Which of the following statements is true? A. Poor people do not want to work. B. Poverty is a minority problem in the inner city. C. The poor get special ha

Question

Which of the following statements is true?
A. Poor people do not want to work.
B. Poverty is a minority problem in the inner city.
C. The poor get special handouts.
D. Most poor children live in a family with at least one working adult.

Answer 1

Okay....  These particular questions are phrased in such a way that it is obvious they are trying to get you to think about the poor in a certain way.  The first three are phrased in a way so as to represent BELIEFS about the poor.  The fourth one is phrased in a factual way.  

 

Even if you knew no other facts about the class, you'd know they want you to answer that the fourth one is true.  

 

Let me break these down - 

 

A.  Well, I know lots of people who don't WANT to work, but is it a fair generalization about ALL poor people? Probably not.  

 

B.  In your materials, do you see where it says what percent of the poor are minorities and what percentage are white?   Minorities make up much less of the population than the poor do, and minorities and the poor don't all live in cities, so this one is definitely wrong.

 

C.  The third one... the problem is with the words "special handouts".  Yes, there are handouts that are given to the poor and only to the poor.  So it's true. However, if you marked it as true, your teacher would mark it wrong, because your teacher doesn't want you to think about it that way.

 

The help that we, as a society, give to the poor is not like a Christmas present, and doesn't make life wonderful for the poor.  It just helps them, somewhat, to get by.    

 

So let's pretend it's false.

 

D.  I'm not sure whether this one is factually true or not, but it seems reasonable, and it's written without any red-flag words that indicate you are distancing yourself from the pain of poverty.  As such, it's the answer the teacher wants.