Essay --

From Poverty to Powerhouse: Michael Oher’s Story Michael Oher was from an all-black neighborhood located in the third poorest zip code in the country. By the time he was a sophomore, he’d been to 11 different schools, he couldn’t read or write, and he had a GPA of 0.6. In his first-grade year alone, he missed 41 days of school and ended up repeating both the first and the second grade; he didn’t even go to the third grade. Oher was one of the thousands of children that have been identified as having four or more of the at-risk factors mentioned by the National Center of Education and Statistics (NCES). According to the NCES, poverty and race are high on the list of things that negatively affect students’ ability to succeed at school. Other risk factors include changing schools multiple times and being held back from one or more grades. Oher’s biography, The Blind Side by Michael Lewis, proves how socioeconomic status impacts a child’s academic success because placed in perspective, educati on is not as important as the hardships of reality. Before explaining how The Blind Side depicted the effects of socioeconomic status on Michael Oher’s education, it is important to make clear what it means to â€Å"prove.† According to Oxford Dictionaries, â€Å"prove† means â€Å"to demonstrate one’s abilities or courage† (â€Å"Prove† 1.5). The Merriam Webster Dictionary gave other definitions including â€Å"to show that (someone or something) has a particular quality or ability (â€Å"Prove† 1); â€Å"to test the worth or quality of, specifically: to compare against a standard† (â€Å"Prove† 2b), and â€Å"to show oneself to be worthy or capable of† (â€Å"Prove† 4). All of the above definitions of â€Å"prove† have a form of the words â€Å"quality† or â€Å"ability† in them. An example of this is when... ...nomic status. In 2012, 26.5 million (13.7 percent) of people ages 18-64 were in poverty. Also in 2012, 16.1 million (21.8 percent) children under the age of 18 were in poverty. The hardships this creates causes education to suffer. It has to take a backseat to finding food or a place to sleep. These children’s families are at-risk for dropping out of school compared to higher socioeconomic students. That number is going to continue to grow with the current rate of population growth. In contrast, children from higher socioeconomic families do better in school. When the Tuohy’s brought Michael into their life, his opportunities for education improved. What happened to Michael Oher was unique because of his special abilities, his courage, and the help from the Toughy’s. Michael’s story shows how socioeconomics can impact students’ academic success. Appendix