“Restoring a semblance of equal opportunity — promoting family commitment, educational attainment and economic advancement — will take tremendous effort and creative policy.”
I totally agree with what he’s saying. In fact, that’s what I’ve been saying. Above and in this earlier post on another thread:
[quote=zk]… let’s be realistic about teaching them to make their own way in life. It’s going to be complicated.
Would you be in favor of:
Equally funded schools, regardless of the affluence of the students.
Free (federally paid) parenting classes.
Free life skills classes.
Federally funded information/education campaign to encourage the poor to attend the classes, emphasize education, and generally make their own way.
These are just a few that occur to me off the top of my head. It would take more than just these things, and I’m no expert on it. But obviously you can’t just say, “no more money for you” and expect them to figure it out on their own. They’re poor for a reason. Sure, in some cases it’s laziness or lack of personal initiative. But, in my opinion, more often it’s that they’re stuck in a culture that encourages behavior that results in them being supported by the government, whether it’s via prison, welfare, or other programs. Sure, some of that culture is a result of us giving them money. We fucked up. I think we agree on that.
So let’s fix it. But let’s be realistic about how it can be fixed. It can’t be fixed by just not giving them any more money. Anything that has a shot at working is going to be expensive. It’s going to be controversial (how dare you tell us our culture isn’t as good as yours). It’s going to take a long time. But in the long run, everybody is better off.[/quote]
I’m glad to see that this opinion is being expressed elsewhere.
I’d like to hear other viewpoints on this matter. As I said, I’m no expert on this. But the discussion has to start somewhere.
