A Full Time Job

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A Full Time Job

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In preparation for this reflection paper, I read the texts, reflected on my life experiences, and then identified the following key theme. David Shipler’s “The Working Poor,” The fact that people in the social welfare system do work at menial jobs and not necessarily because they are required by welfare to do so, shows that most people do want to contribute and be a part of working society. While reading the about the families in New Hampshire, I was reminded of the classism that occurred between the two worlds of rich and poor. In stark contrast to rural New Hampshire, southern New Hampshire where I grew up is an hour outside of Boston, the area I lived in was filled with pilots and executives. Besides being rich everyone had the expectation that their child would go to college. My town looked like a Norman Rockwell painting and for its size boasted two country clubs. Upon turning sixteen teenagers would receive the newest sports car. This in contrast to the rural New Hampshire people in Shipler’s book, who are a captive audience to the mill’s opening and closing or downsizing and ultimately the victims to the corporate bottom line. Likewise what struck me was how people in my town used to refer to the northerners, making fun of them (and this was the adults), Now, I can see that a firm link between making money and being good was established for me growing up where I did and with the class of people I associated with. Furthermore, when I read “Glass Castles” by Jeannette Walls, the family had moved to Welch one boy in particular was determined to put Jeannette and her siblings in their place by shouting “ Garbage! You live in garbage ‘cause you are garbage!” How does this relate to “The Working Poo...

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...ays moving around? To which her sister replies, “We’d get caught.”

Why does it matter? Any nation that wants to call itself civilized as a responsibility to make sure that those who require assistance receive it.

What will I do in the future in light of the learning? In the future I will continue to address the dignity and responsibility of the individual on a case by case basis. The Working Poor exemplifies that social services and the people that are in the system are too numerous and even toady with the amount of fraud and the infant mortality rate being where they are it seems even the experts are unsure how exactly to fix the system. I believe Shipler and Walls books both exemplify my case that we in the social service would do better to address each individual without pigeonholing anyone to their circumstances.

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