I believe you have the causality backwards, from the societal perspective. The poor are not poor because they have bad habits (addiction, debt, babies, dropouts); rather, they tend to behave in these ways because they are poor. While some individuals can avoid these pitfalls, as a whole, their culture is a symptom of their socioeconomic standing. You would probably be less likely to commit crime if you have a fulfilling job and a successful life, and you would care more about condoms, loan terms, and health if you had more to lose. Being poor means that you live day-to-day, and that affects your ability to think long-term.[1] If we the comfortable observers find their behavior paradoxical, it is because we aren't in the thick of things.
You're right: it seems very difficult to change the mindset of poor people. Fortunately, we "only" need to decrease income inequality, so that lower classes can earn a livable wage. The demographic transition is the perfect analogy, where fertility rates seem to magically drop as countries develop. If we remove the stresses of poverty, the poor will be able to live more effectively.
For the present, you can contribute by donating to charity, or by political advocacy: calling your politicians, voting for politicians who care about these issues, or helping fix campaign finance to level the political playing field.[4]
For the future, we can change quite a bit more. The obvious area is to make education more equitable and effective. For example, school districts are currently funded by taxes determined by housing values. This matters because education opens doors to higher-paying jobs: a PhD is expected to earn $4 million compared to $2.5 million for bachelors (lifetime),[2] and a high-school degree earns 40% less than that ($30k/yr compared to $50k/year).[3] Beyond the statistics, the culture of the poor stems from a lack of awareness of better possibilities or the belief that these better possibilities are unobtainable, so better education could break the cycle by inspiring children and giving them the tools to take control of their lives.
I agree education is the key, but I cannot see how simply pumping more money into education is going to solve the problem.
In Oregon, we had a HS graduation rate of 69% this year. That is insane, we are the worst! We're as blue/progressive a state as you're going to find in the states. Low income kids, English language learners, and minorities are failing the most. Our spending per student is right around the average relative to other states.
Please consider that there IS a culture component and there are poor and minority families and communities that tolerate this atrocious performance from their kids. This is just one issue of many where really bad choices are being made and there is no secret about the consequences. And frankly, I think the politics of victimhood are toxic in this state and help create a safe environment for kids to fail out.
I don't seek to punish anyone, but I'd like there to be some blame heaped on all the responsible parties. Calling people to account on their poor performance is really cheap, we should do it more often.
You're right: it seems very difficult to change the mindset of poor people. Fortunately, we "only" need to decrease income inequality, so that lower classes can earn a livable wage. The demographic transition is the perfect analogy, where fertility rates seem to magically drop as countries develop. If we remove the stresses of poverty, the poor will be able to live more effectively.
For the present, you can contribute by donating to charity, or by political advocacy: calling your politicians, voting for politicians who care about these issues, or helping fix campaign finance to level the political playing field.[4]
For the future, we can change quite a bit more. The obvious area is to make education more equitable and effective. For example, school districts are currently funded by taxes determined by housing values. This matters because education opens doors to higher-paying jobs: a PhD is expected to earn $4 million compared to $2.5 million for bachelors (lifetime),[2] and a high-school degree earns 40% less than that ($30k/yr compared to $50k/year).[3] Beyond the statistics, the culture of the poor stems from a lack of awareness of better possibilities or the belief that these better possibilities are unobtainable, so better education could break the cycle by inspiring children and giving them the tools to take control of their lives.
[1] http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/your-bra...
[2] http://www.census.gov/library/infographics/sci_eng_majors.ht...
[3] https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=77
[4] http://www.democracymatters.org/what-you-need-to-know-about-...