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Example research essay topic: People On Welfare Number Of Children - 1,771 words

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... an Studies. He and his family received food stamps only for about a year in Detroit when his father was in between jobs. He identifies the stereotype as a black mother with three or more kids and pregnant. He said that this stereotype is perpetuated by the media and that he was surprised by a statistic he found on his own in high school that 65 % of people on welfare are white. He went to a predominately white high school.

He feels that there are many circumstances which can lead to going on welfare. Among the reasons are lack of job skills, laziness, depression and drug addiction. Also, unfortunate financial situations created by a divorce or business folding could land someone with no other choice. People stay on welfare because they are not educated about their options nor are they taught job skills. Getting off isn't easy because once you get on, and without job skills, it is difficult to find an occupation with enough benefits to support family. I began to inquire about the particular circumstances that landed his family on welfare and, as stated above, he said that he received food stamps.

There was a special store in his neighborhood that sold food stamp food only. He recalls the layer of oil that sat on top of huge tubs of peanut butter which he had to stir into it to make the peanut butter soft enough to spread. He said that he was not ashamed of being on welfare probably because so many of his family members were on it as well and as a child, he didn't know the difference. He said that he respected his parents for providing for him as well as they could and that he never went hungry, though sometimes he "was envious of the other kids for their toys. " Despite the stereotype that welfare recipients are uneducated, both of E's parents went to college.

Eventually, after they got off of welfare, E's father was promoted and they moved to New Jersey where his parents have been successful. He is proud of him because of how far they have come considering that his paternal grandfather was a sharecropper and his maternal grandfather was never known to his mother. He said that it has helped "define character to see your parents struggle that way. " E says the government "shouldn't be maintaining and providing, , " rather it needs to take responsibility for job training, taking into account the employment needs of the area, making welfare recipients aware of their resources. Their should also be a community place that people can get their GED, go to community college or technical school (or at least a resource that can point them in the right direction). As far as a new model goes, he said there should be required programming for recipients and that he wouldn't necessarily put a time limit on it. Finally, he made the comment "It is not a crutch.

Nobody, let me correct that, very few people want to be on welfare. Just because you " re on welfare it doesn't mean you " re living in luxury, like you " re middle class or anything. Welfare is not glamorous. " Willy is a lower class, white male, born in Midland, Michigan, and is a history major here at Duke. He was on welfare for seven years while both of his parents were in prison and he lived with both his grandparents (2 yrs. ) and his sister (5 yrs. ). He defines the stereotype as "trashy, bunch of kids, lazy with excuses for not working. " He believes quite a bit that the stereotype holds true because he has seen his sister on and off of welfare for most of her adult life. He says that in the majority of cases people will stay on it because it is easier than working.

Though there are exceptions, the majority of recipients have a very low level of education. They realize that the more kids they have, the more money they receive, and with a job you get a flat rate regardless of the number of children you have. He says that his sister got on welfare because she could. "Why wouldn't you?" he says she must have figured. She had her first child when she was seventeen and unmarried although she eventually married her first child's father and had two more children with him. She is currently off of everything but food-stamps and is working at McDonalds, but Willy's mother reports that she is considering going back on welfare because her kids have no rides home from sports in the afternoon. He recently traveled to see her in Michigan and she gave him $ 50 of her food-stamps to buy food for the ride home.

He resents that she manipulates the system in this way and says that she could get by on her own if she would "just use her head. " He points out that she has a computer equipped with America On Line, a brand new Harley Davidson, a cell phone and pager, and cable TV. He hates that someone he perceives as a cheater might make those who are legitimate look bad. He recalls going to the store when he was young to get food with food-stamps and says "welfare cheese is good. " He would mix it with rice and use it to make grilled cheese sandwiches. He says that he could use any number of condiments on bread (including syrup) to make what he called a "wish sandwich" ("as in I wish to hell this was a hamburger").

Despite his resentment toward some of the people he has known to resign themselves to welfare, he admits that to get off of welfare takes "drive, determination, hard work and craftiness. " He says that what the system needs is a mediator between welfare and the workforce, "a sort of welfare officer in the same sense of a probation officer. " This person would assure that their charge was not using the system and was doing something to help themselves locate a job or better themselves in some way. He doesn't trust the statistics that welfare mothers have the same number of kids as non-welfare mothers, and though he understands that it is difficult to get off, he truly believes in the traditional sense of the American Dream that "where there's a will, there's a way. Though on the surface, it may appear that these four interviews, as a result of the fact that the interviewees could not really all be placed in any one category (other than Duke Student), are not conclusive, I think a few things are clear. These students opinions on welfare are very strong.

Their responses were more focused on what they thought needed to be changed about the system to make things work more smoothly than it was to criticize specific problems and specific programs, which they seemingly do not know much about. This shows, and was especially surprising in Kate's interview since she is a Public Policy major which one would think would know more about welfare, that all these people have to rely on is the stereotype. Certainly, E says that this is not always true, that "welfare is not glamorous, " but I would predict that he is definitely in the minority. The fact that interviewees one and two considered the problems of getting off welfare to a lesser degree and all except E were unaware, and somewhat mistrusting of the 'welfare mothers have the same number of children on average as those not on welfare' is evidence that all they have to fall back on is the media portal of people on welfare which they have applied to people they know (or, in Kate's case to a bunch of nameless faces). If these four people, seemingly from such different backgrounds, have all been made aware of the same stereotype, then it must come from the media which is common to all.

Or, if it didn't come from the media directly to them, but rather through parents and peers, it was then reinforced by the media, I believe. There is a marked tendency, notable in interviews # 1, 3, and 4 to take those that they know personally on welfare and apply it to the whole. Especially in interview # 4, Willy truly uses the example of his sister to try to prove the point that the majority of welfare recipients are using the system. I believe, however, that even in his interview, which I would consider the most negative of the four, there is evidence of system failure that he has not considered. His sister began welfare dependency at such a young age that it was her financial instruction. I mean hear that, at age seventeen when she was just learning to spend and deal with money independently, she was taught to live month to month, from check to check.

Certainly, this is the way many people off welfare live as well, but we will set that idea aside now. So, living month to month has ingrained in her the response of spending money as soon as she makes it rather than saving it for later in some sort of account or investing it somehow. This, I believe is a system error because she has had no financial counseling. Once again, the theme arises of someone on welfare not knowing their options. This is basically what most of the commentary on change boils down to. All the models in some way or another propose more job education, community resources and individual attention.

I believe a combination of the proposed "step-program", allowing people to maintain insurance for a said amount of time after they get a job and Willy's proposed "welfare officer" would be a really great solution to many of the problems they have noted. If the issues are to be resolved surrounding welfare, some of the types of literature we have read in this class needs to make its way into the main stream and into the hands of politicians or strong leaders not necessarily in the political arena. Also, and this goes for this situation and in general, people need to take a more active role in government to which the government would ideally respond. In these four interviews alone, some excellent solutions have been generated.

No matter what stance the interviewees took, it is clear that they feel welfare should be a jumping off point, a point where options are enumerated, not eliminated. Bibliography:


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Research essay sample on People On Welfare Number Of Children

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