Miz Alice’s response to Heat-Moon’s question about the cause of poverty on her island: “We have no poor except those who choose to be – those that would be poor as a gar broth anywhere, the ones who work only so they can quit. No, the cause is education. Not enough of the proper kind at the right time” also shows how highly she views education, and shows similarity between Smith Island and other places. No matter where you go, there will always be people suffering from poverty. I agree that some people bring poverty upon themselves.
But why do so many people choose to be poor?
I have always wondered this myself. A lot of times, poverty is a choice, so why do so many chose to live in it? With all the government grants, educational opportunities, and other government programs out there, why do so many choose to do so little? I think that unless you are physically or mentally disabled, there is truly no excuse for being poor. There are a lot of people who choose to live very simply because "things" just don't mean that much to them. Many poor people say they do not choose to be poor and that they were born poor. I think that if anyone tries, no matter how many generations of their family have been poor, anyone can work their way out of poverty. I agree that education at a young age helps children realize how they should be living. If children never see anything different than their poor surroundings, they will never know the difference. This can relate to the fact that Miz Alice has never seen anywhere other than Smith Island. If poor people see nothing but poor surroundings, they never know the difference. Just like Miz Alice has seen nothing but her surroundings on Smith Island, and she expects it to never change. If Miz Alice were to travel to a big city, I think she would have a completely different view on modernization.
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2 comments:
I think you bring up a great point and you have a really good interpretation of Miz Alice's quote. I always wonder when I see people begging in the streets, why don't they just walk into a restaurant and get an application? Everyone says it's more complicated than that, but how? Instead of spending a day sitting on a street corner with a cup of coins, why don't they find a job? There are so many jobs that do not require a high level of education so why don't they spend their time trying to find them?
Just before this quote, Miz Alice talks about the people living with the junk and how they make no changes to better their environment. She blames the situation on "not enough of the proper [education] at the right time". Do you think people choose to be poor because they don't know any other way as a result of a lack of education? How can they not want a better life for themselves?
What does she mean by the "wrong kind" of education? How can education be bad? How can it make people listless, drug-using, uncurious people with no zest for life? I really think she's a teacher with a philosophy, and she is being critical here of other common ways of teaching.
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