First, it is the same government money being spent, just that it goes to the lowest bidder.
What else explains the lawsuits for understaffing, undertraining, dead children in daycare, and that U.S. daycare workers make less than food service workers (the lowest paid workers in America).
This is what we think of children in our nation. Indiana is trying to pay less than $18/daily for foster care & the state redirected funds promised to parents that adopted abandoned special needs children (five hundred children) – after the adoptions took place). Thank you Mitch Daniels. What cruelty.
Good example of providing social services; Shakopee Valley Women’s prison 1920 to 1999. Programs allowing women to see their children and better their lives (recidivism under 30%).
Bad example of providing social services; Shakopee Valley Women’s prison under MN Governor Pawlenty. Cut funding for almost all programs (recidivism went to 66%).
Those kids served their time (many, for no actual crime or bad behavior).
My 14 year old guardian ad-Litem case (Andy) walked home 35 miles in freezing temperatures in a t-shirt when some untrained underpaid staffer at a privatized group home put him out the door on a cold winter night as punishment.
Many of the youth I worked with in child protection exhibited extremely dangerous behaviors. My first visit to a four year old was at the suicide ward of Fairview hospital. Andy tried to kill himself multiple times (starting when he was 7).
If we don’t care about children enough to keep them safe, we are indeed terrible people.
Caring more about “job providers” than children is a marketing hoax and a big mistake.
“What we do to our children, they will do to society” Pliny the Elder, 2500 years ago.
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Notes from the Business Insider on What Americans Value (or how not to make money in America).
Social Work
It’s great that you want to go to work every day and help others, but keep in mind that the average high school graduate will likely earn more money in his lifetime. Social work has an average starting salary of $30,000. Even those with experience can expect to find jobs at only $40,000.
Elementary Teachers
Teaching elementary school is an excellent degree for employment. Recent college graduates have an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent. However, paying back your college loans might be a serious challenge. The average starting salary is only $33,000, and it’s not much better when you get experience. The average salary of an experienced teacher is $40,000.
Family and Consumer Studies
Remember taking home economics in grade school? Family and consumer studies is a broad degree that explores how families interact in society, and home economics is one of the areas of study. While the degree might be practical, it only pays $30,000 per year for a college graduate and $43,000 for those with experience.
