Poor Kids Documentary: Applying Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Analysis

This assignment analyzes the documentary "Poor Kids" by examining how the children's needs, as defined by Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, are or are not met. The assignment focuses on the basic and psychological needs of the children, providing specific examples from the documentary to support the analysis. It explores the relevance of Maslow's Hierarchy to education and how unmet needs can affect children's performance in school. The assignment also addresses the issue of bullying, specifically why Brittany Smith was bullied and the impact it had on her school performance. Furthermore, it references an article on the Detroit students' grievances regarding their education.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF POOR KIDS
ANALYSIS OF POOR KIDS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Assignment 1
The paper seeks to find out how Maslow’s hierarchy theory of needs is implemented
in the documentary namely “Poor Kids” and how the kids from the documentary fail to
acquire the advantage of the hierarchy of need shown by Maslow (Neumann and Mucciolo
2017).
Examine Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in the graphic below. For the following
children, identify the needs that are not being met. Please provide evidence from the
documentary to support your answer. Respond in complete sentences and in your own
words.
The basic needs and the psychological needs of Brittany and Roger are mostly
unfulfilled. When their father stopped working the family income dropped suddenly.
However one thing that kept them going was that they were privileged enough to go to school
and have meals there. Since they are members of schools nutrition club they could gather a
little amount of food that could be used during weekend. They are shown to be unable to pay
the electricity bill therefore no provision of hot water could be accessed and they inevitably
had to take bath in cold water regularly. New problems were introduced as the time passes
by. Brittany was socially cornered and bullied by her classmates everyday. Her exhaustion
led to the extremity therefore she had to expelled from the school. Using her strong passion
for art she was eventually led to the way of her dream.
The next two kids are Kaylie and Tyler Hegwood who have gone through safety
needs and also psychological needs like the former group of children. Their condition was
even worse because they had to shift to motel because their mother confessed that she was

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almost bankrupt after paying the electricity bill. Now it is certain that most of the motels are
situated at an unsafe locality where the motels are tiny and congested. There was hardly any
space for three of them to fit into a single room where one of them had to sleep on the floor
and the food had to be stored in the bathroom. They have gone through poverty and mere
struggle that distorted their safety and psychological needs where they had to give up on their
loved belongings.
Fig: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Why is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs relevant to the field of education? How could not
addressing basic needs affect children’s performance in school?
The basic need is essential for every human being. It is not special for the students
however when a student is inside the class starving from the previous night cannot
concentrate on education therefore proper food and sleep is important for education.
Why was Brittany Smith bullied in middle school? How did the bullying affect her
performance in school?

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It was poverty for which her friends bullied her and it finally made her abscond the
school. Poverty was so overpowering in her family that it was completely visible on her face
and appearance. Poverty did not only affect the appearance of Brittany but also changed her
attitude from inside that made her seclude herself from rest of the students present in school.
The bullying was gone too far to keep her safe in the school therefore finally she had to leave
the school.
Assignment 2
The article focuses on how the students are going to school and failing to gather any
knowledge because the way it is being conveyed is so poor and inferior that it cannot help
anybody anyway. Michigan is at a state of violating their basic right to freedom and belief in
nondiscrimination (Wong 2018).

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References
Neumann, J, and L Mucciolo. Poor Kids. PBS: Frontline, 2017, Accessed 17 Jan 2020.
Wong, A. Students In Detroit Are Suing The State Because They Weren’T Taught To Read.
The Atlantic, 2018, Accessed 17 Jan 2020.