Shipler Reading Assignment Response #1 - Intro

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Ron Hillier
Professor Wetzl
College Writing I
14 September, 2009
The Working Poor: Reading Response #1
For our first reading assignment from David Shipler’s The Working Poor, we were required to read the novel’s preface and introduction. Shipler’s goal for including these two passages is to give the reader a general idea of what the book is about, the working-class of America that remains poor.
The preface gives a quick sample of the people Shipler writes about in his book. “I found them in black neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., and white towns in New Hampshire, in factories and job-training centers in Cleveland and Chicago, in housing projects in Akron and Los Angeles, in malnutrition clinics in Boston and Baltimore, in California sweatshops, and in North Carolina fields,“ he says in the second paragraph. This sentence is important to keep in mind because it tells the reader that poverty is neither a racial problem nor a demographic problem, but a problem that affects the U.S. as a whole.
The introduction section of The Working Poor is used to give the reader a greater understanding of the working poor class, first by giving some background of the people in the book, and then by giving actual facts that pertain to poverty. The first paragraph reads, “The man who washes cars does not own one. The clerk who files cancelled checks at the bank has $2.02 in her own account. The woman who copy-edits medical textbooks has not been to the dentist in a decade.” This is a perfect introduction paragraph because it lays out the idea that people who work hard for other people, to get done what needs to be done for the American way of life to work, are often left behind, without luxuries of their own. In the second paragraph, Shipler says, “Some are climbing out of welfare, drug addiction, or homelessness.” I believe he uses this sentence to bring about a sense of helplessness for his subjects and to give the reader a sense of sympathy for the working poor.
The preface and introduction of The Working Poor were put in place for the reader to gain a better understanding of the working poor class, but they were also very informational when it to came to what exactly the working poor and poverty is. I can honestly say that I have a much better understanding of the working poor after completing the assignment, but there were three facts that stuck out to me. The fact that caught my attention most was how the U.S. government defined poverty. On page 9, the second paragraph reads, “an annual income, for a family with one adult and three children, of less than $21,100 in the year 2007.” I could not believe it, I can’t imagine trying to raise three kids on my own, only making $21,000 a year. The second fact that caught my eye was also on page 9, in the third paragraph. It reads, “the Census Bureau still uses the basic formula designed in 1964 by the Social Security Administration, with four modest revisions in subsequent years.” In my opinion, that is ridiculous. How can you possibly calculate poverty in 2009, using almost the same formula that was used to calculate poverty in 1964? Maybe you can, but with inaccurate results. The third fact that I found meaningful was included on page 6, third paragraph down, about the gap between the rich and poor. It reads, “with a median net worth of $1,430,100 among the top 10 percent and just $1,700 for the bottom 25 percent.” To me, these numbers are unbelievable, and it only strengthens the idea that something needs to be resolved to bridge the gap between the rich and the working poor.