Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Welfare State

While families choose to homeschool for various reasons, the principle of self-reliance strongly influenced our decision. One of the things I don't like about the government school system is the welfare mentality. This article out of the UK includes some very sobering statistics where such a philosophy will lead.

One in five children growing up on benefits

More than 2.2 million British children - one in five - now live in households dependent on state benefits, the Government has admitted.

In areas of Manchester, Liverpool, London and Glasgow almost half of children are growing up in entirely benefit-funded homes.

Government research reveals that such children are far more likely to become benefit-dependent adults, sparking fears that a generation of unemployable youngsters is being created.


The numbers are staggering.

Britain now has Europe's highest proportion of children in workless households.


"Workless household" is a term I've never heard before that aptly describes the situation.

The figures came just a week after ministers were condemned by a parliamentary committee for creating an army of households where "benefits are a way of life".


I would be curious to know what the numbers are in the USA.

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Technorati Tags : Welfare State, child poverty, education, homeschooling, government schools

3 comments:

Crimson Wife said...

It's a bit dated, but a very interesting report on the topic can be found at the Heritage Foundation. Some of the key findings:

Among families with children and incomes below the poverty line, only 1/4 reported 2000+ hours of paid employment (1 full-time worker). A whopping 1/3 reported ZERO hours' worth.

Now, some of those working less than full-time may have been attending school or job training classes. Others may have been victims of downsizing or offshoring and had trouble finding a new job. Still others may be legitimately unable to work full-time due to illness or injury. The statistics don't separate out those with a valid reason for not working full-time from those who have NO valid reason.

Janine Cate said...

Thanks for the link.

I agree that the information would be more useful if it was broken down into subgroups. There is a big difference between a person who is unemployed because they are going through chemo and someone who can't keep a job because they don't show up regularly.

Angela said...

I thought as a child that growing up in a "workless" family was just a pipe dream. But that is the curse of being born to farmers with work ethic to spare. Maybe we could market the work ethic part.

On a more serious note, I do believe this situation exists in the States as well only it is framed differently as we have a different system of social welfare. But spend anytime with the foster care system and you begin to discover "workless" or work very little families.