No one likes the current welfare system including myself. Governors complain that federal law is overly prescriptive and are willing to take less federal money in return for more flexibility. I believe that welfare is anti-work and anti-family although polls show that the public wants welfare reformed in ways that do not penalize children. Welfare recipients find dealing with the system degrading and demoralizing; most would prefer to work. Experts note that welfare has done little to stem the growth of poverty among children. In all but two states, welfare benefits (including food stamps) are insufficient to move a family above the poverty line. In short, I believe the central flaws to the welfare system are: .
- It does not provide sufficient state flexibility. .
- It does not encourage work. .
- It is responsible for the breakdown of the family, especially for a rising tide of out-of-wedlock births. .
- It has done little to reduce poverty, especially among children. .
While there is considerable consensus that welfare needs to be reformed, there is less agreement about exactly what needs to be done and a long history of past attempts that have proved less than satisfactory or had little staying power. The goal of welfare reform programs should be to reduce poverty among families with children. Ending dependence on benefits should be the result of achieving this goal, not be the goal itself. Otherwise programs will succeed only in moving families of the roads, not in helping them escape poverty or improve their children's chance for a brighter future. Nevertheless, to acquire more theoretical and methodological instruments for analyzing the welfare policy. I need to have more advanced academic training. With a better knowledge and methodology background, I hope to conduct more systematic research on welfare reform. This is the reason I want to study for a MPS degree. I expect the training of your MPS program can provide great help for me to develop better knowledge in public policy studies, economics and political institutions.
