Optimism Deficient?
A wrongheaded experiment to prove poor people are lazy shows it’s easy to succeed when you’re young, healthy, white, and male.By Kayla Walker
July 22, 2008
Adam Shepard was sick of hearing the impoverished in America whine and complain. He was “frustrated with the materialistic individualism that seems to be shaping every thirteen-year-old to be the next teen diva,” Shepard wrote in the introduction to Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream. In a move that is reminiscent of Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, Shepard boarded a train to Charleston, S.C., with nothing more than $25 in his pocket, the clothes on his back, a sleeping bag, and a tarp.
Shepard set out to disprove books like Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch. He wanted to achieve the so-called American Dream—without using his college degree, friends, or exemplary credit history—proving that it is still possible in America to break one’s way out of poverty. Shepard gave himself just one year to break from poverty and homelessness. Completion of his project would be considered successful if Shepard was able to own a functioning automobile, be living in a furnished apartment, have $2,500, and have the prospects to go to school or start his own business.
Of course, after just 10 months of getting a manual labor job at a moving company, Shepard achieves his goals: he owns a beat-up truck, lives in an apartment that is fully furnished (with cast-offs from customers), and has almost $5,000 to his name. Shepard attributes his success to his can-do spirit and work ethic. There are plenty of people that might not have such a “can do” attitude after living in abject poverty for years.
Shepard may not have started out with much, but his experience was free of many of the problems of the impoverished today: He is physically and mentally healthy, he has a strong education and upbringing, and his "homeless" situation was always temporary. Shepard acknowledges such criticisms, but he fails to acknowledge that he didn’t have to face many of the systemic and institutional problems of racism (especially since his experiment took place in the American South), sexism, homophobia, or growing up in poverty.
According to a report by the Center for American Progress, 37 million Americans live below the poverty line. The same report shows that while poverty afflicts 8.7 percent of non-Hispanic white individuals in America, 21.4 percent of both African Americans and Hispanics are afflicted. So it goes without saying that Shepard might have had a different experience had he not been white.
Shepard argues that a person’s background and environment does much to shape them and their lifestyles. Shepard seems to attribute inequality to “poor attitudes”—a child that grows up in an environment with poor attitudes will likely grow up to be an adult with poor attitudes. In other words, Shepard says what is really plaguing America is a severe lack of optimism. Shepard himself is the product of two loving, educated parents, a middle-class upbringing, and a college education (in business management) in Massachusetts on a basketball scholarship. Shepard says that he didn’t use his college degree to benefit his circumstances—but it’s impossible, of course, that he did not make use of his education.
But there’s more than just poverty in the United States. There’s also debt. The Consumer Federation of America estimates that credit card debt in America totaled $850 billion in 2007. Shepherd also didn’t have to worry about college loans, having gone to school on an athletic scholarship. FinAid reports that 65.7 percent of 4-year undergraduate students graduate with debt. The average student loan debt is $19,237. Without having to worry about loan balances, Shepherd’s experiment wasn’t realistic.
In a similar critique to Ehrenreich’s book, it is also important to remember that Shepard’s situation was merely temporary. He had an emergency credit card in his pocket, a comfortable home, supportive relatives, and a college degree to fall back on. If his experiment had failed, all he would have suffered was a bruised ego. Shepard didn’t have to worry about the real, deep-rooted stress and desperation that poverty inflicts, probably making his situation easier to cope with. This makes his experience more of a story of tourism rather than a real experience.
While at the moving company, Shepard had heard legendary tales of Derrick, a mover who could lift anything despite his trim build. Shepard’s description of his time working with Derrick depicts a focused, hard-working man that is striving towards a better life for himself and his family. Unlike Shepard, Derrick is black, from a poor, rural town, and has a wife and child to support. Derrick has succeeded in becoming the most desired mover in Charleston and had purchased a home for his family with the help from the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, a nonprofit that helps people with faulty credit or without the means to pay closing costs purchase a home, as well as understand the real estate market and process of purchasing a home.
Derrick’s success was thanks not just to optimism, but thanks to antipoverty groups that help people in concrete ways. Derrick’s triumphs and trials, rather than Shepard’s, would have made a much more interesting testimonial to the American Dream’s feasibility, as well as a more realistic picture of everything that’s needed to combat poverty in America today.
Kayla Walker is a recent graduate of Hofstra University and a former Publications Intern at Campus Progress.
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Comments
I’m glad he didn’t run into any health problems during this experiment. Had he been uninsured and saddled with medical debt, he may have found the can-do work ethic unable to bail him out.
— Matt Bors - Jul 22, 02:59 PM - #Derricks success is a great story and was due to his optimism, very hard work, determination and the American dream that does exist. the American dream is created by American’s reaching out and helping each other, like his community non-profit, not by the government reaching out and helping people. I have worked in the private non-profit sector for many years, liberals can’t understand that THIS is what conservatives support, individuals helping and caring for one another, on a local level. I still cannot understand how liberals berate the government (rightly so) but then want the government to take over more and more responsibility. Could someone explain why people believe the government is more suited to all kinds of industries than the private sector? (Maybe someone could contemplate this while trying to accomplish something at the post office, and then respond)
— tara - Jul 23, 07:44 PM - #“The government” is beholden to the people. It’s proper role is to care for the commons and provide the basis for individual success: health care, education, a minimal standard of living. While we may rail against government intrusion, we have no right to rail agains corporate intrusion, violation of rights or failure to provide private assistance.
— Reinaldo - Jul 24, 01:32 AM - #Government is actually the common and joint effort of the individuals to do what individuals cannot do by themselves: Education, community health care, poverty relief. In principle, the government is “We the people,” acting as the community.
Mr. Shepard would have failed without his public education, his luck of the draw on health, his youth and the infrastructure provided by the community.
Actually, instead of using generally held beliefs we can look at some numbers. Statistically whites are much more likely to be homeless as compared to Asians and Hispanics. Additionally, being male doesn’t help so much given your point about mental illness as males in general, and specifically white males, are most at risk of suffering mental illness and drug/alcohol dependency. So why don’t we quit with the “He’s white and male so how could he have problems?” Let me tell you, I’m white and male and I have plenty. This isn’t to take away from debates of race and sex. I hate how people seek to prove sexism or race discrimination based on showing how great white males have it. Quit generalizing and making a very complex problem so simple. There are many confounding variables in the equation, not to withstanding parental socio-economic and educational achievement levels
I do agree with your point concerning health and youth however.
— vince - Jul 24, 05:13 AM - #Besides, 8.4% of whites in poverty, (nearly 1 in 10!) is not something to boast as evidence of whites having it easy. Forget the entire race and gender dimension— why not focus on what the definition of “making it” is. It would not be impossible to get a majority of people in America into a similar position at this guy was, however it is not an enviable position to be in (regardless of whether he is white, black, male, female, whatever).
The question is, can a quality life simply be defined as renting an apartment and owning used furniture? Of course not. He very well might be able to scrape by, but there is no way this guy could provide a quality life for himself, let alone a wife and child. He is defining the American dream as simply “getting by.” Getting by is not on par with living a quality life. A person can’t haul furniture forever. What happens when he ages? This is something that is not mentioned and is perhaps the largest hurdle. Unless this is some incredibly rare moving company, he has no retirement, life insurance, or medical to rely on. Factor in having a wife and children, and this guy would be living at the bottom of the poverty line. Is that the American dream? Renting a house and scraping by until you his 65, then scraping by some more on social security until you die? Can we say that taking on loans for your child’s college tuition, charging a credit card so you can see a doctor, and buying stale loafs of bread or cans with dents to save money equates to an American dream? Sounds like a nightmare to me.
— vince - Jul 24, 05:51 AM - #Thanks for this review. I have to read the book for a more informed opinion, but I like what you have to say. I have to give this guy some credit though, for even going through with this. He could have spent that year in a higher paying job, saving up money for other things, but he chose not to do that.
— Laryssa - Jul 24, 01:53 PM - #It’s the right-wing version of CrimethInc’s “Evasion”! His story isn’t a lesson in bootstrap-lifting – it’s a lesson in how blind so many people are to the true nature of their privilege.
— For Student Power - Jul 24, 06:20 PM - #I’ve worked homeless folks and called them friend. Athough there are fewer # of Hispanic or Asian homeless than Anglo, the same is not true for African-Amer. Furthermore, Hispanic and Asian homeless aren’t as obvious but they are out there, if you look…under the bridges & in the day labor line-up. White men (or women) don’t “statistically” have more mental health problems, they just get reported more often. Furthermore, there IS a big difference between one raised to believe he could accomplish anything doing so— versus one who was told by parents and/or society that he is incapable. This message is transmitted in subtle ways…where the landfill goes, what zips gets the fastest police response, where the “affordable” housing is built. All these, subtle that they are, scream loud and clear “you are not worthy!” PS: how does the author prove he didn’t use that credit card? Did he ever stop by mom’s for a home cooked or crash on a buddy’s couch?
— Virge - Jul 24, 11:19 PM - #I’ve worked homeless folks and called them friend. Athough there are fewer # of Hispanic or Asian homeless than Anglo, the same is not true for African-Amer. Furthermore, Hispanic and Asian homeless aren’t as obvious but they are out there, if you look…under the bridges & in the day labor line-up. White men (or women) don’t “statistically” have more mental health problems, they just get reported more often. Furthermore, there IS a big difference between one raised to believe he could accomplish anything doing so— versus one who was told by parents and/or society that he is incapable. This message is transmitted in subtle ways…where the landfill goes, what zips gets the fastest police response, where the “affordable” housing is built. All these, subtle that they are, scream loud and clear “you are not worthy!” PS: how does the author prove he didn’t use that credit card? Did he ever stop by mom’s for a home cooked or crash on a buddy’s couch?
— Virge - Jul 24, 11:19 PM - #oops…sorry ‘bout posting twice
— Virge - Jul 24, 11:23 PM - #“Furthermore, there IS a big difference between one raised to believe he could accomplish anything doing so—versus one who was told by parents and/or society that he is incapable”
That’s the whole point! The perception held by any disadvantaged people that they cannot make a success of themselves is a lie, as evidenced by Shepard. That lie may come to them from society, but Shepard’s goal was to prove that it was a lie, which he succeeded in doing.
“The question is, can a quality life simply be defined as renting an apartment and owning used furniture? Of course not. He very well might be able to scrape by, but there is no way this guy could provide a quality life for himself, let alone a wife and child. He is defining the American dream as simply ‘getting by.’”
No, he’s defining “getting by” as the first step on the road to further success. Granted, his argument would be more persuasive if he had stayed in his experiment further, but he reached the point described in the article after just ten months. While he probably was at the poverty line (even without a wife and kids), the distance he had come from having a mere $25 and a sleeping bag is massive.
And, yes, as the other commenters have mentioned, he did have significant advantages in health and youth. However, those struggles have been around as long as the nation. The American Dream was the opportunity to make something of yourself, not the guarantee of it.
— Scott - Jul 25, 03:15 PM - #Scott. Seriously, dude, come on.
“The perception held by any disadvantaged people that they cannot make a success of themselves is a lie, as evidenced by Shepard.”
How can Shepard provide evidence like that? You ever read Black Like Me? At least in that situation the author actually tried to get a better handle on what it’s like to be a member of a ‘disadvantaged’ class.
We’re to a significant extent products of our environment: our family, our wealth, our friends, our physical surroundings, the quality of institutions (like school) we go through. To say that the poor and disadvantaged just have the wrong mindset is to ignore the very real barriers put in place by the privileged classes and their institutions.
Do black people get turned down for mortgages significantly more often than white people with the same financial situation simply because black people don’t have some intangible “can-do attitude”?
Your last sentence, somewhat in spite of yourself, is spot-on: it’s about opportunity, and in this country variables outside your control determine how much opportunity you get.
— For Student Power - Jul 25, 06:06 PM - #People, let’s rise above polarization and stereo-typing, and join the human family. Misunderstanding is one of our society’s illnesses that we need to heal. I direct my response to the author: I commend you for setting out to prove to yourself that you could make it without the boost your family and socio-economic status has given you. Why did you look back? If you continued in your experiment you would have come to the real challenges that people of your mental acuity and work ethic face in America when they age, face injury, illness, car repairs, fall in love and want a family, etc. I have known of hard working families whose parents conveniently became vegetarians so their children wouldn’t notice that there wasn’t enough meat to go around. Not every struggling family pass the despair on to their children. The very fact that you had the confidence to do what you did shows that you lack a key barrier that a lot of homeless people face. A lot of those who have a very hard time breaking into society do so because they lack the character traits that you couldn’t get away from by walking away from your privileged upbringing: You were given self confidence, a hard work ethic, dependability, marketability, and social-ability. You couldn’t leave this behind, and it will follow you (or lead you) your whole career and life through. You got the job! There are those who didn’t apply because they lacked the basic confidence and abilities (reading, writing etc.) to do so. You got the job! When the interviewer chose you who did she turn away? Among them were those who couldn’t look her in the eye or who had failed at other jobs and references told the story. So what did your experiment really prove? You proved that if you work hard, you have a fighting chance to live among the working poor and (due to your family upbringing and socio-economic boost) you have what it takes to quite possibly move up to a union job with benefits! Good for you! Not everyone has what it takes. I haven’t read the book so I don’t know if this is a discussion about the homeless and welfare recipients or the working poor. If we are talking about the non-working population then we need to talk about diagnosing on an individual basis. If we are talking about the hard-working, poor, working class then we need to talk about diagnosing a society who favors the rich and well connected and those whose mental abilities can receive education. Some final questions: what are you going to do now? You could go back to your bright future and forget about the working poor, or you could look your society square in the face and work to close the gap between the laborers wages and the income of the people who sit on their duffs and claim to be the hard-workers of society. Are you willing to cross the line and join the human family, or will you adopt the prevailing illness of “us four and no more” that likes to group the working poor with the welfare recipients so that you can accuse them of not working hard?
— Becki - Jul 26, 04:20 PM - #He parallels his positive attitude with others who succeed, such as Derrick, who was black, married, and only highschool educated. Both made it out. Compare that to Derricks cousin, BG, who constantly makes poor choices despite having a similar background to Derrick (whom he grew up with).
Of course he didnt have to worry about college debt; find me a shelter dweller who does.
The suggestion that having a safety net made it easier to succeed is laughable. An emergency credit card creates an incentive to fail. If there was no safety net then his incentive to succeed increases.
His job as a mover had little to do with his education since there were other less educated movers who were far superior to him in skill. Growing up middle class and then living in a shelter would be a huge disadvantage as well, as the lifestyle/culture in those places is significantly different.
One comment above about being shaped by environment: While I categorically disagree with that theory, I would suggest that perhaps the environment beyond the home, when one reached adulthood, can similarly be filled with messages of successful values, like work ethic, thrift, and honesty. At what point do we demand that people be accountable for their own decisions beyond ‘daddy wasnt there’ or ‘the man is holding me down’? Creating sociopolitical environments that justify the attitudes/behaviors that these beliefs create are supposed to make things better? Is that progress?
The author’s point was not ‘I did it, therefore you should’ but rather, ‘It is still possible.’ The smugness of so-called progressives only reinforces the stereotypes that the lower classes are incapable of self-reliance.
— solly - Mar 22, 03:23 PM - #And the implications of this reviewers lead-in “ it’s easy to succeed when you’re young, healthy, white, and male.” only shows an implicit prejudice. Its as an absurd statement as “you will certainly fail if you are old, disabled, colored, and female” although it seems that even having one of those attributes would compel a progressive to believe an individual is slated for failure.
— solly - Mar 22, 03:48 PM - #