Gingrich: Poor kids have bad work habits ‘unless it’s illegal’

The Hill ^ | Dec. 1, 2011 | Jonathan Easley

[fightinJAG]

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Thursday that “really poor children” have bad work habits and no knowledge of how to make an income “unless it’s illegal.”

Doubling down on his argument that children in poor neighborhoods should be employed as janitors in schools, Gingrich argued that the best way to teach children in poor neighborhoods good working habits is to put them to work as soon as possible.

“Start with the following two facts,” Gingrich said Thursday at a campaign stop in Iowa.

[EEGator]

We aren’t Japanese, and never will be like them. If you tried that here, the backlash would be massive.

[allmendream]

Maybe Newt should also expound upon his “date your High School Math teacher for fun and profit” plan!

You know, for kids!

[Sudetenland]

He's addressing an ingrained societal plague. We have whole areas of our cities where the concept of work and earning a living are alien.

He's addressing places like the city of New Orleans where there were people who lived for generations on the public dole; where mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and uncle and aunt and all the cousins are all drawing public assistance and the only people making money are drug dealers and prostitutes. Why do you think it has been called "The Big Easy?" because you only had to work if you wanted to--life was easy.

This is far from crazy, this is someone who is trying to end the cycle of poverty by introducing a foreign substance--work.

If you can teach these children the lessons of the work ethic at an early age, you might actually stand a chance of ending that cycle. It's an expansion of the "Workfare" program that was so successful in ending welfare back in the 90's.

[Tamar1973]

In Japan kids clean thier own schools....

It's the same in South Korea. All tke kids, even in highschool, have to clean their classrooms and hallways regularly. They weren't paid for it, either and neither the poor kids or the rich, smart kids were singled out to do the job.

[Tamar1973]

We aren’t Japanese, and never will be like them. If you tried that here, the backlash would be massive.

You're probably right on both counts (cleaning classrooms and required calculus) but that's why the Japanese and Koreans still have a work ethic and we don't.

The only person a Japanese or Korean person can expect to do anything for them is their momma, who cleans their clothes, makes their meals and kicks their a$$ if they get less than an A in any of their classes.

[Mad Dawgg]

"We have whole areas of our cities where the concept of work and earning a living are alien."

Yep and one of the worst areas in the Nation where such is so is the area in and around Pennsylvania Ave. and East Capitol Street, NE and 1st Street NE. in Washington D.C.

[JoSixChip]

Talk about miss representing what he said, this is intellectually dishonest. Good god, this place is becoming more like du everyday.

All,

Go watch the video for your self, don’t let these sleazy FR posters direct the conversation.

[Teflonic]

Yeah school janitors make big bucks for little effort nowadays as the schools hire cleaning services to handle the dirty work. I’ve done some jobs in schools where there would be up to a dozen janitors hanging out in the boiler room where they would sleep, play cards, and watch tv all day then go home. All were making $60k+ salaries supplemented with heavy overtime during the snow season.

[EEGator]

Seems they might be too pressured, as they are both in the top 5 for suicide rates in the world.

[org.whodat]

ROFLOL, there has never been a government welfare program that was successful. My god, clintoon moved people off welfare to disability. Dang, you like that big government stuff. The one program this country had that turned a lot of bad kids into good ones was the draft. And today no one wants any part of it. Spend more money, spend more money. Like newts stupid amnesty program, let local committee made the decision. The first thing the commission would decided would be is how long they had to work to retirement and where would they hold their first convention. And how many million new government employee's and building world be need so they could get their next twenty year budget together.

[Sudetenland]

Okay, Mr. ROFLOL, tell all of us poor unenlightened souls what your solution to the entrenched entitlement mentality is. You don’t seem concerned that these kids are without any examples in their lives of a person who actually has to work for a living . . . provide us all with an alternative.

[Tail Gunner John]

I was passing papers at 10, fifteen hours a week. Working ever since. The biggest thing for me was the independence it gave me, no waiting for a hand out from dad. Teach these kids responsibility and independence while you still have a chance. This beats shelling out 40 grand a year to incarcerate them for much of their adult life. Who knows maybe the kids could explain WORK to their lay about parents and grandparents.

[org.whodat]

I already did the program that worked was the draft. And it was not a new big government solution.

[CH3CN]

Each of us 6 kids worked in the school cafeteria after lunch, mopped, washed dishes, took out trash. Mom and Dad couldn’t afford to pay all the tuition to parochial school so we kids worked at the school, and took summer jobs to help. We didn’t think a thing of it. I agree that many poor kids have a better work ethic, but certainly not all. Those who have things just handed to them will never learn. But, it’s the same for the spoiled, rich kids. Learning to work in this day and age...well, it must be difficult. I guess the military helps us out there.

[ichabod1]

The thing you got to remember is that people are generally rational actors in the marketplace, as in Locke, Adam Smith, etc. Welfare queens/daddies are acting rationally in taking advantage of what the system offers them. And if that means taking in food stamps, wic, section 8, social security, etc, that’s what they’ll do. They will spending part of their time working the system, and part of it doing odd jobs, preferably illegal (pays better), off the books. That’s an adaptation.

Point being, if you want them out of that you have to offer them something better. Working at a menial job for menial wages with no real hope of anything better, at little or no extra money over welfare, who’s going to do that?

[allmendream]

And if a million more agree
There ain't no Great Society
As it applies to you and me
Our country isn't free
And the law refuses to see
If all that you can ever be
Is just a LOUSY JANITOR
Unless your uncle owns a store
You know that five in every four
Just won't amount to nothin’ more
Than watch the rats go across the floor
And make up songs about being poor

Frank Zappa - Trouble every day

[x]

* sigh *

I heave a big sigh a lot of the time when I see Newt on television. Even when he has a valid point, as he does here, he manages to express it in a way that makes it easy for his opponents to attack him.

So, * sigh *

... Remembering that old '90s book ...

[Sudetenland]

LOL!!! So you're going to double or treble the size of the military, but somehow that is "not a new big government solution?" You're going to draft 12 year-olds?

What pray tell are you going to do with all of those newly minted soldiers? How are you going to convince a majority of Congress to do what they have steadfastly refused to do for more than 30 years? How are you going to convince the military that a new huge draft will be advantageous and superior to the all volunteer military we now have? You think having all of those folks serving involuntarily will be a net positive on our military readiness? You think it will be good for moral to have all of those folks in the military?

The draft almost destroyed our military in the 60's and 70's by filling the army with unmotivated, unwilling people. Morale at the end of the draft was in the cellar, as was our nation in general.

[CowboyJay]

Make work pay, and people will work. It’s really that simple. Newt’s reverse-class-warfare mentality is starting to rear its pathetic head in public. It was just a matter of time, really.

Maybe we can get a genuinely conservative 3rd party after Newt finishes burning what’s left of the GOP to the ground.

Whig on, Newton! Whig on!