Welfare: Modern Social Darwinism

MODERN SOCIAL DARWINISM

Do you sometimes reflect about your life and realize how proud you should be of yourself? Do you feel great about some of the hard work and sacrifices that you have made to support yourself and your family? If you have answered yes; then you should be proud. I am proud of the accomplishments I have made as well as the progress I have made towards my future goals. I am also proud of all my classmates that are striving towards their goals. I am proud to be an American and proud of most of the people that represent this country. However, I am not proud of some of the people within these borders. I am not proud of the people who set low standards and expect a handout. I am talking about some of the people who collect government assistance; but do not strive towards goals which will allow them to support themselves and no longer rely on government assistance.

Please do not assume that I think everyone who receives government assistance is a failure or a low class citizen. This is not what I am trying to portray. I simply feel that most of the States' Government assistance programs should be reviewed and changed. We the voters must consider these changes and persuade our legislators to reform the system. We must then persuade the government to take a look at their programs and revamp them to ensure people meet specific minimum requirements. These minimum requirements should be stepping stones for people to strive for a better way of life. I think government assistance is a great tool for people who legitimately need help. These are people who truly have attempted to progress but events in life have affected them doing so.

I believe that each state should have these following requirements: Every sponsor receiving assistance should have at least a high school diploma or equivalent. In fact, every American should have a high school diploma or equivalent. This would obviously decrease the school drop-out rate. I also think that if this standard is a known requirement, young students will strive to meet this goal. They could possibly aspire to greater things if they applied themselves and cared about their education. High School is education in a social environment. If these target students were more involved in this social network; they may have high enough standards to strive not to collect assistance. If we were to look at the demographic percentage levels of people who collect government assistance; we would find that a lot of people come from impoverished neighborhoods. These neighborhoods have some of the lowest education scores and lowest education funding. Maybe we should redistribute funds from other sources (like welfare) and redistribute them into our schools. Maybe we can fight the problem at its cause, rather than put a Band-Aid to stop the bleeding later. It is amazing that schools fire teachers and eliminate extra-curricular activities from its budget. That is pouring gasoline on a fire. I applaud the teachers in this country and believe that if it weren't for them, this country would be a third world country.