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Making a point
'What good is homework, if you don't have a home. Let me think? ’ Donna Beegle asks of her audience Wednesday. Beegle, who lived in poverty most of her life, speaks to teachers at the Douglas County Library. Beegle is a national speaker who describes the lives and attitudes of the poor and how America views poverty.
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ENLARGE
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Educated audience
Beegle speaks to teachers at the Douglas County Library on Wednesday during a half-day in-service for the Roseburg School District.
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Donna Beegle wants people to feel comfortable talking to her about poverty -- as long as they're talking about it.
Beegle, a nationally recognized public speaker from Portland, spoke to a group of around 80 local educators and support staff at the Douglas County Library in Roseburg Wednesday.
She grew up in generational poverty and now holds a doctoral degree in educational leadership. Beegle told the group they may be teaching children just like she was.
Generational poverty is low-income living passed down the pedigree like an antique lamp. Having such a tradition is "unthinkable," however, for Beegle.
"When you are in poverty, you are used to things being taken away from you," she said. "I have nothing from my childhood. I have no photographs of myself as a child."
Poverty affects more than 34 million Americans, but Beegle said it's almost an invisible issue. It creates a student that teachers don't always know how to teach.
Poverty can alter a student's behavior, Beegle said, from when they show up for school to how they speak.
"In the world I came from, interrupting is OK," she said.
Beegle, a nationally recognized public speaker from Portland, spoke to a group of around 80 local educators and support staff at the Douglas County Library in Roseburg Wednesday.
She grew up in generational poverty and now holds a doctoral degree in educational leadership. Beegle told the group they may be teaching children just like she was.
Generational poverty is low-income living passed down the pedigree like an antique lamp. Having such a tradition is "unthinkable," however, for Beegle.
"When you are in poverty, you are used to things being taken away from you," she said. "I have nothing from my childhood. I have no photographs of myself as a child."
Poverty affects more than 34 million Americans, but Beegle said it's almost an invisible issue. It creates a student that teachers don't always know how to teach.
Poverty can alter a student's behavior, Beegle said, from when they show up for school to how they speak.
"In the world I came from, interrupting is OK," she said.
Beegle's world included her father often sitting outside bawling because he couldn't provide for his family. Her mother was a strong woman, she said, but now 67 years old, she looks like she could be 98.
Her family also treated school like the penitentiary, as none had attended past eighth grade. All her five brothers, she said, were in prison or jail at some point and her parents spoke of it the same way they talked about her going to class.
"When are you getting out of there?" they'd ask her. At age 15, she did.
She dropped out of school and married before she could legally drive a car. It's not an uncommon life in generational poverty, Beegle said, as rites of passage for youths living below middle class differ from the accepted norms.
When she decided to drop out of Portland's Marshall High School, a teacher told Beegle she needed an education to get a good job. If that teacher had ever communicated with her on a personal level, it would have been clear a "good job" wasn't motivation enough.
"That teacher would have known I wanted to be a mom," she said.
The problem in generational poverty, Beegle says, is that children only know what they've seen. Beegle saw her family working in fields, loading watermelons and driving an ice cream truck.
If someone had told her she needed an education to one day help her own children do homework, she would have listened.
Teachers are being taught to distance themselves from their students. Beegle preaches the opposite.
Her family also treated school like the penitentiary, as none had attended past eighth grade. All her five brothers, she said, were in prison or jail at some point and her parents spoke of it the same way they talked about her going to class.
"When are you getting out of there?" they'd ask her. At age 15, she did.
She dropped out of school and married before she could legally drive a car. It's not an uncommon life in generational poverty, Beegle said, as rites of passage for youths living below middle class differ from the accepted norms.
When she decided to drop out of Portland's Marshall High School, a teacher told Beegle she needed an education to get a good job. If that teacher had ever communicated with her on a personal level, it would have been clear a "good job" wasn't motivation enough.
"That teacher would have known I wanted to be a mom," she said.
The problem in generational poverty, Beegle says, is that children only know what they've seen. Beegle saw her family working in fields, loading watermelons and driving an ice cream truck.
If someone had told her she needed an education to one day help her own children do homework, she would have listened.
Teachers are being taught to distance themselves from their students. Beegle preaches the opposite.
Information
For more information about Donna Beegle and generational poverty, call (971) 506-3643, e-mail dbeegle@combarriers.com or visit http://www.combarriers.com.
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"Meanings are in people, not words," she said.
If a student is late, don't assume they don't want to learn, Beegle says. Don't force them to learn about a middle-class life at a middle-class level that they don't know.
If a student has ragged shoes and is dirty, don't embarrass them -- they probably don't have anywhere to get clean.
"What is homework if we don't have a home?" she said.
In generational poverty-stricken homes, school is often last on the occupants' mind. It doesn't put food on the table, Beegle said, especially when cramped apartments are overflowing with people.
"You have 20 people living in a one-bedroom," she said, adding people tend to label it as a Hispanic or Asian tradition.
"No, it's a poverty tradition," she said.
It's also openly mocked. The phrase "white trash" has graced newspaper headlines, cookbooks and television shows in a jovial manner, but Beegle doesn't see the humor.
Teachers allowing that brand of jokes in school are fueling the desire of the young people living it to withdraw.
"It hurts," she said. "It hurts just like a race remark."
Poverty is even used as a party theme, with people dressing in dirt and blacking out their teeth.
"My brothers are Halloween costumes," Beegle said. "People who are poor and white are still the only people you can publicly humiliate."
The power of Beegle's words first drew the attention of Green Primary Principal Kristen Garcia at a Ford Family Foundation event in August 2003. Garcia said she was touched personally and professionally by the speaker's presentation.
"I wanted to have the rest of my staff hear this," she said. "That's why we're doing it on a half day."
Eastwood Elementary in Roseburg was also represented and Principal Jill Weber said the funding to bring Beegle to Roseburg came from Title One funds. While focused on educators, Weber said Beegle's presentation could benefit all -- and was a perfect use of Wednesday's partial school inservice day.
"This is just something that I think is pretty phenomenal," she said.
Beegle has spoken to countless social service groups, school districts and other organizations. She's appeared in articles and on television, including NBC's "Dateline."
She had the attention of Wednesday's audience for four hours.
"My life is pretty much an open book," she said. "I share because too many people are silent about poverty."
* You can reach reporter Paul Craig at 957-4211 or by e-mail at pcraig@newsreview.info.
If a student is late, don't assume they don't want to learn, Beegle says. Don't force them to learn about a middle-class life at a middle-class level that they don't know.
If a student has ragged shoes and is dirty, don't embarrass them -- they probably don't have anywhere to get clean.
"What is homework if we don't have a home?" she said.
In generational poverty-stricken homes, school is often last on the occupants' mind. It doesn't put food on the table, Beegle said, especially when cramped apartments are overflowing with people.
"You have 20 people living in a one-bedroom," she said, adding people tend to label it as a Hispanic or Asian tradition.
"No, it's a poverty tradition," she said.
It's also openly mocked. The phrase "white trash" has graced newspaper headlines, cookbooks and television shows in a jovial manner, but Beegle doesn't see the humor.
Teachers allowing that brand of jokes in school are fueling the desire of the young people living it to withdraw.
"It hurts," she said. "It hurts just like a race remark."
Poverty is even used as a party theme, with people dressing in dirt and blacking out their teeth.
"My brothers are Halloween costumes," Beegle said. "People who are poor and white are still the only people you can publicly humiliate."
The power of Beegle's words first drew the attention of Green Primary Principal Kristen Garcia at a Ford Family Foundation event in August 2003. Garcia said she was touched personally and professionally by the speaker's presentation.
"I wanted to have the rest of my staff hear this," she said. "That's why we're doing it on a half day."
Eastwood Elementary in Roseburg was also represented and Principal Jill Weber said the funding to bring Beegle to Roseburg came from Title One funds. While focused on educators, Weber said Beegle's presentation could benefit all -- and was a perfect use of Wednesday's partial school inservice day.
"This is just something that I think is pretty phenomenal," she said.
Beegle has spoken to countless social service groups, school districts and other organizations. She's appeared in articles and on television, including NBC's "Dateline."
She had the attention of Wednesday's audience for four hours.
"My life is pretty much an open book," she said. "I share because too many people are silent about poverty."
* You can reach reporter Paul Craig at 957-4211 or by e-mail at pcraig@newsreview.info.
