Poverty, Education, Rightwing ideology, and Ruby Payne

[Anser]

Bigotry against the poor is alive and well in the field of education. Or at least the powers that be are trying to make it that way by requiring teachers across the country to go through "Ruby Payne Training."

What is Ruby Payne Training?
Ruby Payne training is meant to teach teachers about how to "fix the poor" and is based on her book "A Framework for Understanding Poverty." Millions of teachers are required to take the training across the US in almost every state. Here is a taste of Payne's view of the poor, with direct quotes from her book:

Payne writes, that for poor women “sex will bring in money and favors.” (p. 24-25) As for poor men, Payne tells us that that they frequently leave their wives and are “not stable or central to the family.” (p. 55) Also Payne asserts that “fighting and physical violence are a part of poverty.” (p. 23) Payne sees the poor as hedonistic and impulsive and tells us that, for the poor, “decisions are made for the moment based on feeling.” (p. 42) Payne says the poor know more about obtaining green cards than other classes. (p. 87) This is despite the fact that 78% of children of immigrants live above the poverty line. Finally, in one truly absurd string of illogical inferences, Payne begins with an untrue statement about how poor people talk, and ends up with criminality.

Payne makes the following connections about poor people:
They talk in stories rather than directly -> “have random, episodic story structures for memory patterns” -> “has not developed the ability to plan” -> "cannot predict" -> “cannot identify cause and effect” -> “cannot identify consequence” -> “cannot control impulsivity”-> “has an inclination toward criminal behavior.” (p. 90)

In other words, teachers are being forced to listen to right wing talking points about the deviant poor. Payne does not even bother to try to support her claims and seems to rely solely on negative stereotypes.


Who is Ruby Payne?
Ruby Payne is a right-wing Republican. A supporter of George W. Bush who donated thousands of dollars to his 2004 campaign. She also identifies Thomas Sowell, right-wing columnist, as her "hero" in regards to poverty and education work.


Why am I sharing this?
Good question. Payne's ideology fits well with the right wing ideal rich = better person, poor = worthless person. It justifies the right in their hatred and dehumanization of poor people. Payne claims that poverty is not defined by lack of money, but rather by not "choosing to follow middle class rules." It is all about blaming the victims, and making the right feel that much better about the millions of children that go to bed hungry every night in this country. After all, they are the ones choosing to keep "acting poor."

[indurancevile]

1. like sex doesn't bring "money & favors" for middle class or rich women.

despicable crap.

[fasttense]

2. It seems to me, now that we have an American Aristocracy, many pseudo-intellectuals

are required to promote the idle rich as a good and caring class. A class that did not con money out of the United States. A class that did not destroy the economy for personal gain. A class that does not worship money and greed. The rich need thousand of poorly thought out arguments to keep the working class under their feet and to imbued the derelict aristocracy with qualities they never had and never will have.

So in comes the liar Ruby Payne. But before her we had Milton Friedman, Alan Greenspan and many other sell-outs and tools of the idle rich.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Ruby Payne does NOT teach teachers to fix poverty

What a ridiculous and unfounded claim.

Her work is about teaching all of us to UNDERSTAND poverty. I hope you understand there is a significant difference between fixing and understanding.

She also doesn't blame any victims or treat the poor as victims.

What a load of crapola.

[Anser]

5. I understand your confusion..

..and I hope you will re-evaluate your position. The inflammatory quotes in my OP are in Payne's own words, and there are many more where those came from. Throughout her entire work she characterizes the poor as deviant, immoral, hedonistic, violent, perverted, and prone to criminality. Nearly all her claims about the poor are not cited to any data, socialogical, psychological, evidence based, or otherwise. Instead all are drawn from negative stereotypes.

The reality is that the vast majority of the poor are moral, hard working, and law abiding.

As for fixing versus understanding, let me give you a couple more direct quotes from Payne's book.

On page 3 she claims that the teaching of middle class norms to poor kids is necessary to rehabilitate them.

On page 45 she again says that poor children must be "taught the rules" of the middle class, so that they can use those rather than the rules of the "culture of poverty."

There is a very clear message that poor kids are defective somehow, and need to be remade in the image of the dominant group. She also implies strongly that if poor kids can be remade they will perform better in school, and be less likely to end up in jail (page 22-23)

Therefore, despite claiming to only help understand the poor, she is very clearly advocating "fixing" the poor (not poverty, there is a big difference).

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I'm not the one who is confused

[Anser]

7. Fair enough, my interpretation..

is not the only one that is valid.

We can agree to disagree.

I will let you know though, as someone who grew up very poor, reading Ruby Payne's work was difficult for me. I found it extremely insulting and demeaning of poor people.

Just food for thought. I know many great educators that swear by Payne's work, so you are in good company.

Also, I did not mean to imply that your position was based in confusion, but rather that perhaps my OP was confusing.

[liberal N proud]

4. Ignorance just pisses me off and when it is willful and propagated?

:nuke:

I can feel my blood pressure rising.

[Odin2005]

8. Holy FUCKING CRAP!!! Which schools have this BS???

[Anser]

9. I'm not sure of the current numbers

But as of 2008 38 states had already adopted it as a major part of their proffesional development for their teachers.

So.. lots of them.

[flashl]

10. Have you compared 'An African Centered Response

to Ruby Paynes's Poverty Theory'?