The Theme Of Poverty In Whatever It Takes By Geoffrey...

In the novel, Whatever It Takes, we follow Geoffrey Canada as he desperately attempts to level the playing field for those children in poverty. Geoffrey Canada creates a radical idea that it is possible to save all children in poverty, not only those lucky few. He is most interested in contamination theory, where educated children positively contaminate their community rather than the quarantine theory, where only a few kids are taken away from the community to be saved. This story perfectly shows the relationship between poverty, education, and how good intentions are sometimes not enough. The first example of poverty seen is the literal placement of the Harlem Children’s Zone. “He chose as the laboratory for his grand experiment a twenty-four-block …show more content…
There is a clear mismatch between jobs, except in these contexts “jobs” can be seen as “quality schooling” and the location of low-income individuals, students. “Parents traded rumors about a promising new principal or a decent after-school program, but their options had always been limited: Catholic school, if you could afford the tuition, or whatever the city was offering” (Tough, 2008). There is also a lack of social capital within the area. There is lack of parents or guardians, which graduated high school and then went on to college and the city of Harlem suffers from brain drain. This is when the most education individuals leave the city and do not …show more content…
“The opposing explanation for American poverty is that is caused by the bad decisions of poor people themselves and often perpetuated by the very programs designed to help relieve its effects. If this theory is correct, that poor need is not handouts, but moral guidance” (Tough, 2008). While you cannot blame children for their parents “mistakes”, this theory captures them within the same scope. By this theory, Canada is trying to save children by providing education, which strengthens their human capital, and is also providing moral guidance with the help of supreme faculty and after-school programs. I would also like the point out, there is also a glimpse of feminization of poverty when Tough narrates, “Canada congratulated each mother (or occasionally, father) and

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The Theme Of Poverty In Whatever It Takes By Geoffrey Canada

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The Theme Of Poverty In Whatever It Takes By Geoffrey Canada

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