On 6/25/07, Gruss Gott <g> wrote: > "Helped" means fixing whatever psychological/drug/whatever issues they > have, and then teaching them how to live in our society. >
I find it interesting that you would put it that way - "live in our society." They're already living in our society. What they're not doing is living by the rules of middle class society. There's one really well known self-proclaimed expert on poverty that has written a book about the hidden rules of socio-economic groups. She's come under fire because much of what she's written is anecdotal. But, a fairly large contingent of scholars in the field have adopted her verbiage. The book is Bridges out of Poverty, by Ruby Payne. I've not read the whole book, only excerpts. But, what I've read has been good food for thought. I'm not sure I'm in total agreement with what she says. But, one of her big points is that in order for people to move from one socio-economic class to another, they have to learn the hidden rules. And, she purports that it is equally true for those going from poverty to middle class as from middle to upper crust. The reverse is true - for people in middle or upper classes to understand poverty, they must learn about the rules by which those people in poverty live. Thus, it's not as simple as just educating someone. It's helping someone make a new cultural identity. If we were asked to move to someplace with a culture not like our own, I would imagine that most of us would have at least some fear about it - it's difficult to leave what you know (where you may have been the most successful pantry "shopper" in the hood), who you know (your family and best friends may be trying to keep you in poverty with them), and where you know (living in bad neighborhoods decreases your likelihood of getting out of poverty). Can it be done? Yes. Is it simple or cheap? No. Does it involve maxing out a credit card? Highly unlikely. I love your sense of optimism & idealism, Gruss. I've watched throughout this thread as you've modified your initial statements from, essentially, "if people just didn't screw up their lives to begin with they wouldn't wind up in poverty" to a much more reasoned approach that given the right tools, many in poverty could get out. So, perhaps this thread has broadened your perspective. I don't know that putting a number on it (what percentage of people could get out, given the right tools) is a worthwhile exercise. It's just postulating. Because (and here comes the cynic in me) it's highly unlikely that most people in poverty would be given the right tools. Our social welfare system is overburdened and underfunded. Accurate statistics on what works and what doesn't are hard to come by, but there is some research on Wisconsin's welfare reform program here: http://www.irp.wisc.edu/research/welreform/wisconsin.htm People site Wisconsin as being a shining example of welfare reform. But, if you dig deeper, the research shows that while people are getting off welfare, they're not necessarily getting out of poverty. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Create Web Applications With ColdFusion MX7 & Flex 2. Build powerful, scalable RIAs. Free Trial http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=RVJS Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:237284 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
