School’s Out

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• Reader Comments (6)

  Page 1 of 1 pages

  Connecticut allows NO post-secondary education as part of it’s TANF program. The results, a children poverty rate of 41.3% in Hartford (the state’s capitol) the the honor of being the second poorest city in the county. Food Banks report a 19% increase in demand and are limiting the amount of food they pass out.  Our unemployment rate is 5%, up from 4.4% ayear ago. One last note, we have had a Republican governor since 1994. You do the math.

  Posted by Deb Noble on Oct 6, 2003 at 4:53 PM

  This is an excellent article, but I would rush to take issue with the claim made that “thereís plenty of evidence that education is by far the most effective and lasting route out of poverty.” This is simply not the case. As long as there is a demand for low-skill jobs, and a significant portion of jobs don’t require a strong education background - and don’t offer higher wages or better work for higher levels of education - then we cannot possibly reduce poverty merely by offering better training or education for the poor on a society-wide basis. This can only be accomplished by either improving the type of jobs that an economy offers, or forcing the worst jobs to provide better wages and benefits (in other words, by upskilling the economy or raising minimum wage/benefis, or by improving the social wage through stronger welfare entitlements). The old literature on segmented labor markets has shown how the rang of worse jobs don’t offer returns to education (i.e. a better education will not mean higher pay). And a recent book by Gordon Lafer called _The Job Training Charade_ shows how training programs do not work for reducing employment or upskilling the job market.

  Posted by Benjamin Day on Oct 6, 2003 at 8:49 PM

  As a single mother who completed her college degree on welfare, thanks to In These Times for covering this important issue.  Because of my degree, I was able to get a job that pays me enough to support my family, and now pay $20,000 a year in taxes - more than I used to make working full-time in a low-wage, dead-end job.

  As an “education activist” and Executive Director of LIFETIME (Low-Income Families’ Empowerment through Education), this issue is particularly important to me.  LIFETIME is a grassroots membership organization of parents who are pursuing education as the means out of poverty.  Each year, LIFETIME receives calls for help from hundreds of TANF student parents throughout California, because their county welfare department is trying to make them quit school.  Existing research clearly shows that postsecondary education is the surest route out of poverty for a single mother in poverty, and the parents in our organization are daily proof of this.  Mothers in our organization ñ many beginning in GEDs and ESL programs ñ are completing associates, bachelors, and even master teaching credential programs ñ all the while with county welfare workers doing everything it can to make them quit school.  Theyíre earning $15 - $40 per hour, far above $6.50 an hour, the average wage of most mothers leaving welfare for work. 

  The education option under welfare reform is all the more important when you consider the experience of more than 130,000 TANF parents in California, who will reach the five-year lifetime limit under welfare reform in 2003 and never be eligible for public assistance for the rest of their lives - even though up to 90 percent of them are working and playing by the rules.  Because many of them were denied access to even basic education, they were relegated to low-wage jobs that didn’t pay them enough to get off welfare - let alone out of poverty.  And now, thanks to time limits enacted under welfare reform, they’re out of time - and their families are still poor.  Their experience is proof of how critically important it is to expand parents’ access to education and training opportunities under TANF reauthorization, so they can graduate off welfare and out of poverty for good.

  Posted by Diana Spatz on Oct 7, 2003 at 1:06 AM

  I didn’t go to college and I’ve got a good job. I think college is a waste of time. I started working and working hard when I was 16.

  All these kids now don’t want to work hard. I see it every day. Can’t do this, won’t do that… cry cry cry. We’ve got good jobs if you start low, stick with it, learn what you’re doing, and DO THE WORK.

  Best guy in our shop is this Brazilian kid who barely speaks English (but he’s learning). He came over, didn’t complain about nothing or ask for anything except a job. Now he’s got a kid and a house and is on cloud 9.

  He didn’t get any welfare or nothing. Now he’s paying taxes for the welfare.

  Posted by Nat G. on Oct 9, 2003 at 4:33 PM

  Nat, college is not a waste of time. The people who provide the biggest services to society all had to go to college, the doctors, the engineers and the lawyers all needed to college. There are many businessmen in this country who did not go to college, I know a millionare in business who didn’t go, but to say college is not valuable is a mistake.

  However, you make a good point about how you can get anywhere in this country wiith persistence and hard work.

  Posted by brad on Oct 10, 2003 at 3:05 PM

  Brad-

  Good points. Didn’t mean to be grumpy.

  Posted by Nat G. on Oct 10, 2003 at 10:23 PM

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Also by Neil deMause

• Elders of the New Left
  
• School’s Out
  New welfare rules could put education out of reach
• The Candidates on the Poor
  
• Ending the Cycle of Terror
  
• Bad to Worse
  Welfare reform is up for reauthorization, but it's only going to get meaner