I have indeed, been quite below the poverty line, and I did get a free education, (pretty much) free water, food and a shithole I could rent, and I live in the US. Do they not have public schools where you live?

I was able to get out of poverty by putting my head down, taking shifts no one wanted, saving, even if that meant eating beans for a week straight. I'm investing in my continued education at the local community college and getting about four hours of sleep on average. I may have it rough, but I don't see the system being stacked against me, I see capitalism is the only way human achievement can be rewarded based on input.

I look at the job market, and I see there's a demand for engineers. Now I'm not particularly good at math or science, but I know I can be, so I bust my ass day and night when I'm not working to achieve this goal. Engineering isn't the most "fun" job, and it's definitely not my "dream," but it offers huge rewards and job security, not to mention that I get to build something that benefits society.

I think, in all honesty, that the cyclical nature of poverty is dependant on the individual. If you're a poor, young person, then don't have kids and pay attention in school. I faced adversity, being the minority white kid at a mostly black school, who cared more about my grades than sports, drugs or getting pussy. I got through it, others followed the herd. I'll reap the rewards of my input, others will face the challenges of poverty in the future.

Maybe I'm being sanctimonious, but I've lived through that shit, and a lot of what I heard while being there were excuses and victimization. People in poverty have a sense of hopelessness, that I understand, is difficult to overcome. Some people fall under circumstances that are no way their own fault, where they lost control of their own destiny. But the vast majority of my peers in school accepted their position, and some of them were my friends, and it saddened me that they gave up.