Category: Uncategorized

As much as the country aims to supply its resources effectively to its homeless population, sometimes fundamental aspects such as the quality of shelters, is overlooked. The UN recently declared that shelters in California were quite similar to the rat-infested, garbage-strewn, overcrowded, and abandoned shelters found around the world. The treatment of the homeless population living in these shelters is especially worse, for example, in shelters within the San Francisco and Oakland areas, homeless individuals are denied access to basic necessities such as water, and proper health services, in an effort to get rid of as many residents as possible from these shelters. In an effort to solve for the overcrowding in homeless shelters, officials are compromising on the sole mission of these organizations: to serve as many homeless individuals as possible. As wealth inequality worsens, homelessness rates continue to skyrocket, and the treatment of those who seek help from shelters in simply inexcusable. This problem is not completely due to a lack of resources, but is also caused by individuals who would rather have an uncrowded shelter than one filled with a large population who needs the resource. Luckily, peaceful protests and petitions help bring light to the individuals complicit in the problem, and are slowly making change to the way in which our homeless shelters are run.

– Siya Sharma (11th Grade Student, Santa Clara, CA)

(To leave comments, please click on the title at the top)

In the last couple of weeks, the topics of conversation have been centered around domestic issues i.e. Supreme Court proceedings and the US trade negotiations. The constant stream of breaking news on any new developments on these issues seem to have eclipsed the mind-numbing devastation caused by recent earthquake, followed by the massive tsunami in Indonesia. We glance over the page of the newspaper with sympathy, and then flip over to the next one instead of looking back and realizing that the death toll has reached an astronomical 1, 350 individuals. Even though most of the deaths were caused directly by the earthquake and the tsunami that ensued; gaping holes in the tsunami early warning system, combined with lack of drinking water and electricity in the vicinity of the targeted area has exacerbated the impact, and the devastation. While the scientists are looking at – how an earthquake of this magnitude could have triggered such a massive Tsunami, there are growing observations and concerns about rising sea-levels that may have played a role; suggesting a direct link between climate change and the impact it may have on a natural phenomenon like this. Having said that – the resources are scarce in Indonesia, and the victims of the disaster are unable to fix the damage themselves. Buildings and homes have been destroyed, and the lack of infrastructure is making the situation worse. As we have seen before, this tragedy once again exposes the disparity that exists in different parts of the world, when it comes to access to very basic necessities. It is imperative that the international community does whatever it can to assist the people and families who have been devastated by this natural calamity.

– Siya Sharma (11th Grade Student, Santa Clara, CA)

(To leave comments, please click on the title at the top)

The U.N. recently declared that 40 million Americans live in poverty, and 18.5 million live in “extreme poverty.” Extreme poverty is the severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, clean water, health, shelter, and education. Many of those living in extreme poverty earn less than $4/day, which is not enough to sustain a proper state of living in the United States. The government’s underestimation, or the U.N.’s overestimation, has led to a debate regarding the threshold of extreme poverty.  In all honesty, the current estimates seems to be a bit low, considering that an extremely large number of Americans are homeless in the status quo. This underestimation is detrimental to facing the eminent problem facing the country right now and the population of individuals facing extreme poverty is constantly increasing. We need to face the fact that millions live in extreme poverty, and we need to adjust/increase our estimates accordingly as we try to address this issue, otherwise the problem will never be resolved.

– Siya Sharma (10th Grade Student, Santa Clara, CA)

(To leave comments, please click on the title at the top)

The Trump Administration just issued a new healthcare plan for small businesses and self-employed individuals that costs drastically less than previous plans, and contains fewer benefits as well. This policy was issued by the administration in an effort to provide a cheaper alternative to the ACA. The act will specifically allow small businesses and self-employed individuals to group together based on industry or location specifications, and buy cheaper health insurance. This allows small business health plans to be regulated in the same way as the plans of much larger corporations, thus fulfilling the administration’s hope to “level the playing field,” when it comes to health care plan regulations for all businesses alike. Though this newly issued plan comes with fewer benefits, it seems to be more beneficial to small businesses who may not be able to pay a standard premium, but rather wish to have their costs be determined by their profession, or region. Hopefully this plan will work to meet the financial needs of its targeted audience, but only time will tell.

– Siya Sharma (10th Grade Student, Santa Clara, CA)

(To leave comments, please click on the title at the top)

 

Education can be utilized by students to gain social and economic mobility, and therefore it deserves to be discussed on this platform. Education has enough of a significance to help pull students out of the poverty cycle, and so it is our job to discuss how we can improve the quality of this necessity. Studies show that high school performance is correlated with state median income, and academic performance is directly affected by the students’ school and house conditions. If we can improve the quality of schools, then we can improve the socioeconomic conditions of students within these institutions, thus breaking the cycle of poverty.  You might be asking, how do we improve the quality of schools around the nation? Here is how: bottom-up movements facilitated through discussions and programs focused on demand for reform, outreaches towards parental engagement, creative, project-based learning approaches, and leveraging the media to help spread the message. School, and community leaders can work with troubled youth, and most importantly, we can educate students about organizations that only work to help improve their school conditions, such as the Office of Civil Rights under the Department of Education. It can be inferred that the education system tends to favor the ones with more resources, however, even teachers can work towards fighting poverty by addressing its prevalence amongst students, and helping to give encouragement to these students, so that they can improve their conditions, and ultimately break the cycle of poverty that they are subject to in the status quo. It is possible, now more than ever to help students change the course of their futures for the better.

– Siya Sharma (10th Grade Student, Santa Clara, CA)

(To leave comments, please click on the title at the top)