Youre kind of an asshole, you know? We all know the GOVERNMENT is the be all for great decisions, right? Point is, just because you did it doesn't mean you have any idea what someone else is dealing with. Empathy, try to get some.

Sorry. That one was on me but my point still holds. Even at 12 you cannot expect children (even teenagers really) to do it all on their own. That way leads to failure. Pick a side. Do you want to build more schools or build more prisons. I want my tax dollars to go to more schools.

Dude.... something tells me you haven't been poor in a long time.

I think the lack of a parental structure is a major part of this too, although it states it was her wedding ring, I haven't seen/heard her husband's response to this issue as of yet.

An 8th grader is 9 years old. NINE! Even held back one year makes him 10. That is not a teenager. Not by a long shot. Maybe you grew up fast but 10 is not an age to be left at home alone to one's own devices if it can be helped. I'm glad things worked out for you, really. But not everyone has sports or even friends…

No, no it does not. Unless you live in a public assistance utopia where all of these benefits are handed out with ease, no closed waitlists, and the bus is safe enough to entrust your kid. In many cities, students are expected to ride public transportation rather than use district school buses. Sometimes the kids can…

Well, you were the one to tell me to fuck off, the one blaming a woman for being single, and etc. In the long run, if you don't realize the complex nature of poverty and that your experience is not the overarching experience of most living in poverty, you will lose in the long run.

I just turned 23, so PHEW *wipes brow*, I'm safe from the creepy gaze of 50-year-old men!

I don't think this guy should get the vitriol. He was trying, within the confines of a shitty system.

Where the Hell do you live? Where I live, welfare doesn't 'cover it all for free' (in fact, you can only receive welfare for a maximum of two years per lifetime) and there are no public buses within a three mile radius. Nice try.

As a kid who grew up poor/working class in a rich school district, stuff like this brings back memories - sad memories.

I remember how expensive upper-level classes were. At my public high school in Hawaii, lunch was $2.50, and there was always a hidden $25.00 "activity fee" everyone had to pay. AP tests at our school cost $75.00 per test. Many classes also required specialized, costly equipment, not provided by the school. We had to…

People didn't know we were homeless, just that we were poor, and I wasn't about to tell anyone back then. I was in 7th grade. The teacher was of the attitude that "Well, everyone else managed to do it" and I didn't have the confidence to tell her to back off or that my situation was different.

You do realize that children living in poverty do, on average, have poorer attendance records than children not living in poverty? This is due to multiple factors: lack of childcare, lack of reliable transportation, increased health problems, etc.

how his next idea for making tuition money

The unexpected fees sometimes associated with public schools are oftentimes prohibitive for certain families. I remember being ridiculed by my math teacher on a daily basis and eventually booted down to the lower class (which I had already passed) because the TI-whatever calculator was just a completely impossible…

Hey, I'm proud of my butt. It's cellulite-free (thanks, higher power) and hasn't yet 'fallen'. But ffs, could just ONE OF THESE PERFECT BUTT CRACKS HAVE A SUGGESTION OF HAIR?! It bloody exists (check your butt).

Where's the cellulite? I can't be the only woman on the planet with it on my butt.

Have they ever grabbed your headphones? I HAATE that! The troll has been posting gross stuff on a couple of articles.

If I was making $150 a day panhandling, I probably wouldn't want to endanger that by doing an interview revealing that fact for everyone to see. Either he risks being exposed to his donator base, or he makes himself a target for criminals looking to prey on the vulnerable.
The fact that he makes more money panhandling…