Recently, I was talking to specialists dealing with the care of children with problems, and the following notion impressed me that one of the main objectives is to substitute the psychology of a beneficiary to the psychology of a taxpayer. It seems like what it has to do with the child’s care. It turns out that it is directly connected. The vast majority of parents of children in orphanages, boarding schools and in day care centers have serious social problems and receive allowances which of course are not enough to meet the minimum needs of the people and which however people get accustomed and as a rule, do not seek individual efforts to come out of this status. Poverty, thus, is not only a social situation but also a psychology, which all specialists agree to.
And here’s this psychology that has been formed among the people over the years, perhaps, in this case for over two decades, is transferred to the next generations and if the children do not come out of their environment, they can also sit down on the “needle” of allowance. Consequently, one of the key tasks of the employees at the care centers: generally, social workers, educators and pediatric psychologists should be changing the children onto a completely “different channel” when you are becoming from a receiver of the allowance to a creator of goods, a user of the fruits of your goods, plus a citizen who transfers a part of these goods to the state and demand the public officials living with the taxpayers’ money to remain within the boundaries of the law.
It is clear that not only the specialists dealing with the care of the children should be worried about this issue. The cases are many when people receiving allowance refuse to work, even though the proposed salary is 2-3 times higher than the allowance. The reason is that the allowance is less risky than the work, which you have today but may not tomorrow. Of course, if it is a work at the public agency, moreover in an agency where you can steal and take bribes, then clearly, no one will refuse this work. But in the private company where your must display your strengths and “creative” approaches, there is no feeling of trust and safety.
In addition, by getting the allowance, you can complain and tell about your own “misery.” We love it even in the case when we receive an ordinary salary. The transitions from psychology of the beneficiary to the psychology of a taxpayer means a situation when a person says, “I am getting high wages and I do not hide it, but I strive to get two, three and ten times more and I see nothing shameful in my efforts because I get a white salary and I pay taxes to the state from my wages.”
Are there many people in Armenia who can say such a thing?
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
