edHelper.com
The 1930's

Social Security

Social Security
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 7 to 9
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.29

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    retiree, files, registration, costing, better, monthly, introduction, secretary, spouse, income, benefits, economy, applicant, maintain, lasted, drastic
     content words:    United States, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President Roosevelt, Social Security, Social Security Board, United States Post Office, Ernest Ackerman, Cost-of-Living Adjustment

Print Social Security
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print Social Security  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Social Security
     Leave your feedback on Social Security  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Social Security
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     Do you know anyone who is retired? Do you know what it means to be retired? Many people will work to make a living for many years. When they reach an age where they no longer believe that they can do their job well, they will quit work, retire from the job. But when a person retires from a job, he will no longer be paid for working. How can a person afford to pay the bills when there is no money coming in?
 
2     Before the 1900's, most people relied on their families to take care of them when they could no longer work. Children took over the work of their fathers. They ran the farms. They continued the businesses. Three or four generations of the same family might live in the same house. The introduction of machinery and factories into the economy of the United States changed all that. Fewer children stayed home to run the family farms or businesses. They found better paying jobs in the city working in factories.
 
3     The late 1920's and early 1930's saw a depression tearing the economy to shreds. People lost their jobs. They lost their homes and businesses. Families were no longer capable of taking care of their own. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt inherited all of the problems of the depression when he was elected president in 1932. He knew something drastic needed to be done to help the older citizens of the country. He also had to find new jobs for those still young enough to work.

Paragraphs 4 to 10:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper