In 2004 the American government defined poverty as a family of four living with an income below $18,810. However, consider the costs in America of housing, utilities, transportation, food, health care, and child care. Even this income seems too small.

The effects of poverty in America are many. Poor nutrition leads to poor health. Poor health makes study and work difficult. Poor education and an inability to work effects income. These problems must be considered alongside other issues: the problem of racism, discrimination against communities, and unequal access to education.

With over thirty-five million living below the poverty line in America, poverty looms as one of the nation’s biggeset problems. It requires huge effort and imagination to begin solving the problem. At its heart, solving the problem of poverty is about the creative cultivation of the talents and dreams of all Americans.

Access to education must be equal for all. Those prospering must bear the burdens of those in need. Everyone must be helped to avoid despair and to hope for change. Everyone must recognize the offensiveness of poverty in a nation like America.

Some organizations have already begun work against poverty in America. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development seeks to transform America into a more caring nation where poverty is an offense against all. The Clemente Course is an education programme for the underpriveleged in America — it offers a humanities education to those unable to attend University on their own.

These organizations can help you begin to explore the problem of poverty in America and to contribute to a solution.

When considering what health plans for children, keep in mind how child-friendly they are. Child health plans are specifically designed to include a greater amount of pediatricians in their network. Some regular health plans are already family friendly. Before switching insurance companies, make sure you existing coverage will accommodate your children.

If you decide you need a special child health plan, make sure you do your research. You can search online or call various health insurance companies. Talk about any special needs your child may have. After you do your research, try to find people who also use that health plan. You can find them online or by asking around. The best way to gauge if that particular child health plan is worth the money and expense is by getting a feel for their user satisfaction rate.

When you have children it is time to decide if you need a specific health plan tailored to children. Child health plans are a good option, especially if your child needs extra care. Just make sure you do your research to make sure you find something that offers good coverage.

No Child Left Behind, the act, was instituted in 2001. One of the biggest problems with No Child Left Behind is that most people don’t really understand what it means. Parents are under the impression that it means their child is not allowed to be kept back in school if his grades are poor. This is not true at all. No Child Left Behind was instituted so that the poorer districts could give their children the same level and quality of education as children in the richer districts. To achieve this end, the poorer districts are allocated a certain amount of additional funds. These funds increase a certain percentage each year. Since the act was instituted, the average dollar amount allocated has risen from $13,500,000,000 in 2002 to an estimated $25,000,000,000 in 2007.

But there is a catch to this. And this is where the arguments come in. In order to qualify for this funding, schools have to have a certain percentage of students pass the standardized tests that are given each year. Currently, those tests are only given to high school children. Future plans for No Child Left Behind are to have these tests given to every child in every grade.

The arguments for this procedure is that children will all be taught the same material and therefore will all have the same education. If a child doesn’t pass the standardized test by his last year of high school then he must either go to summer school and pass it or repeat his last year of high school. Those for this say it will make sure that every child who does graduate from school is prepared for the outside world. By making the money given dependent on these test scores, this forces the schools themselves to focus on what they consider the core contents. This makes sure that every kid is properly educated.

Those against No Child Left Behind argue that the money allocated to the school districts should not be dependent on how well the students do. Their argument is that children in poorer districts do poorly because they are poor and the money should be given to them regardless of test scores. They view this as a catch 22, which most teachers in the poorer districts seem to agree with.

As to where this money actually goes, that would take a book to explain. Suffice it to say that portions of this huge amount are divided up among many areas including Comprehensive School Reform, Advanced Placement, School Improvement, School Dropout Prevention and the list goes on and on. This is where another argument comes in. Most teachers feel this money is being wasted and should go to teachers salaries and text books, where the money is really needed.

If you’d like to do more research into No Child Left Behind, the entire act is posted on the government educational web site. Enjoy!