Is the US education system failing children? Blame poor thieving parents
Nicholas Kristof is wrong. To help students with disabilities by taking benefits away from their parents will not solve poverty
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It's not just students who are permitted to fail. Schools are. Photograph: Eamonn Mccabe
The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof recently weighed in on a previously unreported – and highly exaggerated – phenomenon he wants Americans to consider as "fiscal cliff" negotiations come to a head in Washington: a brand new kind of social security income (SSI) disability fraud. He alleges that parents in poor areas may systematically remove children from literacy programs in order to keep that SSI disability check coming in every month. Kristof provides neither research nor anecdotal evidence supporting the claim, but he nevertheless thinks Americans should seriously consider the very real problem, especially as we think about slashing social safety net provisions this month.
Kristof is no stranger to earnest "social good" trolling. He's known for applying the white man's burden of social consciousness to the world's problems, especially when it comes to rescuing sex workers (he reallywants to rescue sex workers). This time, his theme is saving the children: "Almost anytime the question is poverty, the answer is children."
