A Better Way Four Interviews On The Welfare System

Myths surrounding the issue of welfare in our country today are so prevalent that it is difficult for individuals to determine the exact source of their learned misconceptions. Whether it be through the media, family, peers or elsewhere, Americans become indoctrinated with the stereotype of the welfare recipient to a greater degree than any other I can pinpoint. From extensive discussions with others on the subject, as well as from personal experience in addition to the four interviews I did for this paper, I have come to realize that the media plays a huge role in people's misconception of the reasons for welfare dependency and this misinformation is never corrected by readings, such as we have had in this class, nor discussions with welfare recipients themselves. These popular misconceptions create a problem in and of themselves since they are, at least in part, the cause of the stigma's that recipients often feel are associated with their being on welfare. These stigmas can lead to a loss of the feeling of self-worth that is absolutely necessary if one is to cease government dependency and return to the workforce rather than resigning themselves and thereby failing to

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I believe, however, that even in his interview, which I would consider the most negative of the four, there is evidence of system failure that he has not considered. She says that she sees the stereotypical welfare recipient as an unemployed, black, inner city mother raised on welfare who doesn't perceive a life off of welfare. He defines the stereotype as "trashy, bunch of kids, lazy with excuses for not working. "

Interview #3

E is black male raised in Detroit, Michigan. He said that this stereotype is perpetuated by the media and that he was surprised by a statistic he found on his own in high school that 65% of people on welfare are white. "

E says the government "shouldn't be maintaining and providing,," rather it needs to take responsibility for job training, taking into account the employment needs of the area, making welfare recipients aware of their resources. She thinks it takes twice the work to get off of welfare and then get a job than it does to go straight into the workforce. She says that the government actually provides more of an incentive to stay on welfare than to join the workforce, this includes encouraging recipients to have more children. He recently traveled to see her in Michigan and she gave him $50 of her food-stamps to buy food for the ride home. When I pointed out the difficulty in attaining appropriate day care when attempting to get off of welfare, she agreed that it would be hard gave this process an economic term. People stay on welfare because they are not educated about their options nor are they taught job skills. He resents that she manipulates the system in this way and says that she could get by on her own if she would "just use her head. By not ameliorating the situation, the government is perpetuating what Kate describes as both a dead-end (on an individual basis) and a cycle in which kids see parents and say "why not?" " Welfare should be short term aid to get back on feet.

This is basically what most of the commentary on change boils down to.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 3423
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page double spaced)

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