Analysis Of Jonathan Kozel's How The Poor Are Made To Pay For Their Poverty

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In “How The Poor Are Made To Pay For Their Poverty” Barbara Ehrenreich argues the poor are getting exploited for their poorness not only is it the creditors and businesses it is also local government that are syphoning off money of the poor. In Jonathan Kozel’s “Preparing Minds For Market” he’s research how public schools are now leading students down a particular path of careers and marketing systems set up for just this purpose. In both essays, there are examples that the poor or less fortunate are trapped by local government and businesses and put in situations they can’t get out of which is a cycle that seems unbreakable if you don’t know the traps they set. There are all kinds of traps that are set up for the poor to get stuck in, some include interest rates …show more content…

The way companies are molding the poor are by owning schools in the urban area and treat the kids as products not human beings. “The package of skills they learn, or do not learn, is called “the product” of the school. Sometimes the educated child is referred to as the “product” too”. (Kozel 304). Right out they don’t see students as human but one of their worker bees, a statistic in their company. As the children are being taught the businesses are micromanaging what they do so they are ready to go working for them. Kozel continues to ask that if the “product” doesn’t turn out how they like does that make them a bad investment. Companies aren’t the only ones molding the poor; it’s also the local government. “Each of these crimes, neo-crimes, and pseudo-crimes carries financial penalties as well as the threat of jail time.” (Ehrenreich 282). The reason this is forcefully molding is because when the government nitpicks at every minor infraction and give high penalties they are taking away the little money the poor have, keeping them from paying other bills and

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