US Welfare Reform and Education

[RCIAGraduate]

Do you think the 1996 Welfare Reform was counterproductive because the work requirement excluded college education? I read an article critiquing the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act because “workfare” ended up pushing mothers into dead-end jobs rather than encouraging them to complete the education needed to attain middle class employment. Even worse, it mentioned that recipients were encouraged to leave college for menial labor.

“Any job is a good job” was the slogan emblazoned on the walls of county welfare agencies across the country, as tens of thousands of low-income mothers were made to quit college to do up to thirty-five hours per week of unpaid “workfare”: sweeping streets, picking up trash in parks and cleaning public restrooms in exchange for benefits as low as $240 a month.

“…Work wasn’t the problem; it was the nature of the work—low-wage, dead-end jobs with no benefits and little chance for advancement—that kept families like mine on the welfare rolls.”

The End of Welfare As I Knew It.

Do you think an effective education component is necessary for a successful welfare program? Or should welfare be focused on alleviating the needs of those struggling in poverty?

The article mentions other points that may be worthy of mention in another thread, especially the connections and problems between welfare reform and domestic but for this thread I’d like to focus on the points relating to education.

Please answer both charitably and civilly, but candor is still very much appreciated.

 

[Catholic1954]

The US government does not owe anyone a college education; America is full of people who have good paying jobs and never went to college. America is also full of people who went to college and ended up with dead end jobs anyway, and America is full of people who worked dead end jobs and paid for their own education. It’s not what you can get for a handout; it’s what you do with your own hands that counts.

 

[Theo520]

The purpose of welfare to work is getting people self sufficient, what they accomplish beyond that depends on their own initiative. And there are a number of options to help those with initiative.

It’s economically impossible for everyone to reside in the middle class. It’s not a viable possibility,** except when making election promises while seeking votes.**

 

[Sunbreak]

Welfare should be a temporary help situation, not a way of life. An education may or may not help someone get a decent job - there’s no guarantee. So, no the welfare program should not have anything to do with education. Although I lean toward the left on some issues, I do not believe that the “war on poverty” has really accomplished much of anything. Look at Detroit where there have been generations of people raised on welfare - have a kid, get welfare - that’s become ingrained in the system.