@Qingu I can understand your trepidation when it comes to Gingrich. I just think the idea, or something similar should not be completely dismissed. He may very well have in his head a very racist take on the matter, but we all know poor comes in every shape, size, and color, and if it might help the poor, I think it is worth looking at. I have said many times I want more money and focus on high school kids being prepared for a job or college. We don’t do enough in our country to promote and feel good about vocational training, which really bothers me, because not everyone has or will get a college degree, but anyone with a strong work ethic, who does their job well, should feel just as respected as the PhD. But, there is this constant message in America that you need a college degree to be worth anything, and I think that message affects people’s self worth. I really hate it.
I do fear children growing up in poor areas might be somehow pigeonholed into not following a track that would take them to college (my dad was told he would never go to college by a guidance counselor in school – idiot – and he had his bachelors at 20 years old) but that happens anyway.
I do think a percentage of the poor do not really know or get how much work it takes to be very successful in a career. They don’t have the guidance or the example. Then there are a ton of working poor, who work their assess of, it makes me unbelievably sad this exists in such high percentages in our country. Anyone who works a full work week and does their job well should not have to live in an unsafe place or fear one week missed work they will be out onnthe street. I also think there are working poor who don’t really understand how to help their children get out of poverty. They may say things like, “go to school, study hard, do your best,” but then it comes time for the kid to take SATs and they don’t know they can take it twice, or they feel lost or frightened when trying to figure out if and how to go to college. They are scared of the unknown, and their parents don’t know how to navigate it either. That’s what we need to do better in schools, we really need the seniors to get more help, more hand holding to be honest.
Well, I babbles a little more than I intended too on that :).