pandolce

Just telling people “stay in school, don’t do drugs” and trying to sell them the American Dream doesn’t do enough to combat poverty. Talking points like the “3 Rules” diminish or even deny the fact that systemic flaws are contributing to poverty. Attempts to encourage good decision-making among the poor may work in the short-term, but if it detracts from the movement to provide long-term solutions then that’s a problem. At the same time we shouldn’t wait idly for political change like you said. I guess we should take both approaches and not go too extreme with either one.

Instead of simply telling poor people to stop making bad decisions, we should work to solve the underlying problems which are causing them to make those decisions.

It’s not that simple.

https://www.vox.com/2015/7/24/9027195/haskins-sawhill-norms-...