The kids who are not doing well in school are helped. There are some people on welfare, but it is often obvious that they need to be. Kids out too late get stopped by police. Transients are watched. Not hassled, just watched.
Conservative people tend to be rather self-sufficient.
They usually do not like government interference in much of anything. And, in a nutshell, that is exactly why Bush won the election. Most Americans hoped Dubya would tend to make government back off and leave us alone. I have no idea if the teacher was surprised and impressed by those lesson results. But I sure was.