Possible Solution To Our Nation's Poverty Problems

Our inner cities have a lot of problems and those problems are tied to many issues, but if there is one issue that makes the difference between a life of crime and drug use, and success is education. There is something about having education that gives people a lot of self esteem. It gives people hope, and makes them feel like they have something to lose if they drive their life into the ditch. There was even a study once that involved putting a group prisoners through college. Most of them actually graduated and after they received a degree their recidivism rate was reduced dramatically.

In our inner cities the drop out rate is through the roof and kids that are in school really aren't learning much. Some believe that schools need more money, some want privatization, and others blame systematic issues. However, almost everyone agrees that if you can motivate a parent to make their kids do their homework, and participate in their child's education great things will happen. That's the real kicker though. How do you motivate a parent to quit being a slacker and take a larger roll in their child's education? Can the government really make a parent, parent? Yes.

The Solution

My solution is pretty simple. It simply involves moving some money from the welfare pool into something called Education Performance Credits. An EPC is assigned a monetary value and is tied to the performance of parent's children in school. Families below a certain income level with kids are eligible. The program would tie the reward of credits to the child's grades and performance on standardized tests. If you are poor a $3000 check is a pretty good motivator to take education seriously.

I'd love to blather on about the implications, nuances, pros and cons, but it's pretty simple. If you have kids that you can't afford to have, you'd better make damn sure their actively working towards becoming a contributing member of society.
I think this program would significantly enhance the education performance in our inner cities, and in turn, greatly benefit society at large.