We need to change americas ways!

[Reeve]

I kind of wonder. If I could scrape together ~$1K from disability, Section 8 to cover my housing, SNAP, and perhaps make a little cash on the side doing odd jobs, I might be pretty happy. There's something to be said for not having any responsibilities at all. That's not the path I've chosen, but I can see a certain logic to it.

I dunno. I was paid (significantly more than that) to not work for three months straight once upon a time. It was flipping awful.

[Spectral]

I never said there was a way to fix it. Just that that's the way that it is. The reasons you listed are indeed the bulk of what's wrong with non-white achievement in public schools, and there's not a damn thing schools can do to fix that. But that doesn't mean it isn't a little broken. Just not broken in a way schools can fix.

I don't see that as the schools being broken. Back to the bike analogy (I know analogies are flawed, just stick with me), I'm still seeing this as an acceptable, if imperfect, bike with a person that won't ride the damned thing and get better at it. Perhaps the reason they won't ride it is because their parent never taught them to, but it's still not a broken bike.

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But you do have a responsibility to turn in the continued disability papers, and risk them getting cut off because your new case manager suddenly decides you're fit to work. And then suddenly find yourself with no cash at all.

This is largely dependent on what sort of disability you've been diagnosed with. The burden of proof is actually on the case worker to show that you are capable of working, not the other way around. For claims of chronic pain and/or mental problems, it's hard to prove that someone could work if they wanted to. Sure, this is some responsibility, but it's incredibly minimal relative to being expected to perform at a high level in an intellectual field.

It would also make you a disgusting asshole. Cheating the system is not why it's there.

Well sure, but plenty of people are disgusting assholes.

[KingHorse]

I don't see that as the schools being broken. Back to the bike analogy (I know analogies are flawed, just stick with me), I'm still seeing this as an acceptable, if imperfect, bike with a person that won't ride the damned thing and get better at it. Perhaps the reason they won't ride it is because their parent never taught them to, but it's still not a broken bike.

The parents refuse to teach the kid to ride a bike, or even admit that the ability to ride a bike is useful in some way. And the bike manufacturer isn't allowed to make one with training wheels to get the kid interested.

I'm going to beat this analogy 'till it works for us dammit!

[Spectral]

I dunno. I was paid (significantly more than that) to not work for three months straight once upon a time. It was flipping awful.

I'd be interested in trying it. I think the most I've ever taken off is about two weeks, and I rather enjoyed it, but perhaps I'd eventually stop liking it. I suspect I'd pretty much be happy to never work again if I didn't need to though.

[Rukentuts]

I'd be interested in trying it. I think the most I've ever taken off is about two weeks, and I rather enjoyed it, but perhaps I'd eventually stop liking it. I suspect I'd pretty much be happy to never work again if I didn't need to though.

I'd have a lot of things I could do with three months of summer.

[Spectral]

I'd have a lot of things I could do with three months of summer.

I'd mostly be running, biking, and swimming, I think. Not really an option if I'm putatively disabled, but I'm thinking of a hypothetical someone paying me to do nothing situation.

[Reeve]

I'd be interested in trying it. I think the most I've ever taken off is about two weeks, and I rather enjoyed it, but perhaps I'd eventually stop liking it. I suspect I'd pretty much be happy to never work again if I didn't need to though.

Section 8 isn't gonna have you living in a particularly nice place/neighborhood most of the time, and SNAP isn't going to have you eating all that well. After electricity, internet, phone, and bus fare (because you won't be able to afford a car), that $1,000 isn't going to leave you with much. You can eke by and play computer games, but you're never going to be the guy taking a vacation to Thailand, or going out to restaurants a few times per month. You won't be helping your family in times of trouble, and if you get sick or injured, you'll be entirely dependent on Medicaid, so your treatment will be the minimum requirement.

It's just all around not a great life. OK great, you have no responsibilities. You also have no luxuries, and few if any personal triumphs.

[KingHorse]

I'd mostly be running, biking, and swimming, I think. Not really an option if I'm putatively disabled, but I'm thinking of a hypothetical someone paying me to do nothing situation.

You could just be batshit crazy. Worked for my ex-wife.

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It's just all around not a great life. OK great, you have no responsibilities. You also have no luxuries, and few if any personal triumphs.

We're working adults here. Time to play a game or read a book is a luxury, and a great one.

[Rukentuts]

I'd mostly be running, biking, and swimming, I think. Not really an option if I'm putatively disabled, but I'm thinking of a hypothetical someone paying me to do nothing situation.

I'd buy a BOB and hit the road either in the USA / Canada, EU, or Japan.

[Spectral]

Section 8 isn't gonna have you living in a particularly nice place/neighborhood most of the time,

The apartment I lived in during graduate school was immediately rented to Section 8 tenants after. I don't need fancy.

and SNAP isn't going to have you eating all that well.

Meh, it's fine. Not great, but not atrocious.

After electricity, internet, phone, and bus fare (because you won't be able to afford a car), that $1,000 isn't going to leave you with much. You can eke by and play computer games, but you're never going to be the guy taking a vacation to Thailand, or going out to restaurants a few times per month.

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to be the guy taking a vacation to Thailand either way. Postdocs aren't particularly well compensated for our labor. I don't really need a car as it is, it's basically a waste of my money.

You won't be helping your family in times of trouble, and if you get sick or injured, you'll be entirely dependent on Medicaid, so your treatment will be the minimum requirement.

Medicaid is vastly superior to my current insurance situation.

It's just all around not a great life. OK great, you have no responsibilities. You also have no luxuries, and few if any personal triumphs.

Some people seem to like it just fine. I don't know that I would, but if my job prospects were worse, it might look like the best of a bunch of not very good options.

[Reeve]

We're working adults here. Time to play a game or read a book is a luxury, and a great one.

A great one? I'm a working adult and it's not exactly hard to find the time to read a book or play a game in the evening.

Even then, if that becomes your whole life, it stops feeling luxurious.

[KingHorse]

A great one? I'm a working adult and it's not exactly hard to find the time to read a book or play a game in the evening.

I suppose I should have added that I have a wife and three kids. Yes, those things are usually luxuries. Having this conversation is too. I'm just not really doing what I'm supposed to be doing at the moment. But I'll catch up to it.

Even then, if that becomes your whole life, it stops feeling luxurious.

I've been told the same thing about blowjobs. And I have the same answer: I'll believe it when I see it.

[Reeve]

I suppose I should have added that I have a wife and three kids. Yes, those things are usually luxuries. Having this conversation is too. I'm just not really doing what I'm supposed to be doing at the moment. But I'll catch up to it.

Well in that case, your wife and three kids are your luxuries. Even with a wife and three kids you should be able to have the time to enjoy books/games, etc. My mother used to work 50-60 hours a week and had me and my sister to look after and still usually managed to watch 2-5 hours of TV per night and had some time to herself on the weekends to boot. I really don't buy this whole "I have a job and wife and kids so I have 0 free time." You make your choices on how you're going to spend your time, but you absolutely have free time.

[ItachiZaku]

Dont worry It is all but a joke

They are traitors, so I don't see a problem.

[Cerunnir]

Didn't bother reading it, can't be arsed to.

Then you should refrain from taking part in the thread..

[Grizzly Willy]

They are traitors, so I don't see a problem.

Well, he is making fun of you.

[KingHorse]

Well in that case, your wife and three kids are your luxuries. Even with a wife and three kids you should be able to have the time to enjoy books/games, etc. My mother used to work 50-60 hours a week and had me and my sister to look after and still usually managed to watch 2-5 hours of TV per night and had some time to herself on the weekends to boot. I really don't buy this whole "I have a job and wife and kids so I have 0 free time." You make your choices on how you're going to spend your time, but you absolutely have free time.

It's about priorities I suppose. I don't see spending time helping my kids with their homework, or playing with the one who's not in school yet, or taking the time to make sure my relationship with my wife is solid as "free time" exactly. I see them as absolute obligations that I can not break, as I'm working towards a goal (well adjusted, intelligent, happy children, happy wife) and I have to do those things to achieve that goal. Thus, obligation, not free time. It's an obligation that I usually enjoy quite a bit, and it's regularly rewarding, but obligation none the less. We just define obligation and free time a little differently. And I can't seem to find a way to say that that doesn't sound a little condescending, but it's not intended that way.

[Reeve]

It's about priorities I suppose. I don't see spending time helping my kids with their homework, or playing with the one who's not in school yet, or taking the time to make sure my relationship with my wife is solid as "free time" exactly. I see them as absolute obligations that I can not break, as I'm working towards a goal (well adjusted, intelligent, happy children, happy wife) and I have to do those things to achieve that goal. Thus, obligation, not free time. It's an obligation that I usually enjoy quite a bit, and it's regularly rewarding, but obligation none the less. We just define obligation and free time a little differently. And I can't seem to find a way to say that that doesn't sound a little condescending, but it's not intended that way.

It didn't sound condescending to me. I'm just saying that people generally tend to understate the amount of time they have available to prioritize however they want to, and blame their families. By the time they're in school, kids are pretty self-sufficient. I think as a kid I spent 3/4 of my time at least just running around the neighborhood with the other kids. I did spend time on my homework because my parents told me to, but 99% of the time, I did that on my own, and did just fine. I spent time with my parents on the weekend, going to parks or museums or the beach or the woods, but I'd consider that leisure time. On the weekdays my parents might occasionally take me to a restaurant and then to the bookstore, and they'd talk to me about stuff, but a lot of time was spent just being around each other and doing our own thing, or watching TV together or whatever. Can kids who spend most of their time at home in the presence of their parents directing their every activity turn out well? Sure. Can kids who are more self-directed with some parental care and input also turn out well? Sure. And I think that if we really took a hard look at how parents who claim they have no time spend their average day, we'd find they have more discretionary time than they think they do.