TeacherJeff

You are correct on one thing: I do indeed have alot of time on my hands. This is my mini vacation before I relocate back to the states. The very first vacation that I ever had in 6 years mind you. As I have stated in my opening post I am exploring if continuing my social work education is in my best interest. And to do that I decided to take on a challenge question that another user had posted. You are free to reply to my post or to completely ignore me altogether. That choice does belong to you. I would strongly recommend that you develop some thicker skin and stop looking for insults when none were implied. *yawn* good night Jeff edit: interesting that you decided to go off on several different tangents and not answer the one question that I specifically asked of you concerning economists. I would like to know what you meant when you stated that Hayak and Friedman do not have a clean slate.

I don't know where I have heard this from so I am unable to give it proper attribution but this was what was ringing in my head as soon as I read your reply. Here is my answer. Going to the ER room usually means that you are visiting a generalist doctor. If you are suffering from a specific alignment then you would go on to see a specialist. As I have maintained I would like to work with youth who are in the foster care system for the reasons I have stated prior to this post. Therefore, I would view myself more of a specialist who focuses on a group that I am passionate about. Speaking as someone who has; African blood, Indian blood, middle eastern blood,, and European blood, I find it somewhat offensive that people desire to place each other into some sort of pre-defined subgroups. Is that not the very meaning of racism or am I missing something? Instead of "diversity" based on skin color why not diversity based on ideas? As for the LBGT community I don't view them as a class or sub-group at all. I view them as people with alternative life styles which I will never participate in. Sexuality is a more open subject here in Thailand and I have had the privilege of making several gay friends. In all honesty gays and lesbians are some of the most creative people that I have ever met. I for one will not condemn them for the choices that they make as long as it does not affect my children or my family. edit: I view myself more of a libertarian than a conservative. Having said that I do not think that conservatives/libertarians pride themselves about denying service to those who most need it. We do not sit around a table in the middle of the night plotting our next move to inflict as much pain as possible. Rather, we see that our country on the edge of a societal collapse...hence the rise of the Tea Party. We have 16 trillion dollars of national debt, 80-150 trillion dollars unfunded liabilities over the next 30 years to program like social security and Medicare, and 150-300 trillion unfunded liabilities at the state level. Both mainstream parties are to blame. The second biggest spender in history has been GWB. The world's GDP for one year is around 60 trillion dollars. How are we going to fix this problem? Taxing the wealthy at 110% (those making 100,000 a year) would not make a dent into our debt. We are currently caught up in the largest liquefy trap known to mankind. The FED dares not tamper QE because they realize as soon as they do interest rates would sky rocket and the stock market would collapse. Yet if they continue this insane money printing they would collapse the dollar. Believe you me, the same type of austerity that countries like Greece, Portugal, and Ireland, have experienced is only the tip of the iceberg for what is in store for us. Out of necessity we need to make deep and painful cuts at every level of government. This includes, but not limited to, military benefits (sadly the military has largely became dependent upon the GOP), pensions, and to cut back on unneeded governmental programs. We are staring at a financial abyss that is far bleaker than the Great Depression ever was.

A well-rounded education is one that explores all opinions and allows the student to make a decision for themselves instead of being molded in the image of their professor. Hayek and Friedman were economists in the 20th century who wrote extensively about capitalism and the free markets. Don't get me wrong. I am not advocating that BSW or MSW students have a thorough knowledge of concepts like Spontaneous Order but to have a general idea as to who these individuals are. Burke and de Tocqueville are not known as being economists but philosophers who had a strong influence upon our founding fathers. How can we, as a people and as a society plot, a course for our future if we do not fully comprehend our past?

If we used your logic about the Supreme Court being the final arbitrator on social issues then slavery and racism would still be the law of the land (Scott vs Sanford / Plessy vs Ferguson / pace vs Alabama); internment of minorities because of their race (Korematso vs united states) would be considered ok in times of war; and gay sex would be illegal (Bowers vs Hardwick). Imagine, if you will, that congress passed a law completely forbidding abortion, even in the case of rape, and incest, and President Obama signs it into law. The following month the Supreme Court upheld such a decision. Would those who were fervent supports of the pro-choice movement pack up their bags and say amongst themselves that they lost the fight and it is now the law of the land? Hardly! The choice of words that I used would probably pale in comparison to what they would employ in such a scenario. Supreme Court Justices, as well as politicians, are imperfect beings, yet their decisions are hard, if not downright impossible, to undo. Democracy is like two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting that vote Politicians, as well as Social Workers, often have good intentions. Yet, these intentions often have devastating effects and unintended consequences. Case in point: my life story. The state terminated the parental rights of my mother because she was deemed mentally incompetent to provide adequate care for me when I was six years old. Yet, in one of the first group homes I went into, (from the ages of 7-9) I was repeatedly raped by older residents of the program. Rhetorically speaking, was the state correct in the actions that they took? Now do not get me wrong. In no way am I against CPS nor will I go into a self-righteous diatribe condemning social workers. . CPS social workers have one of the hardest jobs to do with little to no appreciation. They are essentially in a no win situation: damned if they and damned if they don’t. (Please pardon my usage of profanity). Moreover, I well understand the situation foster children, especially those who are stuck in the system, face daily. From my experience this knowledge is quite difficult to teach in a classroom sitting. Statistically speaking foster children who “age” out of the system are far more likely to enter prison than to attend university or end up among the homeless. . The one person who made a huge difference in my life was in fact one of my first cps worker. 27 years later we are still in contact and I consider her as a mother figure. She fought her superiors over the placement in that one group home that I mentioned to the point that she nearly lost her job. BF (I will use her initials) taught me to always believe in myself and that no matter the circumstances, no matter the odds, I was the master of my own destiny. I could be anything or anyone that I put my mind to be. This was perhaps the greatest lesson that she ever taught me. While I could list a huge laundry list of abuses that I endured while in the system the greatest challenge that I faced was after I turned 18 when I became my own man. As a white male I would not fit in any minority thus I was not entitled to any special privileges as an adult. For this I am thankful. I had to learn how to be a man on my own. I view the world through the prism of self-reliance and self-responsibility. Yes, I am thankful to the many people that I have met along the way and the encouragement and advice that they have rendered to me but ultimately (and this may sound sacrilegious to some) I am the master of my own destiny. Everyone has his own cross to bear and I do not intend to imply that my struggle is greater than anyone else's. It is, only and completely, my struggle, one with which you probably are unable to identify with 100%. Perhaps at the core of our humanness, we all share the same struggles or perhaps God has doled them out differently and purposefully. I am not nearly deep enough or curious enough to ask these kinds of questions. The best I can do is share my experiences and hope that somehow, some way, they provide a moment of comfort for someone who is struggling too.

These are certain governmental loans made directly with the student. Loans made to the parents or private loans do not qualify. If, at all possible, do not take on any loans and/or debt.

While I was taking my BSW I received a healthy dosage of Galbraith and Mill. Why are econmists, such as Hayak and Friedman and philosophers such as de Tocqueville and Burke are often ignored? While I was in University i was taught that I should constantly evaluate myself and know what my strengths and my weaknesses were. Even then I knew that there were certain populations that I would not be able to work with due to my strong political leanings. I could never in good conscious advocate for groups such as Planned Parenthood or the LGBT community. I feel that I need to call you out for your total mischaracterization of the GOP and strongly encourage you to rethink what "justice" and "equality" is all about. According to the Gallap Poll, 40% of the public consider themelves as "conservative" wheras 20% consider themselves as "liberals". Please, tell, how are you ever going to advocate for such a large group of people?

Good afternoon from the Land of Smiles aka Thailand. I briefly saw this thread right before the Christmas break and I was thinking about how to best respond to the question that socialworkphd asked and to ask for guidance, of sorts, and if a MSW program would be suitable for me once I return. My godmother, an associate professor at UPENN, was surprised about how conservative I have become while half way around the world and advised me that continuing my social work education and/or career was perhaps not in my best interest. To begin with I am....shhhhhh.....a Tea Party Conservative. Run, run to the hills, or the mountainside! There's a bigoted, racist, homophobe, and I want no part of his mad rambling. ahhhhhhhh!!!!!! Oh, you are still here? Whew! I am relieved. For a second I thought that you might have had a mental breakdown. For starters, I am 34 years old and I have taught in Thailand for the past six years. I am happily married to a wonderful Filipino wife and we have decided that the time for us to move to America is now. We are currently in the midst of applying for her IR-1 (Immediate relative) visa which will grant her a green card upon arrival to the states. . I graduated from Walla Walla University with a BSW degree back in 2005. The reason why I initially got into social work was my unique back ground. The first six years of my life I lived with my mentally challenged mother and often we spent days at end homeless. March of 1986 the state came and took me away. For the next 12 years I was a ward of the court. I grew up in 40-50 different placements ranging from mental hospitals, Juvenile detention centers, institutionalized group homes, to foster homes. Every type of abuse you can put and adjective in front of I have endured many times over. I could easily go on to the point where there would be scarcely a dry eye on these forums but I refuse the mantle of victim-hood. I remember the promise that I made to myself as I left my last group home: never again. When I aged out of the system I had less than 1 year of high school education. I initially went to Job Corps to obtain my GED and then onward to college. During my sophomore-junior year (roughly around 2002-2003) I made contact with one of the leading advocates of foster children on the national level at that time: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and we briefly worked together. His senior policy advisor became the godmother that I mentioned above. In a nutshell, I would like to work with youth who are currently in the system and to craft policy reforms which I think is sorely needed for our broken and dysfunctional foster care system though I am uncertain that my strong political leanings would make a hostile work environment for my collogues. I would totally expect this to be a question that a professor to ask.. It’s simple yet it requires a lot of thought. I could easily write a 3000 word essay about this issue starting from how the Republican Party broke away from the Whigs in the 1840s to 1850s until the present with the Tea Party breaking away from the Republican Party. Generally speaking there are two forces at work in our political landscape. Empowerment and dependency / liberty and tyranny. From a conservative point of view you empower people by allowing them to live life as they see fit free from the ever intrusive regulations set forth by the federal government. Yet the Democrat Party would like to enslave as many as possible through welfare and through dependency. Under our Constition we are guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This includes the right to own and carry guns (gasp!), and the free exercise of religion. Sadly our government has compromised all of these. Abortion (yes, I know I will get in trouble for saying this) takes away of life. Planned parenthood, was started by Margaret Sanger who believed in Malthusian Eugenics or more specifically, killing black babies. She worked hand in hand with the KKK. The ACA (ie Obamacare) takes away our liberty to choose. Many have lost their pursuit of happiness (ownership of property) through excessive taxation or through EPA regulations. Jeff