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What do you think of Barbie's idea below?"It would be really hard to try to solve homelessness but I think we can do more to put a damper on it. Maybe the school could get together with some businesses in town and make a contract with them to sponsor a child in that school. Every time that student receives an A on his or her report card the business could donate food, clothes, or money to the homeless. It would give students a little more to think about when striving on their homework. Maybe it would make them appreciate how lucky they are to be doing it in a nice warm house!" Barbie Eaton, Wallace High School, Wallace, IdahoWe think Sarah is on the right trackÒuh, trail:"As a solution to the bike accident I described earlier, I think the city should think about putting in some bike trails downtown where they now prohibit bikes on sidewalks. Just prohibiting bike riding on the sidewalk would prevent accidents like the young boy had [he ran into an elderly lady on the sidewalk] but it could lead to further injury if they [youngsters] are forced to ride on the streets.Ð Our local high school Ag program could aid in the planning and the actual building of the bike trails. This would provide a good experience for the students and benefit the city as well." Sarah Hanson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota"Since America's future depends on the teenagers, Ð if they are rewarded for their responsible actions, others may become more responsible." Stephanie Koch, Garnet Valley High School, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania"For example, a girl in Oklahoma was unable to get this assistance [welfare] for several reasons. She was still living at home with her father who earned too much income. If she had gone out on her own, quit school, got a low paying job or sat at home, she would have received this help.Ð I think the availability of this money should be limited in amount and for an appropriate amount of time. Repayment of the money should be a requirement. I feel the same way with the teenage girls who receive assistance. Their money should be paid back over time." Sarah Flanagan, Walters High School, Walters, OklahomaUnder President Clinton's proposed welfare-reform, program job training and child care would be available to single mothers for up to two years. If the recipient did not have a job by the end of that period they would be required to seek a job in the private sector or take one provided in the public sector. The plan is to start with welfare recipients who would be age 24 or younger in 1996."Americans must help themselves before they can be helped by anyone else. Individuals must take on responsibilities for restoring family values, community pride, and respect for one another. It is this personal responsibility which is the foundation of moral character, and perhaps the only way to save this great society from total destruction." Kristi Clemons, Broken Arrow High School, Broken Arrow, OklahomaDisability payments may inadvertently make destructive activity possible. There are numerous stories about how the proceeds of government checks are used for fraternity parties, or to promote drunken orgies and drug abuse. Congressman Torkildsen of Massachusetts has proposed a bill that would prevent government checks, SDI (survivors disability insurance) for instance, from going to prisoners.In the last section we promised a suggestion showing how the disability-payment fiasco can be solved without raising taxes to provide more policing of the already abused system. The idea is to have local volunteer organizations receive the disability checks of addicts. Instead of sending government checks to the addict him/herself, or to a family member who may not be able to deny the addict, or to a corner liquor store that would have a vested interest, the checks would go to a group of respected community leaders who would voluntarily assume a fiduciary duty to see that the funds were not used to feed addictive habits.There is no doubt our society is crying out for more social programs, but many taxpayers are already working 60 hour weeks just to stay even. Taxpayers cannot continue to live on less and less of their earnings. Since government can't afford enough overseers [social workers and probation officers] the independent sector could pick up this slack. Entire communities could be divided into manageable areas where desired services could be discussed and pro bono providers encouraged. Everyone realizes that entitlement spending is the nation's nemesis. (Entitlements = Medicaid, Medicare, poverty programs which include AFDC, SSI, SDI, federal retirement pensions and interest on the national debt.) In 1994 there was another 22 percent increase which translates to an additional $160 billion earmarked unequivocally for entitlement spending. Under current law (summer 1994) entitlements are expected to grow an additional 34 percent between now and fiscal year 1999 (October 1998). The FY 1994 budget allowed for $727 in entitlement spending. The $764 billion budgeted for FY 1995 will become $1.2 trillion by FY 1999 unless drastic measures are taken soon. By the year 2003 entitlements will account for 70 percent of the federal budget, rising to 100 percent of the take by 2030. Of course "the take" will rise. In fact taxes will have to double or programs will have to be cut in half. Legislation proposed by Congressman John Kasich of Ohio, would take entitlements off automatic-pilot and subject them to the same review and reallocation that discretionary programs are subjected to every year.The Foundation suggests teachers educate their students about the budget process. We can provide referrals, books and teaching aids for any teacher who is interested. Budget-control legislation is debated continuously on Capitol Hill, but as the kids say, the time for talk is over. It's time to remember that it is their future that is in jeopardy. I was in Berkeley in 1968 when Robert Kennedy told University students something that should be repeated for students today:You are a generation which is coming of age at one of the rarest moments of historyÒa time when all around us is crumbling. You have the challenge to lighten and enrich the lives of all those around you. In your handsÒnot with the current leadersÒis the future of your world and the fulfillment of the best qualities of your own spirit. Unfortunately the crumbling Robert Kennedy referred to, continued. That deterioration posed a challenge that the parents of today's generation failed to meet. That challange lurks today in a more malignant form for their children. Don't Force Volunteers"I feel schools should not force their students to participate in Community Service projects.Ð After all, if something is mandatory, you are not a volunteer." Jamie Adams, Newell-Fonda High School, Newell, IowaThe new Domestic Peace Corps known as AmeriCorps, was started by the government-sponsored, taxpayer-funded Corporation for National and Community Service. AmeriCorp was to hire 7,000 students in 57 communities beginning in the summer of 1994 with the program expected to expand to 20,000 workers over the course of its first year. On the Monterey Peninsula, the home of the Harry Singer Foundation, twenty young people were hired to open 100 miles of trails in a closed military base (Ft. Ord) for hikers, bicyclists and horseback riders. The students here receive $4.25 an hour plus $4,725 towards college tuition. The funds for the Ft. Ord participants are contributed as follows: $250,000 from the federal AmeriCorp program, $150,000 from the California Conservation Corps and $100,000 from the federal Bureau of Land Management. Many federal agencies received funds to hire students. In addition to the more than one thousand volunteers that California will be allowed to hire to perform tasks such as tutoring students and working in child care centers, the Environmental Protection Agency will have 15 students conduct solid waste education programs on Indian Reservations and 70 volunteers will work with the disabled through the Department of Health and Human Services.The Mother Of All Solutions"I found the solution in an essay by Robert Fulgrum. Here is the solution. 'Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your on mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life-learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the styrofoam cupÒthey all die. So do we. And then remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learnedÒthe biggest word of all LOOK. These are the steps to solving any problem.' Put simply, my solution is two steps. Make everyone read All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten. Then make them live by it." Amber L. Gillenwater, Rock Hill Senior High School, Ironton, Ohio"The last suggestion, is to show and give our children what they really want. Love." Patrick A. Sampson, Concordia High School, Concordia, Kansas A. Sampson, Concordia High School, Concordia, Kansas
