Reagan’s radio address to the nation
According to Reagan’s radio address to the nation, a culture of poverty is a social problem where the poor are forced to pass their impoverished conditions across to their generations. Poverty is a negative culture in every community. It is associated with nature-nurture theory, where it is believed that your background shapes your present and future. Reagan talks about the crisis of family breakdowns which, either happens in divorce cases or where children are born out of wedlock. Children growing in these broken relationships have increased welfare dependency since they have only one parent to cater for all their basic needs.
As in Reagan’s message, babies born by teenage mothers are likely to suffer low birth weight and hence health problems. This is the case mostly for the people living in the slums with an unfriendly environment. These people are malnutrition, and some depend on prostitution as their way of life. Most of the teenage mothers have grown in the poor areas where they dropped out of school. Their children raised in the segregated neighborhoods they socialize with other families who never attended schools, and this lowers their intelligence quotient.
Reagan also talks about the social stigma children with single parents get through. Many cases of irresponsible fatherhood reported is a result of many fathers draining in alcoholism. They don’t have time for their families more so their children, and even so, what kind of role model can they be to them? Children born by unmarried mothers suffer abuse and neglect from the society. They are depicted as having been raised inappropriately and made fun of by their friends lowering their self-esteem. Such kids hate themselves and eventually result in doing wicked things. Generally, poverty is a tragedy not only to a family but the world at large.