OU-Tulsa, Tulsa Community College shows students how social structure can impact poverty
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Students at Tulsa Public Schools got a chance to see what the real world can be like afterTulsa Community College and OU-Tulsa put them through a poverty simulation.
Students were given new identities and new families for two hours – 9th and 10th graders became moms, dads, and grandparents.
“The father works 40 hours a week making only $8.50 an hour," said one of the students.
New responsibilities and challenges.
“Now, we gotta pay the mortgage, taxes," said Stacey Landrum.
The goal is to give them the feeling of what living in poverty is like.
“We really hope to transform the perspective of those who go through the simulation about poverty and we want to shift that perspective from one of personal failure to one of structural inequality," saidNic Dubriwny, an OU-Tulsa professor.
With their new identities, students had to make tough decisions to manage budgets; transportation cards were needed to walk from one place to the next.
Children went to school but an emergency could require them to get picked up early.
“Tough is getting money, that’s probably the hardest point is getting money, 'cause we have so much to get... bills, taxes, clothing, food," said Landrum.
The stress of a simulated week as someone struggling to make ends meet was getting to them.
“Very stressful, 'cause I have a daughter here, and I have my elderly dad and my husband, he doesn’t give me money, so we’re probably gonna get a divorce," said Landrum.
The group that runs the simulation uses real-life families that were facing poverty so the children know this isn’t just made up.
For most of them, it seemed like the message got through.
“A lot. It makes me think a lot," said Landrum.
