LOVED Matthew Desmond’s book, Poverty, by America. It’s made me rethink a lot, see how my own life choices feed into poverty and see tangible things that CAN be done to change this. I’ll have to check out your other book recs! Important topic!! I appreciate you sharing your thought process.
I’m having my high schooler read Desmond’s book this summer.
Of course his book Evicted is excellent too! I like the length and breadth of Poverty, though, especially for your high schooler. One of the things that hit me hardest about it was how tax credits and deductions that we get can be looked at as taking from others - I was doing my taxes as I was reading this book and vowed to never again complain about how much we owe. It was a sobering alternative viewpoint to my undergrad and work in accounting 20+ years ago.
While I do think it is important for our teens to be educated on personal finances and financial security, I also completely understand how teaching that finance class must have been tough. The older I get (= more life experience), you're right! - I start to see the inequalities and the privileges that I had/have. While my income may not be "much", it certainly helps provide me with "security" that others don't experience.
I'm looking forward to checking a couple of the books you recommended!
Please let me know what you think of any of the titles you choose to read - I’m always looking for more thoughts on them from different perspectives!
LOVED Matthew Desmond’s book, Poverty, by America. It’s made me rethink a lot, see how my own life choices feed into poverty and see tangible things that CAN be done to change this. I’ll have to check out your other book recs! Important topic!! I appreciate you sharing your thought process.
I’m having my high schooler read Desmond’s book this summer.
Of course his book Evicted is excellent too! I like the length and breadth of Poverty, though, especially for your high schooler. One of the things that hit me hardest about it was how tax credits and deductions that we get can be looked at as taking from others - I was doing my taxes as I was reading this book and vowed to never again complain about how much we owe. It was a sobering alternative viewpoint to my undergrad and work in accounting 20+ years ago.
You’re right. That was a key takeaway from the book. Especially how skewed tax deductions associated with home ownership are.
While I do think it is important for our teens to be educated on personal finances and financial security, I also completely understand how teaching that finance class must have been tough. The older I get (= more life experience), you're right! - I start to see the inequalities and the privileges that I had/have. While my income may not be "much", it certainly helps provide me with "security" that others don't experience.
I'm looking forward to checking a couple of the books you recommended!
Please let me know what you think of any of the titles you choose to read - I’m always looking for more thoughts on them from different perspectives!