Week Nine Blog
Dear President,
I would like to address a major problem we have here in the United States: poor working single mothers. Many people have categorized them as lazy or drug abusing people, when in reality that is not true in most cases. Many times it makes more sense for a single mother to stay on welfare and be able to stay home to take care of her children versus going to work and not making enough money to provide good child care. According to the essay, "What We Can Do for the Working Poor," many people work full-time jobs but still are below the poverty line. Does this seem right? They work just as much as everyone else but still can barely afford to live.
So if a person can work a full-time job and still not be making enough money, what else can they do? Yes they can work two jobs, but then they're neglecting their families in a way. This could lead a single mother to leave a child at home alone when they're not old enough to be home alone. I believe minimum wage levels should be established instead of a set minimum wage. They would be determined by the person's cost of living needs to provide enough for them to survive. The government would have to make a law saying companies would have to hire equal amounts of people from each level of need.
Also in areas densly populated by poor citizens, schools can be provided with programs to educate students about job skills and figuring out ways to pay for college. Job skills could range from how to do a good interview to how to count change back. These programs probably wouldn't be about becoming a doctor because in these areas people to teach that wouldn't be very common. But for those who do want to aspire to that they can be taught how to make it to college and how to pay for it.
Family planning centers should also be implicated and advertized for to encourage their use. In the essay, "On Fixing 'Bad' Mothers and Saving Their Children," Annette Appell tells us about Emily, a teen mother. She has five children, all of which are taken away at some point. Had she been educated about birth control and known that it is availble at no cost perhaps this whole situation never would have happened. The best way to help a single mother is for her to never be a single mother. There are situations where the father just leaves or it isn't the mother's fault, but in many cases it is an accidental pregnancy. If they can't afford an abortion how can they afford to raise a child? They try, but it doesn't always work out. I think prevention is always the best place to start, but when it does happen we have established programs such as food stamps and welfare.
More can be done to help the poor families of the United States, and especially the single mothers. Just because they are in these situations does not make them bad mothers. I think the government could save some money by not being so critical of some mothers. Perhaps she made a mistake five years ago, but we have to give her a chance to redeem herself. If she can prove she is competent and able to care for that child, she should be allowed to keep the child.