shooting an elephant

             The stereotypes are well-known:  people on welfare are described as lazy people who try to get  a "free ride" from the government for as long as they can while irresponsibly having as many kids as possible and sitting around watching television.  The truth, however, is much different.  Most people on welfare do not want to be there, but instead find themselves stuck in a cycle with little chance of escape.  Ultimately, there are three important reasons why people should not feel ashamed to be on welfare:  lack of education,  unavailability of sufficient child care, and scarcity of good jobs for people of modest backgrounds.
                     For many people on public assistance, lack of education is a serious problem.  In most low-income areas, there is not enough money available to secure the necessary resources necessary to meet the needs of the neighborhood students.  Teachers do not get the same high salaries in the inner city that they would out in the suburbs or in more affluent sections of town.  Without sufficient compensation, many of these teachers quickly lose motivation and do not put out the necessary effort into their classroom instruction.  As a result, the students don't get the education they deserve.  Also, students in these schools must try to learn from old, outdated materials becuase the school district can't afford to buy the new ones that would make the education process more successful. Finally, if these kids are so poor, they probably don't have enough money to eat enough, so they can't concentrate enough in school to learn anything.  In his essay "Shame," Dick Gregory explains how, as a child, he experienced this exact consequence of being hunger.  He relates, "The teacher thought I was stupid. Couldn't spell, couldn't read, couldn't do arithmetic. Just stupid.  Teachers were never interested in finding out that you couldn't concentrate because you were so hungry, because you hadn't had any brea...

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shooting an elephant. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 21:19, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/15712.html