to justify our privileges over others. It's b.s.. We give Corporations tons of money in tax cuts to create jobs with no promise that those Corporations will contribute positively to society. Instead, the rob workers of their just-due and buy back stocks in order to artificially inflate the value of their company. They also use unpaid wages to lobby politicians for lower workplace safety standards and wages. Poverty is a product of institutional failure of the Government and Business Sphere. There is only one solution to poverty: give poor people money. The effects will not be immediately, but will come apparent when people who are poor can finally discard the skills they needed to constantly rebuild their live for skills that can build stability. It would take time, but if poverty is the condition of not having money, our thin and ineffective social programs and charities, institutions that are filled with individuals more concerned with maintaining their own income over the aspioused function of their institutions, will always fail.
but then who's going to do all the minimum wage jobs (which most people rely on everyday.. grocery store clerks, food service workers, gas station employees, etc.)? Can't be school kids, because we need those services through all hours of the day. However, I do agree that we need to fund educators more and put systems in place to help educate people more, as education is a huge factor in financial wellness. People will know the steps they'll have to take to help themselves if they have the access to the appropriate education. Even simple things like funding a public library to stay open so those can have access to free internet makes a huge impact.
@@kungpow8062 for your first question, robots and AI. Already seeing this as the number of cashiers have dropped due to automated tellers. We have funded educators to the tune of billions and it can be argued that people are less smart now than previous generations. The USA is literally at the bottom of the barrel overall with regards to academics. Additionally, the rise of student loan debts over frankly worthless degrees have basically turned these students to indentured servants ie slaves. Education does not help people in financial wellness since financial education is not taught in schools and universities.
@@floriandc5695 I never said that secondary education such as college was the main source of education we should focus on here. In your first comment, you said that we need to "increase their knowledge and skills", but how do we do that without funding the education for that in the first place? In both high school and my first year of undergrad, I had to take money management courses, much to your surprise. Although it's not mandatory to teach this class at every school, I believe it should as it would benefit everyone whether or not they are poor or not. While my course in college had to focus a lot of navigating student loans, my high school course taught us important things such as how to budget, the real costs of groceries and utilities, how private loans work, how to properly use a credit card, etc. This class was extremely helpful to me and my class mates and would benefit others as well if they had a chance to take it. This, plus the option to ask other adults how they navigate the world and to ask for resources makes a big impact.
@@happyd1479 it boils down to priorities and sacrifices. If one wants to elevate one’s stature in life, one needs to prioritize accordingly. Also, in these days, there are now other ways to get the education, skills, and experiences one needs without going to college! The question is if that person is willing to sacrifice to achieve their goals and dreams.
I think you are bringing a bit of your bias into this conversation. I certainly wasn't putting folks down, if I was, then I would be putting down my family - folks I love. What I am doing is providing data and information in an attempt to better support folks living in poverty.
She isn't putting anyone down. She is actually stating facts. Do some research prior to "judging" someone, because you are clearly doing that here. Poverty was already an issue prior to Covid in 2020 and this video was posted in 2018.
I don’t think she meant to, but the way she worded her close unfortunately isn’t effective. Thanking the people who are already giving their time and/or resources and then asking those who aren’t why is going to make most of those people defensive and not as open to her message. It’s a mistake we all make because When we have a good argument, we can’t understand why others might disagree. Instead of shaming them, because we know we need them to hear the message too, asking them why aren’t you helping us fix this problem seems like an effective way to get them to reflect on their previously held ideas and hopefully realign them with ours. Basically calling them out like you’re wrong, now that you see that are you ready to help us? When trying to encourage people to change their world views or realize the importance of something they may not have before given much thought about; you want to avoid making people feel like they were wrong in anyway which leads to them to reacting defensively which makes them less likely to hear your message. So In my opinion, which is one in a million, the best way to end the talk would have simply been giving realistic advice on how to help. Subjects like poverty often seem like such a big hopeless problem that people feel that they won’t really be able to make a tangible difference by helping leading most of them not to bother trying. So giving people a way to help in a way that will feel their contribution will actually make them feel like they’re making a difference might have more of the effect she intended to have. I can tell she honestly is passionate about fixing poverty, otherwise she wouldn’t have been unable to see why her question might make others defensive rather than compassionate. :)
She explicitly mentions that empathy and judgement don't go together. I think you missed that part. This talk was amazing, watch it fully and don't nitpick random parts to fit your bias.
Jessica expertly lays out the many challenges of poverty and asks us to consider empathy and action; something currently missing from our public discourse. Thanks for this!
I’m currently 20 years old and I now see the affects of low income. I am working so hard, so that I can defeat this. I don’t want my children to experience the pains of growing up in low income and having to learn how to escape it. Prayers for anyone else who is young like me trying to escape
You’d expect videos like this to have millions of views, under rated information and needs more engagements
I raised my children in poverty. They are graduates of Yale, Cornell, Boston College, and Syracuse U. Two are doctors, one is a Director and Project Mgr in a major insurance company, and one is an analyst at Lockheed and a Major in the Air Force Reserves. The all received academic scholarships . And yes, we’re African Americans.
Well congratulations for you and yours for making it out cause NOT EVERYBODY DOES!!
All you did was reply completely out of your emotions to try to prove a point but did you even fully listen to the message before you tried to brag abt your children.
As an African American woman, no one cares abt you being African American because poverty doesn’t discriminate due to ethnicity!
Your comment shows your lack of empathy because instead of bragging about your children what are you doing to help others in need?!?
You totally missed the whole purpose of the message because you were either too emotional to listen while you rushed to prove a point, or you’re too proud to care for others, or you’re simply do selfish that you do not care for others…
Amazing! However, this is not the majority. Your children are an exception. It’s possible to pull yourself out of poverty absolutely. However, this is not the case for many of us.
@@Cherry-kc8dmempathy will not solve the problem especially when the persons in poverty does not have the empathy to get themselves out of their poverty!
I love read your experience, you are a good mother and they are a reflection of the good home education and aspirations
Great ! Nobody said ALL children raised in poverty cannot have academic success. Most importantly having academic success does not mean you don't have emotional trauma.
Wonderful structural thinking and delivery, even for those who are least informed on the topic! Thank you Ms. Sharpe
Thank you so, so much for acknowledging teachers. So few truly do that.
Ohho! Living in poverty can really kill someone. What a great thing you said. What a new thought .
And about 'cortisol' and all those things it was just wow!
It's like reading a book, 'how poor people are like'
Seems like the people who you are lecturing have never seen anyone on the road in some other country.
I grew up I poverty and worked my way out of it. What I did notice that all poor people had in common, they regularly made poor life choices, they lived in the now and rarely planned for the future, they had little to no education, they partnered with people who could not help them improve their situation, they were survivors of some sort of life altering trauma, they all had children, and they had no clue how money worked.
One or two of the aforementioned issues can lead to a person ending up in poverty, having all of the aforementioned issues will keep generations in the poverty trap.
They also tend to complain more and do nothing to resolve their poverty.
@@floriandc5695 They complain and do nothing because they don't know how to solve the problem. And, they don't know who or what to ask for. It's a circular issue.
This is why it is called "Generational Poverty!"
@@spb8039 it’s a circular issue correct and it won’t be corrected until the poor choose to correct it by finding out who they need to connect with
@@spb8039 exactly!
The thing is, poverty is systemic. That is, there's just not enough social "slots" for all or even a majority of the poor to claw their way into the middle class.
This is, bluntly, because the top 10% have 77% of the wealth.
Too, there's a vast number of jobs that pay a low wage and society needs a big pool of people to do those jobs. There's hardly enough kids just out of high school to do them.
Most poor people work hard. But they don't succeed.
Add to that that social mobility is really dropping...The born poor tend to stay poor. The well off tend to stay so. Obviously, not always, but the odds against upward mobility are increasing.
So...It really infuriates me that poor people are judged to be moral failures, all of them.
Well, sometimes, yes. Mostly, no.
But the system creates poverty, just as it allows the creation of enormous wealth...And these self made, so-called, men and women often have contempt for the society that allowed them to create their wealth.
You are absolutely right. A documentary called "Poor No More" shows how income inequality is created by legislation, and that poverty can be eliminated in the same way. Its also interesting to observe that poverty is the down side of wealth. The poor can easily be exploited by the wealthy...and they are.
No one is self made...Their parents were already set them off
F this manufactured poverty! We need a strike!
@@estheradaoyou’re talking about generational wealth?!? 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the 2nd generation, 90% by 3rd generation. These stats have stood the test of time globally!
@@floriandc5695Yes, it’s b/c the other generations don’t push. They become relaxed, and unmotivated.
Look at the Vanderbilts. They were one of the richest families in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Now the last heir received roughly $1million in inheritance. In today’s money they would have had a peak worth of $3billion.
Jessica, you are amazing!!! Thank you for sharing!
Universal basic income baby that's the best solution 🔥💪💯
-YangGang-🧢💸
Sadly , the non profits have people who decides which poor receives the help and it’s favoritism towards their own kind
waiting for someone to fix your problems or for a miracle to fix your life can keep you poor forever .
This will keep you poor forever.
Facts
Poverty is just lack of money. Rich countries like America should reduce their huge income unequality by taxing the rich, raise minimum wage, introduce universal free healthcare rather tham stack up weapons with their huge military budget and waging wars on over the world.
That’s actually my sister
Ilove this one!😊
I guessed your father correctly because your articulate Tedx Talk life seems most likely from being the daughter of the eldest brother rather than the other 2.
I need help from ngo for supporting myself as my parents have severly financially abused me for years now
I am a white woman who has worked very hard against racism in my life--I wanted to say this, because I have a bit of a beef with all the TED talks on poverty---I never see any white people who have been struggling with poverty all of their lives in any of these talks. Racism causes a lot of poverty--but can also please talk about white people who struggle with poverty? It is really important . I ad a child in my early 20's and have never gotten out of poverty, despite a great deal of higher education but am disabled--and would love to be able to address these issues as well. And also to say that many of us are also very intelligent.
I think you are incredibly right! I want to say, though, I hope my TEDxTalk does not imply that only one race experiences poverty because that is not true. Furthermore, I actually have not lived in poverty. It is not my lived experience. My experience is with young people and members of my family who do. I have done research that matches what I see in day to day life.
👏👏👏👏
I am white, grew up poor in rural America, father alcoholic, mom never graduated high school. I can tell you I was behind. Even though my family and I are doing well, my family really had to give up a lot. I dealt with food insecurity, not having clean clothes or not enough. Bullying because I was poor, etc. it impacts all aspects of life.
Jessica Sharp your talk does not imply that only one race experiences poverty, and I am very glad you have- we must fight racism and poverty consistently.
This is not true for all those in poverty but thry still have struggles with brain development and mental health
Overall your TED talk was good until the very end with your emphasis on emphatic solution. The solution is clear. Those in poverty will need to solve their poverty. The solution is internal not external. If those in poverty do not do anything to get themselves out of poverty, no amount of external empathetic support will help. Case in point, we have already spent trillions to combat poverty!
Exactly 💯 well said!
Give a man fish and you can feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish and you can feed him for the rest of his life. The question is , does he want that?
I thought it was illegal to drop out in middle school. Like the police would come get you for truancy.
probably wasn't an issue way back then.
her dress matched the carpet/flooring
This is a dim-witted response to poverty.
Unless you have inhabited the system of poverty and dealt with the labor abuse, landlord abuse, low quality transportation, violence of lower income neighborhoods, lack of Healthcare, etc that every several years knocks down the house of cards that gets you to the next level, you have no idea wtf you're talking about.
Poverty always requires a shifting of resources, and that shift should be happening at the job you have providing you with enough resources to survive no matter how menial.
In America, we use "personal responsibility" to justify our privileges over others.
It's b.s.. We give Corporations tons of money in tax cuts to create jobs with no promise that those Corporations will contribute positively to society. Instead, the rob workers of their just-due and buy back stocks in order to artificially inflate the value of their company. They also use unpaid wages to lobby politicians for lower workplace safety standards and wages.
Poverty is a product of institutional failure of the Government and Business Sphere. There is only one solution to poverty: give poor people money. The effects will not be immediately, but will come apparent when people who are poor can finally discard the skills they needed to constantly rebuild their live for skills that can build stability. It would take time, but if poverty is the condition of not having money, our thin and ineffective social programs and charities, institutions that are filled with individuals more concerned with maintaining their own income over the aspioused function of their institutions, will always fail.
To be a devils advocate…can those in poverty be doing more? Increase
their knowledge and skills so that they’re not stuck in minimum wage!
but then who's going to do all the minimum wage jobs (which most people rely on everyday.. grocery store clerks, food service workers, gas station employees, etc.)? Can't be school kids, because we need those services through all hours of the day.
However, I do agree that we need to fund educators more and put systems in place to help educate people more, as education is a huge factor in financial wellness. People will know the steps they'll have to take to help themselves if they have the access to the appropriate education. Even simple things like funding a public library to stay open so those can have access to free internet makes a huge impact.
@@kungpow8062 for your first question, robots and AI. Already seeing this as the number of cashiers have dropped due to automated tellers.
We have funded educators to the tune of billions and it can be argued that people are less smart now than previous generations. The USA is literally at the bottom of the barrel overall with regards to academics. Additionally, the rise of student loan debts over frankly worthless degrees have basically turned these students to indentured servants ie slaves. Education does not help people in financial wellness since financial education is not taught in schools and universities.
@@floriandc5695 I never said that secondary education such as college was the main source of education we should focus on here. In your first comment, you said that we need to "increase their knowledge and skills", but how do we do that without funding the education for that in the first place? In both high school and my first year of undergrad, I had to take money management courses, much to your surprise. Although it's not mandatory to teach this class at every school, I believe it should as it would benefit everyone whether or not they are poor or not. While my course in college had to focus a lot of navigating student loans, my high school course taught us important things such as how to budget, the real costs of groceries and utilities, how private loans work, how to properly use a credit card, etc. This class was extremely helpful to me and my class mates and would benefit others as well if they had a chance to take it. This, plus the option to ask other adults how they navigate the world and to ask for resources makes a big impact.
College cost money also time , I understand it's not impossible but a significant barrier especially for those working multiple jobs or shift work
@@happyd1479 it boils down to priorities and sacrifices. If one wants to elevate one’s stature in life, one needs to prioritize accordingly. Also, in these days, there are now other ways to get the education, skills, and experiences one needs without going to college! The question is if that person is willing to sacrifice to achieve their goals and dreams.
It's your problem when the rob you or yours. Teachers have been politically blocked.
Communism
She's just like standing there putting people down. I feel it's really judgmental and reflects the way society is now in the year 2020.
I think you are bringing a bit of your bias into this conversation. I certainly wasn't putting folks down, if I was, then I would be putting down my family - folks I love. What I am doing is providing data and information in an attempt to better support folks living in poverty.
She isn't putting anyone down. She is actually stating facts. Do some research prior to "judging" someone, because you are clearly doing that here. Poverty was already an issue prior to Covid in 2020 and this video was posted in 2018.
I don’t think she meant to, but the way she worded her close unfortunately isn’t effective. Thanking the people who are already giving their time and/or resources and then asking those who aren’t why is going to make most of those people defensive and not as open to her message. It’s a mistake we all make because When we have a good argument, we can’t understand why others might disagree. Instead of shaming them, because we know we need them to hear the message too, asking them why aren’t you helping us fix this problem seems like an effective way to get them to reflect on their previously held ideas and hopefully realign them with ours. Basically calling them out like you’re wrong, now that you see that are you ready to help us? When trying to encourage people to change their world views or realize the importance of something they may not have before given much thought about; you want to avoid making people feel like they were wrong in anyway which leads to them to reacting defensively which makes them less likely to hear your message. So In my opinion, which is one in a million, the best way to end the talk would have simply been giving realistic advice on how to help. Subjects like poverty often seem like such a big hopeless problem that people feel that they won’t really be able to make a tangible difference by helping leading most of them not to bother trying. So giving people a way to help in a way that will feel their contribution will actually make them feel like they’re making a difference might have more of the effect she intended to have.
I can tell she honestly is passionate about fixing poverty, otherwise she wouldn’t have been unable to see why her question might make others defensive rather than compassionate. :)
She explicitly mentions that empathy and judgement don't go together. I think you missed that part. This talk was amazing, watch it fully and don't nitpick random parts to fit your bias.
Facts are facts.
Very superficial knowledge of the brain. What did I learn again? Nothing.
🥇