Welfare Reform example essay topic

The article I choose is one that brought together many components of everyday life, a life that many of us many not be familiar with. When I first sat down to read my article I would have never thought that it would have had such an impact on me. The impact was one that was not only emotional but at the same time it altered my way of thinking about my own situation. Therefore, it would be near impossible to give one solid reaction, instead this article was the beginning of a long thought process that ended with a conclusion that may not be correct in theory, but is self explanatory. "Not by Jobs Alone", an article by David Pacchioli (an associate researcher for Penn State Magazine) is a written account of how the welfare reform was a grave turning point in American and how low income families are dealing with the change. Linda Burton (a Penn State professor of human development and family studies) is one of the more significant people in this article.

She is on of the first voices heard in the article an is used as an advocate for American poverty. Three City ethnography is the actually the foundation for this article. Three City ethnography (Three city study) is a research project that was set up to follow the effect of the welfare reform on the "well-being", of the families especially that are effected by the evolving process. There were 256 families involved in this study that span over a three year period.

These families consisted of a variety of ethic backgrounds such as African-American, Hispanic, and European-American families. The Three City Study consisted of a team of psychologists ("an expert that studies the mental factors governing a situation or activity"), economists ("an experts that carefully manage available resources "), anthropologists ("an expert at the study of societies and cultures and human origins") and sociologists ("an expert in the development, structure, and functioning of human society ") all working out of different chosen cities. Working with a large variety of experts, families, and many different social service agencies it was only logical that a coding system was created, whereas every thing was recorded, though this they could analyze everything and then break it down further in order to increase the percent of accuracy. The article continued with exploring the many different parts of poverty. This exploration ventured into education, health care, and the near unlive able, an unstable living conditions these families faced. These different aspects of poverty are actually expressed though interviews with families and team member involved in the project.

"I didn't feel threatened. It was just the contradiction of it all. One of our young mothers was recounting the deaths of two children just a week before. A ten-month-old baby had died of pneumonia.

She said it so matter-of-fact ly: 'The mother, she's acting a little crazy right now, but I guess that's what happens when your baby dies. ' The other child fell out of his bunk bed - six floors to his death. He just rolled out the window. If you see how the projects are built, you can understand how that could happen". Linda Burton By the third paragraph I was at attention, I wanted to know how this an the title ("Not by Jobs Alone"), welfare reform, an this women losing her children all connected.

I had always though that the welfare reform was a good idea. Why, is it fair for me to pay taxes and work for a someone that is the same age as me, without disabilities to sit at home having more and more kids and collecting a check? What I never took into consideration is the fact or believed that people are really a product of there environment meaning that if a person living one place all there life, that grew up in poverty, without the same education opportunities as a person that family incomes' is nearly ten times greater that their's, how do we expect this person to do better if they don't know any better. In a sense, that may sound ignorant, but at the same time it is only logical. The statistics actually speak for themselves. Over 2 million children are born into poor families, with mother being between ages of 13-19 (13-15 being the majority).

This whole article made me want to dig deeper, go a little further because if this reform is not doing well way aren't more people fighting against it. The welfare caseload has dropped to half its peak in 1994. Sources: The Brookings Institution and the Congressional Research Service. The chart above looks great, in the sense the rate of welfare recipients are going down or are being just simply cut off. It has even been recorded that poverty rates in the US have actually gone down. The reality actually is that the statement is only partly true.

The whole truth is even though overall rates are down, there is great rises in poverty in the U.S. Such as in South Carolina, a state where over all there was a huge increase and New York, where there was a balance of increases and decrease causing the number to pretty much stay the same. Another good example is California overall the state has a decrease in poverty, even though in more than one area there was an increase of over 9%. When working with an issue of this type there's more than numbers that can be factored in to determine whether the change is for the better. In Conclusion, for every good idea, that is put into place to push us closer to progress, there one that will set us even further back.

In order for us as a Nation to do better, we must make everyone aware and offer them better, I'm not suggesting we become communist, but instead we need to stress equal opportunity to a greater extent. "Not by Jobs Alone", we need to go to urban school and introduce the idea of celibacy, and safe sex, make high learning someone's future instead of a possibility. "If you want people to be responsible, you have to give them resources. Everyone should have a right to a good education. To good healthcare. To a safe environment for the children.

"Getting at the heart of poverty is something that we, as a nation, have yet to do". Jason Yar ington "Not by Jobs Alone".