Being poor in the land of plenty: almost 33 million Americans are poor--a third of them children under 18. In a world dominated by mall culture, what's it like for teens who must struggle to make ends meet? .

In the last fringes of daylight, 13-year-old Marcus Anthony turns somersaults with his brothers on a mattress in their front yard. Marcus lives in Pembroke Township, a small Illinois farming community about an hour's drive south of Chicago. Some residents live in crumbling shacks with floors of dirt, windows of plastic, and no running water; the lines at a local food pantry quickly exhaust their supplies each month, and poverty is everywhere.

Marcus's family of 11 is poor by government standards, but not in spirit.

"What I think poverty is, is when you have absolutely no place to stay, nothing to wear, nothing to eat, and nothing to sell or trade," says Marcus, who helps plant and harvest vegetables on his family's modest six-acre farm. He also cares for the guineas (a kind of poultry), hogs, sheep, rabbits, peacocks, and a horse.

"If you have lots of food you can get all the time, and you have a place to stay," he says, "well, even if you don't have any money, I don't think you're poor."

Marcus and his family are among 32.9 million Americans living in poverty--11.7 million of them under 18 years old. In the current economy, with large numbers of people losing jobs due to layoffs, many more Americans teeter on the brink of poverty.

The federal government measures poverty according to family size and total household income. A yearly income of $18,400 is now considered the poverty line for a typical family of two adults and two children under 18.

But many poverty experts argue that the formula for calculating the figures is out of date and does not take account of the vastly different costs of living in various regions of the country. Further, they say, many people technically above the poverty line are poor nonetheless.

"The poverty line isn't an adequate threshold to measure a family's economic hardship," says Lawrence Aber, executive director of the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University. "Once you get above the poverty line, you're still very far away from economic self-sufficiency." At twice the poverty line--or $36,800 for a family of four--a family is much closer to meeting its minimum needs, Aber says.

During the economic boom of the 1990s, the poverty rate fell slowly over eight consecutive years. But in 2001, according to the most recent census data, the rate began rising again, to 11.7 percent--an increase of 1.3 million people. That's three times the population of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The majority of Americans who live below the poverty line, 22.7 million, are white. Another 8.1 million are black, and 8 million are Hispanic. The numbers represent less than 10 percent of whites, but are 22.7 percent of blacks and 21.4 percent of Hispanics.

The rise in poverty is not confined to small rural towns like Pembroke Township or to inner cities. "The vast majority of poor families don't live in the worst urban neighborhoods or the poorest rural areas," says Greg J. Duncan, director of the Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research. "Poor families are scattered around."

Increasingly, poverty is sprouting alongside the suburban neighborhoods that make up the core of the American middle class. "In some parts of the country, there's very little difference between poverty in the cities and poverty in the suburbs," says Alan Berube, co-author of a Brookings Institution report that analyzed the 2000 census.

Numbers may tell where American poverty exists, but they do not convey what it is like to be a teenager facing poverty in a society dominated by mall culture. Without the cash to shop for new CDs or the latest version of NBA Live, access to what is cool is denied.

"The kind of sensitivity that [teens] have to their circumstances, and the extent to which peers matter a lot more ... probably makes them quite a bit more sensitive to this problem," Duncan says.

three teenagers, three different circumstances

While Marcus Anthony lives in a rural town of just 2,784 people, where most roads are unpaved sand and gravel, Krystel Hibben, 16, lives in Glendale Heights, a Chicago suburb that's 10 times larger, but where her $7.50-an-hour after-school job often goes to help support her large family's expenses. Meanwhile, David Evers, 17, thrust into poverty by the sudden death of his father, lives on Chicago's West Side, one of the city's toughest and most dangerous neighborhoods.

Both Marcus's and Krystel's families have incomes that place them below the official government poverty line. David's family's income places them just above that line, but still very much in poverty. For instance, the Evers family still qualifies for food stamps and free school lunches.

Despite the miles and circumstances that separate these teenagers, they share many anxieties usually reserved for adults.

MARCUS: "RESOURCES" NOT "POVERTY"

Pembroke Township, where Marcus lives, is one of the poorest places in the country. There are half a dozen liquor stores and lots of churches. But there is no bank, no supermarket, no police force, no barbershop, no gas station, and no pharmacy.

Marcus's father, Mark Anthony, earns $25,000 a year as a schoolteacher. His mother home-schools Marcus and his eight siblings (five boys, three girls). The family's income--about 40 percent below the median American household income of $42,228--together with its size, places the Anthonys well below the poverty threshold.

But "poverty" isn't a word that's used in their household; the key word is "resources."

Rows of kale, collard greens, and other vegetables sprout from the soil. The family also has poultry, hogs, goats, and a row of fruit trees. Some of the livestock ends up as food in the freezer. And some of the fruit and vegetables are sold by Marcus and his brothers, who get to keep the proceeds.

Marcus admits that he leads a modest lifestyle compared with many American teenagers, and that there isn't money for trendy clothes and costly sneakers.

"I don't really like the ones that cost a lot, just the ones that will fit on my feet and don't look dirty and will keep my feet warm," he says. "But $300 or $160 or $90 on a pair of shoes? That's too much."

For now, Marcus seems less concerned about not being able to afford the frills that are part of today's teen culture. There are no malls in Pembroke Township, and home-schooling insulates him from some pressures. But for other teens, it's a different story.

KRYSTEL: OUT OF PLACE IN THE 'BURBS

Like many suburban 16-year-olds, Krystel Hibben likes shopping, caramel Frappuccinos with extra caramel, hanging out at the mall, and listening to Alanis Morissette. Experts say white people in poverty, such as Krystel, are much more likely to live in middle-class neighborhoods. That means they're more likely to go to good schools and have access to transportation and jobs, and are less likely to be exposed to violence.

Krystel lives in posh DuPage County, an economically secure, well-educated area west of Chicago, where the poverty rate is just 2.4 percent. Half-million-dollar homes dot an emerald suburban landscape, and some teens drive shiny new sports cars to school. In this environment, Krystel sometimes feels out of place, ashamed, and burdened by the weight of her family's poverty.

People from another high school, she says, sometimes "look at our school because they are more of a higher class and say that we're poor, and they have an attitude toward us. Whenever you see them, they just talk to you in a different way," Krystel says. Their attitude makes her angry. Her message to teens who look down on poor kids: "Put yourself in our place."

A sophomore, Krystel is the oldest of four children. Four days a week, she hurries out the school door after her last class and takes a bus to her job as a teen mentor at Marquardt Middle School, near her home. She earns $7.50 an hour, a hefty part-time wage for a teen.

But her earnings can't always go for new clothes or a trip to the movies. Often, she gives money to her mother to help with the bills. Krystel dreams of someday becoming a cosmetologist and owning a day-care center. She says she wants to make a lot of money, "so I can have better for my kids, and so they can have the life I want--go on vacations and not really have to worry about working and having money at a young age."

Krystel's father, who worked as a laborer, injured his back and has been unemployed for two years. His only income comes from a business he and his wife started. Krystel's mother earns $12,000 to $15,000 a year as a school bus driver. The family's income varies, but last year they lived on about $22,000. That's about a third of the median family income, $64,115, in Glendale Heights.

when too little is too much

Theresa Mertes, Krystel's mother, says the family's variable income puts them in the class of the working poor--those who often earn too little to get by, but sometimes too much to qualify for welfare or assistance from government or community-based programs for the needy.

"When they turn you away, that's when you feel ashamed; when they turn you away and you're trying to feed your kids, and they're telling you, `We can't help you, you have an income,'" Mertes says.

Krystel and her family mostly get by day-to-day, week-by-week. They don't have medical insurance, and they're on the edge of losing their home.

But somehow they manage to keep up the house payments, and keep the family clothed and looking middle class, camouflaging their poverty. When Krystel was younger, her mom--without Krystel's knowledge bought her daughter's clothes at a secondhand store. Afraid that her daughter would be ashamed, Mertes sometimes told her that the clothes were given to her by a cousin.

Now that Krystel has her own job, she can buy clothes. But necessity always seems to weigh on her mind. On a recent evening as she and her mother talked about her future, there was the nagging reminder that Krystel needed a pair of sneakers for gym class--and the uncomfortable reality that the daughter, not the mother, would have to buy them. Krystel says she hopes to find another job: She needs the extra money.

DAVID: A TIDY APARTMENT, BUT NO FRILLS 

Light-years away in the city of Chicago, where poverty is interwoven with crumbling public-housing projects, broken glass, and gunshots that break the nighttime silence, David Evers dreams of going to college, of one day being able to earn enough to pay for food, electricity, and gas.

The oldest of six children, David, 17, lives on the hard-edged West Side, an area struggling with crime and gangs. The West Side made a significant contribution to Chicago's 666 homicides in 2001--the highest number of any city in the nation. Danger, coupled with poverty, makes it hard just surviving in the neighborhood where David lives.

"It's tough if you don't have a strong mind," says David, a high school junior. "I don't want to have my kids struggling just to have some shoes or a coat like everyone. I don't want to have to tell them, `We can't get a coat right now because we don't have the money to afford one.' I want to be able to give it to them."

a death changes everything

Enrolled in honors courses, David is on scholarship and plays basketball for Providence-St. Mel High School, a private school on the West Side, that sends 100 percent of its graduates--most of them poor--to college.

Three years ago, while David was playing a basketball game in Florida, his 42-year-old father, a construction worker, suddenly became ill. He had saved to buy the family a new house, but only four weeks after they moved in, he died when a blood vessel in his brain burst. Within months, the family lost their home.

Nowadays, they live on $26,628 a year, mostly from the father's Social Security benefits, in a sparsely furnished, tidy apartment with polished hardwood floors. David helps clean the apartment and also takes care of his younger brother and sisters. They have the essentials, but no frills: no cable television, no telephone. His mother counts every penny and dreams that her younger children will follow David's example of academic success. This, she believes, will eventually lead them out of poverty.

David smiles as he and his mother, Kathleen, discuss the future: the possibility of his studying abroad this summer, his hope of graduating from college and becoming an electrical engineer. But outside on a nearby street corner, the neighborhood drug dealers conduct business in the freezing cold.

moving forward

Marcus, Krystel, and David live in different worlds, and their experiences of poverty are influenced by their environments. The challenges of being poor in a rural community are different from those in the city or in the suburbs.

But there is a common thread in their stories, especially the way in which the teens see themselves. While they are all keenly aware of the problems they face every day, they tend to see their lives as full of possibilities. Sitting with his mother, David tried to sum up his optimism about the future.

"It's pretty hard, because I've got my big family right here, then I've got to look out for the little guys, and keep my grades up so I can move on to my future," David says. "Compared to other people, I don't think my family is really in poverty, because we're still together."

World Poverty: How the U.S. Stacks Up

This map shows the percentage of the population living in poverty in various countries. Each nation has its own standard for what it considers poverty. Someone living in poverty in the U.S. might be too well off to qualify as poor in India. The country with the lowest poverty rate (of those with available data) is Taiwan, with just 1 percent. The country with the highest poverty rate is Zambia, with 86 percent of its people in poverty.

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Child Poverty Rates

These rankings reflect each state's percentage of children living in poverty. Nationwide, 17.1 percent of people under age 18 live in poverty--amounting to 11.7 million youths, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau statistics. The map shows the percentage of those under 18 who are living in poverty in each state.

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Wanted: Three Square Meals

The number of U.S. families that sometimes don't have enough food.

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

* Does government have an obligation to ensure that no American is poor?

* If you answered yes, should government guarantee jobs for the poor?

* Should the government just give poor people enough money to live on?

* Does the persistence of poverty indicate failure by the government or the economy?

TEACHING OBJECTIVES

To help students understand reasons for the persistence of poverty in America, and specifically how poverty affects teens.

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

CRITICAL THINKING/DISCUSSION: The article offers a mix of perspectives on poverty. Review Marcus Anthony's perspective. Would students feel poor if they lived in Anthony's circumstances? Is Anthony living in a world in which he has little chance to compare his life with the lives of more-fortunate Americans?

Ask students to consider the emotional side of poverty. Refer to Krystel Hibben's comment that teens who are better off economically "talk to you in a different way." What does Hibben mean? How would students describe teens who "talk to [poor people] in a different way"? Refer to the comment made by David Evers: "It's tough if you don't have a strong mind." What does that comment suggest about the way poverty affects hopes and dreams? Ask students to respond to these statements:

* "Poverty results from a lack of will, an unwillingness to do what is necessary to move ahead in life."

* "Lack of opportunity causes poverty." What evidence does the article provide to support either statement?

THE NUMBERS: Next, discuss a basic issue noted under the title of the article. How do students react to the fact that nearly 33 million people--about 12 percent of the American population--are poor? Does this fact suggest injustice, specifically unequal access to economic opportunity? Or is poverty an unavoidable part of the human condition?

FIGHTING POVERTY: Write "War on Poverty" on the board. Tell students that in 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson proposed a "war on poverty" to help the poor toward a better life. Weapons in this war included training and education designed to give poor people the tools they needed to obtain better-paying jobs.

WEB WATCH: To see President Johnson's War on Poverty proposals, go to www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1964 johnson-warpoverty.html.

Upfront QUIZ 1

MULTIPLE CHOICE

DIRECTIONS: Circle the letter next to the correct answer.

1. About what percentage of Americans who live in poverty
   are under age 18?

   a half.
   b a quarter.
   c a third.
   d a tenth.

2. The federal government defines poverty not only according
   to a family's income, but also according to their

   a race.
   b place of residence.
   c education.
   d size.

3. Which of the following is cited in the article as a primary
   reason for the current rise in poverty?

   a the rise in immigration.
   b an economic slump that has resulted in job layoffs.
   c a slight increase in exports to other countries.
   d improved methods of calculating poverty.

4. Which of the following statements is most accurate?

   a Poor people are scattered across the map.
   b Poor people live mostly on the outskirts of suburbs.
   c Most poor people live in blighted urban areas.
   d Poverty is most serious in rural areas.

5. Which is the best example of the "working poor"? People

   a who are too poor to afford job training.
   b who live in areas where only low-paid jobs are available:
   c who are incapable of performing higher-paid jobs.
   d who earn too much to qualify for government aid, but
     too little to get by on.

6. Statistics on the number of U.S. households facing
   hunger show

   a a decrease after 1998, followed by a steady increase.
   b a steady decrease over a four-year period.
   c a sharp increase over a four-year period.
   d that the number of households facing hunger has
     remained about the same over a four-year period.

Upfront Quiz 1, page 5

1. (c) a third
2. (d) size
3. (b) an economic slump that has
       resulted in job layoffs.
4. (a) Poor people are scattered across
       the map.
5. (d) who earn too much to qualify
       for government aid, but too little
       to get by on.
6. (a) a decrease after 1998, followed
       by a steady increase.

JOHN W. FOUNTAIN is a national correspondent for The New York Times and author of True Vine, an upcoming memoir about growing up poor in Chicago. Additional reporting by PATRICIA SMITH.