Myths surrounding the issue of welfare in our country today are so prevalent that it is difficult for individuals to determine the exact source of their learned misconceptions. Whether it be through the media, family, peers or elsewhere, Americans become indoctrinated with the stereotype of the welfare recipient to a greater degree than any other I can pinpoint. From extensive discussions with others on the subject, as well as from personal experience in addition to the four interviews I did for this paper, I have come to realize that the media plays a huge role in people's misconception of the reasons for welfare dependency and this misinformation is never corrected by readings, such as we have had in this class, nor discussions with welfare recipients themselves. These popular misconceptions create a problem in and of themselves since they are, at least in part, the cause of the stigma's that recipients often feel are associated with their being on welfare. These stigmas can lead to a loss of the feeling of self-worth that is absolutely necessary if one is to cease government dependency and return to the workforce rather than resigning themselves and thereby failing to

Willy is a lower class, white male, born in Midland, Michigan, and is a history major here at Duke. He was on welfare for seven years while both of his parents were in prison and he lived with both his grandparents (2 yrs.) and his sister (5 yrs.). He defines the stereotype as "trashy, bunch of kids, lazy with excuses for not working." He believes quite a bit that the stereotype holds true because he has seen his sister on and off of welfare for most of her adult life. He says that in the majority of cases people will stay on it because it is easier than working. Though there are exceptions, the majority of recipients have a very low level of education. They realize that the more kids they have, the more money they receive, and with a job you get a flat rate regardless of the number of children you have.

E says the government "shouldn't be maintaining and providing,," rather it needs to take responsibility for job training, taking into account the employment needs of the area, making welfare recipients aware of their resources. Their should also be a community place that people can get their GED, go to community college or technical school (or at least a resource that can point them in the right direction). As far as a new model goes, he said there should be required programming for recipients and that he wouldn't necessarily put a time limit on it. Finally, he made the comment "It is not a crutch. Nobody, let me correct that, very few people want to be on welfare. Just because you're on welfare it doesn't mean you're living in luxury, like you're middle class or anything. Welfare is not glamorous."

Though on the surface, it may appear that these four interviews, as a result of the fact that the interviewees could not really all be placed in any one category (other than Duke Student), are not conclusive, I think a few things are clear. These students opinions on welfare are very strong. Their responses were more focused on what they thought needed to be changed about the system to make things work more smoothly than it was to criticize specific problems and specific programs, which they seemingly do not know much about. This shows, and was especially surprising in Kate's interview since she is a Public Policy major which one would think would know more about welfare, that all these people have to rely on is the stereotype. Certainly, E says that this is not always true, that "welfare is not glamorous," but I would predict that he is definitely in the minority. The fact that interviewees one and two considered the problems of getting off welfare to a lesser degree and all except E were unaware, and somewhat mistrusting of the 'welfare mothers have the same number of children on average as those not on welfare' is evidence that all they have to fall back on is the media portrayl of people on welfare which they have applied to people they know (or, in Kate's case to a bunch of nameless faces). If these four people, seemingly from such different backgrounds, have all been made aware of the same stereotype, then it must come from the media which is common to all. Or, if it didn't come from the media directly to them, but rather through parents and peers, it was then reinforced by the media, I believe.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Vermont Economics, Public Policy, System Myths, African-American Studies, Policy French, Harley Davidson, Midland Michigan, McDonalds Willy's, Duke Student, American Dream, people welfare, welfare recipients, job skills, welfare job, sister welfare, stereotype welfare, welfare recipient, true welfare, non-welfare mothers, stay welfare, interview #4 willy, received food stamps, welfare non-welfare mothers, stereotype welfare recipient,
Approximate Word count = 3423
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page double spaced)