NONSENSE!!!
There can be no doubt that education is absolutely key to staying out of poverty or rising from it in this increasingly technological world. An education is more important than ever and will only become more so.
Progressives claim that the poor simply need the rest of us to subsidize or provide for free the basics of life to famlies of poor kids and it's useful in helping them become better off. If the poor believed that and we provided it, you'd think they'd take the fullest possible advantage of it if the progressives' claims are correct. After all, is a life lived on welfare and handouts and little to no education better lived than one based on at least a high school education? It's a rhetorical question because the answer is unequivocal and obvious.
If giving stuff to poor kids' families is what's best for them, how come they don't take advantage of the best subsidized freebie we have to offer ... a high school education? Nearly half of state budgets now go to pay for education. What do poor families tend to do (more than other groups of people) with this free thing that they need more than most anything else? They have a ridiculously high dropout rate and too many who do graduate didn't take much responsibility to learn their subjects. They're inadequately prepared for life and it is not because K-12 education wasn't free enough ... or that the teachers weren't competent!
An education is THE MOST important change poor families MUST make and the rest of us provide it for free. So why don't poor families really want it? Why don't parents establish priorities, boundaries and consequences that help ensure kids do well in school! If they really don't like poverty they ought to take the fullest advantage possible of the thing their kids need most and which is provided entirely free!
Another very important need is a good diet. Most poor kids can get that for free too ... if they stay in school. Lunches and, in many cases, breakfasts are provided free of charge. In some cases dinner too. In some cases all year round even when schools are on summer break.
Progressives keep saying the poorest among us need more help but poor families/kids take grossly and irresponsibly inadequate advantage of something we spend nearly half our state tax dollars on so that it's free to them.
Doesn't that strongly suggest that free stuff and paternalistic/nanny-state attitudes aren't really the answer? The real answer is taking personal responsibility for one's life, including one's own education. Don't tell me they need even more free stuff when they won't take FULL advantage of the most fundamental free thing they need perhaps the most.
And don't tell me they can't learn because of their environment or life's challenges. I've been in the education system and I've seen young adults get high school equivalency diplomas who came from broken homes, had drug/alcohol problems, had been in jail, were single parents, and had learning disabilities such as ADD, ADHD and even severe dyslexia. The only thing they had that high school dropouts don't have was a personal commitment to become educated. Most of them, including those with ADD and ADHD even went on to two year colleges!
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