TN - Let's Tie Welfare Payments to School Performance!

[Trynn]

May I have permission to post this on my blog and write about it? I think it's very well done.

[Maggie Mae]

May I have permission to post this on my blog and write about it? I think it's very well done.

Sure, can i get a link to your blog?

[alba]

The problem is, "Here's this money that will keep the lights on, now be 'accountable' by making sure your kids get to school all the time." These blanket policies never address the actual problem. It's all, "You're still acting poor, quit acting poor."

Agreed, and it feeds into the assumption that if you're on welfare you're a "skiver" (the UK government's favourite word for anyone on government assistance). There's no acknowledgement of the fact that some people have just been screwed by the system. They can't get a job because the shops all require two years' experience to work a till, and anyway even if they did get that job it would bring in less money than their benefits, and they have a young child at home that they can't leave for eight hours a day to work for less money than they're getting at the moment, because there's no way they'll be able to afford daycare.

Throw in a kid who's just not that academically inclined, or has delayed sleep phase disorder, or is just struggling to get up in the morning because s/he went to bed hungry and doesn't fancy waking up to more of the same, and all you're doing is screwing that family over even more.