The excerpts below are representative of the many students who were able to recognize the consequence of irresponsible choices without fixing blame. It goes without saying that they would like to see better choices being made, but voluntarily.
"My father is an alcoholic. About
eight years ago, he quit a good-paying job to invest in his own business. The business was unsuccessful,
and he felt he was too; thus, he started drinking to drown his failures. The alcohol affected his own
lifestyle, and he couldn't hold a job. We tried numerous rehabilitation centers, all ending in failure.
Everyone tried to help him until the decision came that he must start helping himself, so my parents
divorced. Since then, he still hasn't taken responsibility for himself and looks toward booze for the
answer. He is homeless as far as I know. The irresponsibility of alcohol use has put him there."
Amber
Gatzki, Lubbock-Cooper High School, Lubbock, Texas
"Many people's actions are
not meant to be irresponsible, but turn out to be in the long run. An example of this is people living
in the flood plain. Is it their right to decide to live where there is flooding, and is it right for
the government to grant federal funding to the disaster victims? These people live there because they
want to. The people made the choice to live there and are responsible for what happens to their land.
Though we feel for the victims with their losses, it was their choice to live in a flood plain."
Christina
M. Zampardi, Garnet Valley High School, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania
"The recent earthquake in California had my dad talking. He thinks it's unfair that we have to keep paying with our taxes for all of the people's homes that were destroyed. The rich people keep going to California to build big houses on fault lines when they know the possibilities of an earthquake are great. That doesn't bother them because their insurance will cover all the damages. Actually it is our money that is paying for it. Who is actually being irresponsible here?" Tonya Koutson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota
"If one generation suffers from a lack of money, hopefully
the next generation should realize the importance of an education, responsibility, and getting a job."
Travis Jacobson, DeForest High School, DeForest, Wisconsin
Other students are not so patient and would resort to force:
"Mandatory standards and procedures need to
be set up in the workplace regarding employee and employer conduct."
Nicole A. Mellado, Carbondale
High School, Carbondale, Illinois
"Legislation should be passed prohibiting the
over-coverage of news. Those who disobey this law should be fined, and/or their literature should be
suspended from society for a period of time."
Beth Swanzy, Demopolis High School, Demopolis,
Alabama
"McDonalds bowed to the publics growing distaste for cigarettes, and
banned smoking in its 1,400 company-owned U.S. Restaurants. This shows that with the proper pressure
on the businesses around us, we can make them do anything."
Alexander Aldaco, Aubrey High School, Aubrey,
Texas
How is "proper pressure" defined, and by whom?
"The
government can assign some families in America a homeless person to stay with them for a certain amount
of time."
Abby Coyer, Danville High School, Danville, Kentucky
Although no one likes to be subjected to force, in the following excerpts a couple of students show why some people feel it is necessary:
"Many people will argue that drinking is not something the government
should be involved in regulating. Maybe they are right, maybe it is the individual's responsibility.
But, as I see it, since we as a society have refused to take the responsibility to drink responsibly,
then someone must enforce this responsibility, unless we want this tragic problem to continue. We have
forced the government to take action through our refusal to do so."
Diane Damsteegt, DeForest
High School, DeForest, Wisconsin
"Corporations should be forced to abide by broad
base responsibility to workers, the communities, to the environment, and the well-being of the national
economy, if they are entitled to any privileges, including the right to exist. If our society is clamoring
for more personal responsibility, then reasserting societies' power to create and control corporations
is the responsible move to make."
Victoria Jones, New Underwood High School, New Underwood, South Dakota
Diane and Victoria have a good point that many would find reasonable. What do you think? This is what Chris thinks:
"If everybody accepted responsibility for their actions, government would not have
to regulate and make laws."
Chris Myers, Pioneer High School, San Jose, California
And from his vantage point in Idaho, Aaron makes an interesting comment:
"Law making is another
form of passing the buck. The government [is] taking the responsibility [from] the people by forcing
them to obey a rule."
Aaron Ziegler, Post Falls High School, Post Falls, Idaho
Do you find it as difficult as we do to acquiesce to Tracy's excerpt below?
"The country is
our 'employer', and we must be productive in our environment, and we must show loyalty to our country."
Tracy Gatlin, Broken Arrow High School, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Some
years ago college students, on a test, identified the following quotation as part of the U.S. Constitution:
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."
Those same people might be happy
with Danny's statement below, but I suspect many more Americans would find it even harder to swallow
than Tracy's comment:
" Responsibility is being legally or ethically accountable for the
care or welfare of another."
Danny Elwood, Prairie High School, New Rayman, Colorado
Perhaps a word change would make the statement more palatable: Responsibility is being legally or ethically accountable for the care or welfare of one's self.
"The company that my dad works for had
a factory that was using carcinogenic substances in one of its manufacturing processes. One of the
employees found a better way to do the process, not only with a safer chemical but also more cheaply.
The change to the new chemical was done immediately."
Mike Ervin, Richmond High School, Richmond,
Illinois
Mike's example, as well as Kari's below, show that government
force is not always necessary:
"My parents own a resort, which includes six cabins. They
have taken on the responsibility of having everyone who vacations here recycle. Recycling helps cut
down on waste and on the use of natural resources. Each cabin contains a box for aluminum cans, tin
cans, glass, plastic jugs, and newspapers. About three times a week my dad separates the items into
five different bags. Then he hauls them off to the dump and puts them into the proper bins. Everyone
who comes here cooperates with the system and it works out really well."
Kari Wahlstrom, Deer
River High School, Deer River, Minnesota
Denise in Oklahoma expresses an idea that is comfortable for most Americans:
"Responsibility is shared among the government,
society, and individuals."
Denise Hamalainen, Broken Arrow High School, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Many would also go along with Brian:
"Schools, families, churches, and organizations, such as
Boy Scouts, should teach discipline, respect, honesty, civility, and responsibility to strengthen character.
Some of the social regressions of the past can be blamed on the failure of these civic institutions
to properly teach these morals. Although the government should play a larger role in the solutions
of society's problems, it should emphasize that the responsibility lies in the hands of the people."
Brian Wallace, Blue Ridge High School, Blue Ridge, Texas
As Kelly says:
"While
the right to pursue happiness is granted, it is not handed over on a silver platter. One must work
and sacrifice for happiness."
Kelly Baker, Broken Arrow High School, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
And Steve says:
"Huxley pointed out throughout the novel Brave New World that many people would
consider an ideal world one where everyone is destined at birth to have a certain life, and sexual responsibility
is a mere joke. Huxley's satirical look at society is frighteningly accurate. In order to stop the
trend towards this society, we must begin at the root of the problem: apathy. In order to solve the
problem, we must take action. To fix the environment, people should recycle and educate themselves,
instead of yelling at the government when it doesn't do the task for them. Instead of complaining that
children see too much violence on television, people must lobby the stations to do something, and producers
should change the content of television programs. Instead of complaining incessantly about the number
of guns in schools, people should educate children and crack down on the sources of hand guns. Action
is the root of responsibility ."
Stephen Vakil, Carbondale High School, Carbondale, Illinois
Stephen's excerpt above is not altogether consistent. First he says don't depend on government, "take action", but instead of advising us to regulate our own children and television sets, he wants us to tell TV stations and producers what to do. Educating children about guns he sees as a private role, whereas controlling the source of hand guns is government's role.
"People would
only pay for themselves if everyone would be responsible, instead of having to pay for themselves as
well as those who do not care. If people had enough responsibility not to steal and vandalize, prices
may not be quite as high."
Tonya Barker, Rock Hill Senior High School, Ironton, Ohio
"[The
government has] spent billions on programs to advertise condoms and safe-sex to teenagers, but those
ads have promoted sex more than anything. It has been proven that those campaigns have resulted in
more teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and abortions. Yet, the government is going
to invest $7 billion more to send out the same unsuccessful message. Plus, Clinton is planning on starting
over 300 new school-based clinics."
Alicia Dothager, Niantic-Harristown High School, Niantic,
Illinois
"I do not think it is the taxpayer's responsibility to finance unplanned
pregnancies."
Allecia Finley, Eureka High School, Eureka, Illinois
"Along the
California/Mexico border, pregnant Mexican women cross the border, have a child (who is then a legal
American citizen with a birth certificate), and then re-cross the border to live in Mexico, or move
to America. The child is now eligible to receive all the benefits of being an American citizen."
Jennifer
Artemis Carr, Aubrey High School, Aubrey, Texas
"I am to understand that an illegal alien may receive a public
education at the expense of the tax payers. Even if he or she is known to be here illegally, the school
cannot report this person. I think this is incredibly wrong."
Scott Lichtenberg, Pioneer High
School, San Jose, California
"The government has to set a limit on foreign aid
and use some of that money to advance our economy at home."
Garrett Mulkey ,Aubrey High, Aubrey, Texas
Up in the Northwest, Kenny Curtis has discovered a way for citizens to help the government lower its debt and reward the enterprising citizen at the same time:
"There was a law passed
during the Civil War, under Lincoln's administration, that could prosecute gun powder manufacturers
for mixing sawdust and gun powder. In so doing, they were defrauding the U.S. government. A private
citizen could sue and whatever monies were retrieved by the government, the private citizen would collect
a certain percentage. This law has been rediscovered today and several private citizens have collected
20 to 25 percent of legal settlements in favor of the government against government contractors found
defrauding the U.S. government."
Kenny Curtis, Kiona-Benton High School, Benton City, Washington
Maybe the national debt doesn't seem important because so many ordinary citizens don't have their own budgets under control; they are in debt because they fail to match their personal income and outgo. That's what it's about: making spending and revenue come out even. The federal budget entails balancing defense and non-defense, protecting low-income programs, and putting tax dollars into programs members of Congress think are worthwhile. The problem is, all programs are considered equally worthwhile, and so far these same members of Congress have been unwilling to collect enough revenue to pay for them.
The budget process has changed many times over the years. Recently revenue has been collected based on need. The problem here is that the definition of need depends on the legitimate function of government, which has never been settled. We're bound to run into problems when we allow taxes to be based on infinite need. Even if we could limit and define need, revenue could not be accurately determined in advance because so much depends on guess-timates of future unemployment, economic growth, interest rates, inflation and so forth.
I used to think of the following paragraph as a road map. Unfortunately there is a major flaw.
In a collectivist economy, public needs enjoy the same sort of built-inpriority that private consump-tion enjoys in a capitalist economy. In the collect-ivist economy all resources are available to the public sector, and private consumption is restricted. Witness the empty shelves and long lines in many collectivist countries. In a capitalist economy public services are restricted to claims against the private sector.
In recent years many of our representatives are not sure whether the United States of America is a collectivist or a capitalist economy. That's the flaw. Worst of all so many well-meaning programs have unintended consequences:
"In
Pennsylvania, the Section Eight Housing laws will provide an apartment, food stamps, and medical care,
free of charge to any woman who is pregnant or who has young children. This program not only discourages
young women from supporting themselves financially, it also encourages them to look to pregnancy, often
out of wedlock, as a way to gain housing and independence."
Valerie M. Levan, Antietam High School,
Reading, Pensylvania
"Our system rewards people for dodging responsibility rather
than taking it."
Bridget Robertson, Broken Arrow High School, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
"It
was once said that federal aid increases poverty by reasoning that "if you start paying people to be
poor, you're going to have a lot of poor people."
Welfare is perceived to destroy "self-reliance, dignity,
and self respect, the very substance of moral fiber."
Welfare recipients have their rent and food virtually
given to them every month, while others earn their money and pay taxes for those who don't. Giving
welfare checks out to people makes them expect a free ride and at the same time makes them lose their
sense of dignity."
Amy E. Rochowicz, Antietam High School, Reading, Pennsylvania
"Welfare
may have made out-of-wedlock birth more possible. Government supports unwed mothers. Fathers [get]
an escape hatch. They [are] allowed to [shirk] responsibility for their children."
Colleen Hofer,
James Valley Christian High School, Huron, South Dakota
Government policy causes many young men to feel ashamed and removes their motivation to try. They realize the government can, and probably will, provide more than they can.
Charles Ballard is the founder of the private National Institute for Responsible Fatherhood and Family Development, which tackles the self-esteem problem by teaching teenage fathers to become responsible parents and husbands. The program provides volunteer role models who motivate drop outs, and encourage them to earn diplomas and develop their potential.
Discussions of welfare often include issues of reponsibility in terms of government aid and individual responsibility.
"[I]t has been found that in some large states, all welfare benefits
together: food stamps, housing subsidies, AFDC, Medicaid, and school lunches:can put a family's tax-free
income on a level exceeding official poverty-level wages. How does this reward the worker who toils
endlessly in a low-class job to stay off of welfare? It doesn't."
Ben Opps, DeForest High School,
DeForest, Wisconsin
How does this reward the recipients who strive to get ahead?
Not long ago in California, a couple and their four children were accused of defrauding the Monterey County Housing Authority. This family lived in a publicly subsidized apartment for four years while they skrimped and saved in a desperate attempt to improve their condition. They were caught building a house on a country lot, purchased with unacknowledged and disqualifying funds.
"A
single mother living in New York City with her two children had been supported by welfare, and still
lived in poverty. So she forced herself to get a job. She then earned too much to receive welfare
funds, but eventually improved their living conditions. However, she still did not make enough to afford
both an apartment in a better neighborhood and child care; so she had to leave her two young children
alone while she worked. It is people like this who need welfare benefits as a means of additional support."
Anna Hang, DeForest High School, DeForest, Wisconsin
Anna sensed that something was wrong but her prescription, i.e. "welfare benefits as a means of additional support", may not be the best alternative:
"President [Hoover] knew the dangers of a welfare
state and how it would later dull the values and ethics which were used to create a nation such as the
one we live in. The United States is not yet a "welfare state". Today, brainstorming and perseverance
have created alternatives. One plan in Massachusetts created under Michael Dukakis [put] nearly 60,000
former welfare recipients into jobs paying over $15,000 a year by educating mothers and older teenagers.
A plan in Michigan has put 150,000 welfare recipients to work. This plan has saved Michigan more than
$730 million dollars in its four year existence. A training program in Oklahoma [landed] nearly 45,000
welfare recipients subsidized employment. Another very popular work-fare program is Illinois Project
Chance. Project Chance has put nearly 160,000 people, mostly mothers with children under the age of
six, to work."
Christopher Shawn Crow, Valley Springs High School, Valley Springs, Arkansas
Lupe Anguiano, former nun, migrant worker, and labor organizer for the late Caesar Chavez, became disillusioned with the possibility of transforming an unresponsive welfare system from within. She established residence in a public housing project in San Antonio, Texas, and created a private-sector group to rescue mothers from welfare. She screened and trained local women in basic job skills, using nearby colleges and volunteers from the business-sector. When she was ready, she and a hundred women stormed a local welfare office and demanded jobs in exchange for their welfare checks. The business community found jobs for 500 former welfare recipients within six months. Her program, National Women's Employment and Education, was able to train a participant for $671 in private funds, compared to the $3,000 to $15,000 cost per trainee for local tax-supported programs. Her follow-up-once-a-week-monitoring lasted a year instead of the three month follow-up provided by the government programs. Ms. Anguiana claimed that if her program was spread nationwide she could liberate 85 percent of the poor from welfare within five years.
The extensive and sensitive support system which distinguished Lupe Anguiano's methods, is believed by many to be responsible for the 90 percent job placement and 88 percent job retention rate achieved in the first year of operation. Ms. Anguiano accepted no government funding because she was unwilling to abide by government rules. Even when unemployment was 23 percent in Tacoma, Washington, her group had no difficulty in finding jobs for clients. At one time her program was used as a model in eight communities in five states. These programs used a combination of federal, state, and private funds. Surprisingly, the groups that took state and federal money ended up with worse results, even though they all used the identical program. Ms. Anguiano attributed this phenomenon to the strings attached to government funds. She felt regulations diverted so much management and program time to compliance, that the program's mission was diluted.
"I think that our welfare system is getting out of hand. People
are just quitting their jobs and applying for welfare because they are too lazy to work. At the top
of it all, the government doesn't realize that people aren't even buying food with their welfare stamps;
they are buying tobacco, candy, and such things."
Scott Crain, Froid High School, Froid, Montana
"It
was acknowledged by a recent article in the New York Times that more people receive welfare than attend
public schools in New York City."
Christopher Shawn Crow, Valley Springs High School, Valley Springs,
Arkansas
"By giving people money through systems like welfare, the government is
like the picnicker who feeds the stray dog. The dog will keep coming back for food, and without continued
feeding will starve. If the government would require people to work for any benefits, the government
would help the nation regain a sense of morality and responsibility."
Ben Beneski, Garnet Valley
High School, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania
Sentiments, like those expressed above, have prompted reform:
"One program aimed at reform is Oregon's Measure 7. This program
consists of pooling the AFDC and food stamp funds to pay wages in lieu of those benefits. These jobs
would pay $4.28 an hour, 90 percent of Oregon's $4.75 an hour minimum wage. Welfare recipients would
be required to take these jobs and, despite forgoing AFDC and food stamps, would still receive Medicaid
and child-care assistance. Charles Hobbs, a consultant to the Oregon program, says a welfare family
of three, on average, would receive about $560 a month in AFDC and food stamps, but by working at the
$4.28 rate, it would get $740 in wages. The most encouraging aspect of this program is the fact that
it is projected to save $90 million over three years."
Ben Opps, DeForest High School, DeForest,
Wisconsin
"In response to the criticism of his plan to stop additional welfare payments for additional children, former New Jersey Governor Jim Florio has stated that 'Middle-class families can't demand a pay increase because a new baby is coming. Our new law allows welfare recipients to live under those same values.' " Valerie M. Levan, Antietam High School, Reading, Pennsylvania
"In
Oklahoma, adults have to be trying to get their GED (graduate equivalency diploma) and be searching
for a job constantly [in order] to receive benefits. If under the age of twenty-two, potential recipients
have to be enrolled in a vo-tech, college, or some sort of training. If they have none of these they
will get no help. Representative Ron Kirby of Lawton, Oklahoma, got his bill passed through the House
saying that welfare moms have to identify the fathers of their children. Kirby said the purpose of
his bill was to trim the welfare roll. "If the fathers are known, then we can see if they can be financially
responsible."
In Wisconsin they have completely changed their rules to where you have to work for your
benefits and money that they give you. For example, you would have to work for the government in some
way. After all, the government shouldn't be responsible for everyone's money situations, although everyone
needs a little help now and then."
Sarah Flanagan, Walters High School, Walters, Oklahoma
"Some
states have introduced a program called Learn-fare (first developed in Wisconsin) to ensure that more
teenagers on AFDC complete high school or its equivalent. AFDC teens aged 13 through 19 who do not
attend school regularly may be sanctioned (i.e., their families' monthly AFDC benefits may be reduced).
Learn-fare benefits include child care and transportation funding, alternative education funding,
and case management."
Laura Zynda, DeForest High School, DeForest, Wisconsin
Some students have even submitted their own reform proposals:
"We need to stop this system and
start a new one. My program is called Revival Aid. This program gives money to only extremely needy
people. These people would not receive more money than the working class. The money would be a credit
card with the user's picture and could only be used to buy staple foods, not beer and candy. There
would be special stores where clothing could be purchased. This system would not be very desirable
to live on. Many people would find that it would be much better to work for a living than to live off
the government."
Karen Krumlauf, Phoenix High School, Phoenix, Oregon
"It is time to return
to a system that rewards responsibility. A specific time must be set, about two years, at which time
the welfare state shall cease to exist. Over those years, the payments to people on welfare shall decrease
gradually. The people must become responsible and find a source of income. Any other funds supporting
those out of work shall be from churches, private companies, organizations, and so on. By following
these steps, people will once again become responsible citizens, which will help solve many of the other
problems which exist in America."
Jacob Sweat, Colby High School, Colby, Kansas
"Welfare
should be limited to two children, and the mothers should have to have schooling or a job in order to
receive government money."
Rachel Overstreet, Kremlin-Hillsdale High School, Kremlin, Oklahoma
"First, a time limit should be imposed on eligibility for welfare funds; perhaps a year
or two, with decreased amounts each month. After that time, if a person has not gotten a job, the government
would give them one. People need to realize that they cannot rely on government handouts forever."
Kevin Speicher, Conrad Weiser High School, Robesonia, Pennsylvania
"Our government
is probably one of the [main] causes of homelessness. The government has all of these taxes stuck on
us that we can't afford."
Travis Peterson, Marion High School, Marion, South Dakota
It may be impossible to deal with the homeless problem until there is a consensus on what it means to be "homeless". Even the census bureau is unable to come up with adequate information when it comes to the number of homeless people in the country. Mitch Snyder, former advocate for the homeless, advised them not to cooperate with the Census Bureau. He was certain the Bureau's findings would minimize the count and consequently allow politicians to ignore the problem.
"We hear so much
about "Save the Manatees", save this or that; well, I have one: "Save our homeless!" I would like
to see the citizens and the Government do something about this from a local to a federal level."
Jessica
McCarter, Armwood High School, Seffner, Florida
Discussions of homelessness often include references to personal responbility versus the responsibility of the government or individuals to provide help to the needy. Following are examples of people who are doing their part to help.
There are people, like Carrie (see excerpt below) who work with the homeless and claim that most of them are average Americans:normal people who've led normal lives and held normal jobs until, whamo:they found themselves out on the streets.
"Recently
I attended a week long seminar on homelessness. I had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C.
and New York City. There I learned more about poverty and homelessness. I had a chance to interact
with homeless people. I went to several shelters and served meals. I attended church services with
them and I ate with them. I learned that they are normal people just like you and I. They have the
same wants and needs as us. The majority of the people tried to get back up on their feet, but no one
was willing to care enough to help. It was so sad seeing adults and children literally sleeping on
the sidewalks. Their faces were dirty and their clothes were rags they had been wearing for years.
Some would ask for change, some would sing for money. They would do anything just to put a little
food in their stomach. It was a wake to reality! I also volunteer at area shelters in our capital
city, Madison."
Carrie Laninberger, DeForest High School, DeForest, Wisconsin
We assume Carrie was exaggerating when she claimed "no one was willing to care enough to help". She and her organization refute her statement.
There are thousands of people working on behalf of the homeless all around the country. Samaritan House in Brooklyn is only one example. Almost ten years ago the non-profit New York Coalition for the Homeless established Samaritan House, one of the better shelters for homeless women and children. It was purchased by the coalition, and renovated with private funds and a loan from Citibank. Instead of city shelters with rows of cots crowding both sexes:some mentally ill, some with drug addictions:into a single room, Samaritan House offered bright cheerful rooms, one to a family, a playroom with donated toys, an airy kitchen, and a generally up-beat atmosphere. Residents were welcome for up to six months. Most of the women attended school in an attempt to sharpen job skills, and get their lives life in order so they would be ready to strike out on their own. Numerous programs throughout the nation used Samaritan House as a model.
If that were not enough to convince Carrie that people care about the poor and homeless, the following excerpts show a variety of concerns representing those expressed over and over in student papers:
"Something else that could be done is to have people do [volunteer]
community service for agencies that help people with low incomes. If people could see what really goes
on in the lives of the poor, maybe we would have more people willing to help."
Wendy Jolliff, Lincoln
County High School, Eureka, Montana
"Kenneth Bierne feels that charities and the local government
should take care of the homeless, and that the federal government should not get involved. With a little
more help from the people, the homeless problem can be taken care of, explains Bierne. The bad thing
about depending only on the local help is that the problem is bigger and harder to control in certain
areas of the United States. It is not fair to put all of that pressure on the local organizations to
take care of the homeless when some are already doing the best that they can."
Jodi Hitt, Post
Falls High School, Post Falls, Idaho
"One family went beyond the call of duty when they invited a homeless man into their house for Thanksgiving dinner. Later they found out that his family was killed in a car accident, while he was working as a teacher. He asked the family for their names and addresses. A year later, and every year after that for 20 years, the family received a Thanksgiving card with a hundred-dollar bill and signed 'Love, Hobo Bob.' " Neal Bobzin, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota
Christi, in her excerpt below, spotlights another private sector alternative to homelessness:
"Maria Troy found both a motel room and a job through
a national motel chain's program to help the homeless. Troy and her 9-year-old son had spent two months
in a shelter for the homeless before [she] was given a job taking reservations [for] Days Inn."
Christi
Ashmore, Iowa-Grant High School, Livingston, Wisconsin
Brian thinks government should be responsible for the homeless:
"The government should build homes, through labor
of unemployed, and sell them to poor people. The buyers of the homes would then in return have to work
for the government to pay off their home. Some of the jobs would be building of more homes and improving
the United States infrastructure. In essence this could also work for establishing businesses in the
inner city. The people will not loot and burn what they or friends own. Eventually the businesses
that were created by government money will expand and hire more workers. These workers will have more
money to spend and will cause more businesses to expand. The wheels of capitalism will then be turning
once again. Poverty could end if the government invested money in the future of people instead of giving
them a welfare check every month."
Brian Mackey, Newell-Fonda High School, Newell, Iowa
Do you think Brian considered the following:
(1) It costs money to "build homes". Who pays? Where do they get resources and how would that affect the middle class who are struggling to keep their own heads above water?
(2) Poor people don't have money to buy homes. Who pays?
(3) According to Brian's plan, the poor would get money by working for the government. Again, who pays?
John D. Rockefeller III once told an audience,
"Throughout our history, virtually every significant step in social progress sprang from volunteerism."
Hallmark Cards experienced a slow period at one of its manufacturing plants. Instead of laying off employees, the company offered to provide materials and pay its employees to weatherize 75 homes in a distressed neighborhood near the plant.
As early as 1967, Control Data Corporation established manufacturing plants in run down communities as a precursor to enterprise zones, those modern attempts at urban renewal.
Getting back to Brian's excerpt
above:I suspect Emily in Texas would probably agree that "people will not loot and burn what they or
friends own."
This is what she said on that score:
"Because it was us who cleaned it and
realized how much hard work it was, we now try a lot harder to help keep it clean."
Emily Wiatrek,
Falls City High School, Falls City, Texas
Self-interest is a powerful motivater and inhibitor!
Amber in Texas came up with a plan similar to the one Brian proposed:
"My solution for the homeless not only involves those wandering the streets, but also those found locked up in cells. I feel that the prisoners, if cooperative, should help build homeless shelters wherever needed, and in return, they could get an early parole. The homeless could then live in these shelters, but not for free. Specialized workers would help these homeless persons to find various jobs around the area to work at. For those not finding an outside job, they can work at the shelter cooking meals, sewing clothes, cleaning, baby-sitting, or caring for the ill, in return for a fee. The money that these homeless people earn, though, will not be pocketed for the purchase of drugs, alcohol, or other uses. Instead, the money will start an account under that person's name to be used for the future. When enough money is in the fund, a specialized worker will help them to find a reasonable place to live. These individuals will now have a home, a job, and a feeling of accomplishment and worth. This system will benefit the prisoners, too. It will work like therapy, teaching responsibility, carpenter skills. and achievement and self-worth.
Some may doubt this solution, but wouldn't it be fascinating to watch two outcasts of society work together to build success?" Amber Gatzki, Lubbock-Cooper High School, Lubbock, Texas
Sounds like Amber has found a terrific solution, right? But after the analysis of Brian's plan it's easy to spot the flaw. Who pays for all this?
(1) Materials for building and supervising prisoners;
(2) "specialized workers" to find jobs;
(3) the fee to those working at the shelter;
(4) developing and monitoring the "accounts";
(5) and another set of "specialized workers" to "help them find a reasonable place to live".
"In
1990, it was estimated that 25 percent of the nation's homeless were mentally ill. That meant that
the non-violent mentally ill (those that weren't thought of as dangerous to others) were often released
from long-term confinement. Many communities intended to have programs to treat those released, but
only 800 of the planned 2,000 [treatment facilities were ever] built. Many of these people were not
able to provide for themselves, so they ended up on the streets. Shelters and soup kitchens often do
not provide treatment for these people."
Sara Pippert, DeForest High School, DeForest, Wisconsin
Sara is absolutely right. Untreated illness led to alienation and life on the streets. Once on the streets, the new laws protected the rights of persons to continue to refuse help.
A few years ago the American Psychiatric Association (APA) recommended involuntary confinement as a solution to the homeless problem, contingent on the following guidelines: (1) The patient had to be obviously mentally ill; incompetent to make medical decisions. (2) He/she had to exhibit mental deterioration involving hallucinations or delusions and show obvious suffering. (3) There had to be evidence that the disorder was treatable and that facilities were available to do an adequate job.
The APA insisted that under its proposal only the most ill, and the most likely to be helped, would be confined. Nevertheless civil libertarians were, and remain, dead set against the proposal. They are against involuntary treatment of any sort, no matter how effective it might claim to be. The only exception would be if the person is considered dangerous to himself or others. That, of course, is a judgment call.
California law states that an individual must be so "gravely disabled" that he/she cannot provide for his/her own shelter, food, or clothing before the state can step in. Under such policies society must be prepared to witness an ever increasing number of non-dangerous mentally ill people living in doorways and parks.
J. Douglas Ousley, rector of the Church of the Incarnation in New York City, struggled with this issue. He decided a person who had no awareness of what he was doing, or who had no control over the inner compulsions that drove him, could not have civil rights that include freedom of movement. Therefore, he concluded, since no rights would be violated, "we would be better off if (such people) were confined and had a better chance for a more human existence."
"My main fear is the homeless living in boxes.
These people have the right to a home that they can call their own."
Teri Belgarde, Rolla High
School, Rolla, North Dakota
San Francisco politicians shared Teri's fear. In April, 1987, a San Francisco architect designed and built some 8' x 4' hinged boxes with foam mattresses (City Sleepers). This was a humane attempt to provide inexpensive shelter for homeless persons who otherwise curl up on the hard sidewalk or damp grass at night. The architect had located 500 potential spots on public land for the City Sleepers. San Francisco officials turned down the proposal. The similarity between the hinged boxes and dog houses was too potentially explosive for these savy politicians.
Tim had a comment in this regard:
"Among the most cherished possessions we as Americans have are our rights. We live the way we do because we have onterey has a weekly feature, Putting Children First, describing active programs in the community as well as a weekly ethics column written by local ministers or the general public and titled In Other Words. These publications are duplicated across the nation under other headings.
The purpose of the Harry Singer Foundation's high school White Hats chapters is threefold: (1) to encourage those newspapers who do not yet have this kind of program,(2) to honor those who do, and (3) to seek out new media outlets for positive and inspirational information.
Educational information should also be encouraged, for the reasons stated by Michael in the excerpt below:
"The Decatur Advantage sponsors a competition called Running
the U.S. Economy. It teaches high school students basic economic principles and gives valuable business
lessons to the future leaders of Decatur."
Michael J. Pyle, Niantic-Harristown High School, Niantic,
Illinois
Youth is the time for reflection. But young people expect something more than discussion from adults. Many feel too many adults substitute talk for action:
"No matter how bad their
lives have been or how bad their future may seem, they [people] need to sit down and analyze their situation
and try to solve their problems the best they can instead of walking away from them. I have listened
to many adults sit around and define the world's problems, but I have seen very few people try to solve
them."
Shad Kleiner, Ramsey High School, Ramsey, Illinois
"All people come up with great
ideas and thoughts, but only a few actually [put these ideas into practice.] The others just tell everyone
else about their ideas so other people can do things. Most people say if this or that could happen.
How do you know something cannot happen unless you try it? "If you have tried to do something and
failed, you are vastly better off than if you had tried to do nothing and succeeded."
This quote basically
states that if you at least try and fail it is better than doing absolutely nothing but sitting on your
hind-end and succeeding. Many people do not want to do something for fear of failing and that is not
right. many people say they will do something or set something up to be done but then have some excuse
as to why they cannot go out and help. So many people want other people to use their ideas, that things
never get done."
Stephanie Tritt, Kiona-Benton HS, Benton City, Washington
"There
was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have
done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody
thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that
Everybody
blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anyone could have."
Myson Mosemann, Big Spring High School, Newville,
Pennsylvania
"In any society, there are two main kinds of people: The producers, who by hard work
and dedication leave behind more than they use, and the users, who by fate or a lifestyle of indolence,
use more than they produce. Throughout the history of our country, the majority of the people have been
producers. As a whole they brought about wealth and prosperity and have made this country what it is
today:the richest and most powerful in the world. Our country not only produces enough for itself, but
also for many other countries. This is largely due to the freedom that was long ago bestowed upon us
which has allowed man to use his creative spirit and diligence to produce a vast storehouse of wealth
and knowledge."
Saul James Horner, Valley Springs High , Valley Springs, Arkansas