Starter
1. Note on each of the three file cards one word that comes to your mind when thinking about why there are people in need.
2. Sort the cards on the board to form clusters.
3. Formulate a headline for each cluster.
4. When social scientists want to find out, how participants explain why people in their country live in need, they usually work with four different reasons:
· because they have been unlucky
· because of their laziness and lack of will power
· because of injustice in our society
· because it is an unevitable part of the way the modern world is going.
Discuss these four reasons, comparing them to your own ideas on people in need.
Working with photographs
5. The pictures show different people. First try to find out, what each picture shows. Are these people in need? Then look at the reasons given for people being in need and tick the he reason you find most convincing. Give reasons for your choice.
What does the picture show?
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What does the picture show?
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What does the picture show?
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What does the picture show?
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What does the picture show?
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6. Work in small groups. Fill in the table below matching generic reasons (from the speech bubble) to the more specific reasons you identified.
reasonreason for decision / unlucky / lack of will power / injustice / modern world
1.
2.
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5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
7. Compare your results with the following table that shows the results of a large scale study conducted in 1993.
generic reasonsspecific reasons / unlucky / lack of will-power / injustice / modern world
long-term unemployment / X / X
Alcoholism / X / X
family break-up / X / X
Sickness / X
drug abuse / X / X / X
social welfare cuts / X
lack of education / X
their parents were poor / X / X
loosing community spirit in society / X
they live in a poor area / X / X
they are lazy / X
they don’t plan for the future / X / X
they have too many children / X / X
they are immigrants / X / X
lack of concern among neighbours / X
they have chosen to be like this / X / X
X = these specific reasons have been stated more often by people who stated these generic reasons (above average)
8. Considering these results, how valid is the social scientists’ question to name one out of four reasons? Does this help to find out what participants think about people in need?
Working with the maps
9. The European Values Study asked people in all European countries about their values. One question was for participants to explain why people in their country live in need. Everybody was asked to choose two out of four possible reasons. The results for the most important reason are shown on the maps below (if you want to take a look at the second most important reason you can download the maps from www.atlasofeuropeanvalues.eu).
Compare the results for Germany and Portugal. To do this, it may be useful to visualize the data in a different way, for example in a diagram or in a table.
10. In Germany as well as in Portugal a lot of children are living on the streets. How and why they got there can be explained in different ways.
a) Take the role first of a German and then of a Portuguese journalist and write a short paragraph (5 to 6 sentences) on why young people live on the street.
or
b) The following texts are all about street kids in Germany and Portugal. They were written by German and Portuguese authors respectively. There are three different texts for each country. In the light of the data of the European Values Study which of the texts seem most “typical” for their country?
You can use the argument structure of Toulmin to justify your answer.
Germany – Text 1
There are several reasons for children taking to the street. Violence or abuse in their families can be just as much a reason as indifference, or lack of attention and love from their parents. Other reasons may include young people’s rebellion against their parents’ values, difficulties with step parents or false friends. To sum up: before a child leaves home, he or she was often left alone at home.
Welt online, 28. 1. 2003
www.welt.de/.../Berlin_ist_Hauptstadt_der_Strassenkinder_Offiziell_liegt_ihre_Zahl_bei_3000.html
Germany – Text 2
In this context the question arises, why does a wealthy country such as Germany have such a relatively high number of street kids? Interviews with the young people showed that neglect, lack of human relationships and abuse are the main reasons for them to take to the street. 25 percent of the street kids asked had experienced abuse, 33 percent didn`t feel secure or loved in their families. In addition, there is a high rate of parents who have alcohol problems. A lot of street kids have divorced or single parents. Compared to “normal” families, there are twice as many children from these groups that live on the street. Contrary to popular belief, problems at school are no reason for children to take to the streets. Some kids even keep going to school after they have made the street their home.
Fachschaft Sozialwissenschaften des St.-Ursula-Gymnasiums, Attendorn
www.sowi.st-ursula-attendorn.de/ba/badoku02.htm
Germany – Text 3
The reasons for the still very high number of street kids can be seen in the lack of political support for local NGOs. What also makes it difficult to work with street kids is that they move from one place to another in short periods of time, while the responsibility to care for homeless kids lies with the federal states and the local authorities. For some time now, we can also observe an inter-relationship between the growing number of poor children and street kids. More and more perfectly normal looking kids from socially disadvantaged families take to the streets at least for some time in their lives; and the number of poor children grows.
Straßenkinder e. V.
www.strassenkinder-ev.de/
Portugal – Text 1
In Lisbon, says Manuele Eanes, the president of the IAC, street kids are no longer just children from run down areas, but they come from all social backgrounds. They are children that are no longer only excluded by economic poverty, but also by a lack of values in their every day environment. According to Manuela Eanes different ethnic groups, the growth of drug abuse and dealing, migration and unemployment all play a part in explaining why today’s street kids are different and often end up in prostitution.
Federaçao Europeia para as Crianças de Rua
www.efsc-eu.org/.../notcias_na_internet_sobre_forum_europeu_crianas_de_ rua_2.doc
Portugal – Text 2
The street kids, who come from all parts of Setúbal, but mostly from the run down areas, barracks and quickly relocated areas, are conquering the city centre. Here, following their illegal and anti-social activities, they meet at Largo da Feira or in the Park close to the port. Getting together, they focus on the risk-taking experiences and sharing the profits from their activities, they develop a sense of belonging and search for relationships and role models, even if this means to subordinate themselves to known delinquents and drug addicts or to become part of gang like groups.
Since the beginning of the 1990s the number of children fleeing their homes has risen significantly (obviously seduced by the idea that “if others manage to survive on the street, I can do it as well”) and with that also the number of homeless young people aged 8 to 14.
Associação de Educação e Inserção Jovens
www.questao-equilibrio.org/index.php
Portugal – Text 3
And why? They are just like other children and youths: they are conscious of their reality, they can express themselves and offer their opinion, they have tastes, expectations and wishes. The difference between “these kids” and “the others” is not in the way of being, but in the way of experience. These kids, who are children of us all, are inevitable products of something that has gone wrong. When these kids take to the street, it means that in the first place something has gone wrong in their families and in the second place something has gone wrong in their schools, and also something has gone wrong in those institutions that are activated when the first two institutions fail. To help children living on the street, they mitigate their situation, but they don’t get to the roots of the problem…
Grund de Oliveira Gamito Fernandes, S. C. (2008) Crianças na rua. Infância, trajectos de vida a prácticas socias.
www.eses.pt/interaccoes
11. Which difficulties did you encounter when reading these texts? Why?
Evaluation questions
1. What did you learn about the general and specific reasons people use to explain why others are in need?
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2. What did you learn about the relationship between the data shown in the maps and the statements from the media?
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3. What aspects of the assignment did you like?
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4. What aspects of the assignment did you dislike?
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Teacher Information
This assignment is primarily aimed at pupils at key stage 4 (14-16 years old), but in Britian could probably also be taught at key stage 3, at least if amended appropriately.
The aim of the assignment is to make pupils aware that people in Europe have different ideas on why people live in need. They should realize that this is not only true at a country level, but also inside single countries (knowledge of Europe; geographical concepts: place, scale, diversity, perception and representation). Futhermore the assignment seeks to enable pupils to make differentiated value judgements taking into account the situation in which the judgement is being made (value education) and to foster critical thinking skills in relation to categorization, data handling and argumentation (critical citizenship).
The assignment can be taught in two lessons with the first one focusing on the starter and work with the pictures, while the second lesson would take a closer look at the maps and the examples from Germany and Portugal. Depending on where the lesson is taught, it would make sense to exchange the examples so that the country of the pupils is included. In case there is only one lesson avaible, the map work can directly follow the starter.
The assignment is intended to be taught in the geography classroom. If taught in geography, the second lessons should be included. Apart from geography, the assignment can also be taught in citizenship or political education.
Relating to students
The first three questions were designed to relate this difficult issue to the pupils and find out about their ideas on why people are in need. At the same time pupils are encouraged to classify their ideas. This not only introduces them to methods of scientific investigation, but will also make it easier to compare their ideas to those of the scientists in the next section.
Investigating explanations
Tasks 4 to 8 take a look at how scientists explain why people are in need. There are four main reasons given:
· because they have been unlucky
· because of their laziness and lack of will power
· because of injustice in our society
· because it is an unevitable part of the way the modern world is going.
The pupils are asked to compare the classification they developed out of their own ideas with these four categories, thereby making them aware that every classification is man-made and therefore contestable.
Scientists also found that each of the four generic reasons for people in need is associated with a set of more specific ideas as shown in the table below.
laziness and lack of will power / · addiction (alcoholism, drug abuse)· having too many children
· lack of future planning
· living in need as a deliberate choice
social justice / socio-economic causes
· welfare state cuts
· failure of the state to take care of the most vulnerable groups (long-term unemployed, immigrants)
socio-cultural causes
· lack of neighbours’ concern
· loss of community spirit
social ecology
· living in a poor area
Unluckiness / Sickness
family-related issues
· family break-ups
· poor parents
· having too many children
Unevitable part of the way the modern world is going / social background
· lack of education
· living in a poor area
family history
· family break-ups
possible self-infliction
· choice
· lack of future planning
· addiction
long-term unemployment
A correlation between the generic and specific reasons produced the index figures in the table below where a score below 100 indicates that the people opting for the general cause are less likely to mention this specific cause, while a score above 100 indicates a higher-than-average choice for a specific cause.
Specific causes of poverty by general poverty explanations in 12 European nations in 1993 (indices)
General causes of povertySpecific causes of poverty / Unlucki-ness / Laziness / Injustice / Modern world
Long-term unemployment / 89.6 / 59.5 / 115.7 / 105.3
Alcoholism / 103.3 / 132.9 / 85.7 / 102.4
Family break-ups / 112.9 / 88.7 / 91.8 / 114.1
Sickness / 137.1 / 90.8 / 95.8 / 90.4
Drug abuse / 104.4 / 141.9 / 82.1 / 106.6
Social welfare cuts / 95.0 / 35.2 / 131.5 / 97.7
Lack of education / 94.8 / 95.4 / 98.3 / 110.9
Their parents were poor / 119.3 / 90.0 / 100.0 / 95.3
Losing community spirit in society / 67.7 / 44.1 / 143.3 / 94.5
They live in a poor area / 94.1 / 56.9 / 111.8 / 109.8
They are lazy / 77.4 / 394.6 / 58.1 / 63.4
They don’t plan for the future / 84.6 / 166.7 / 84.6 / 111.5
They have too many children / 127.6 / 134.5 / 81.0 / 98.3
They are immigrants / 71.1 / 100.0 / 124.4 / 97.8
Lack of concern among neighbours / 95.0 / 65.0 / 122.5 / 92.5
They have chosen to be like this / 73.7 / 271.1 / 50.0 / 118.4
Notes: Results are indexed as a percentage of the average response rate (example: 56.8% of all respondents picked unemployment as a specific cause of poverty; yet of those who attribute poverty to bad luck 50.9% did so; hence if 56.8% = 100, 50.95 = 89.6). Cell frequencies range between 6238 and 6240.