Whatever It Takes by Paul Tough: Book Review & Analysis

Introduction

Paul Tough's Whatever It Takes became a bestseller because it captured readers in both a scholarly and an accessible way. Its easy-to-read, entertaining format combined with the importance of its subject matter — education and the effort to help families from disadvantaged communities rise socially and economically — gave it broad appeal. Tough highlights the ups and downs of an expensive, 97-block initiative called the Harlem Children's Zone. This paper reviews and critiques the book.

An impoverished community can be awakened to a fresh new approach to education, and with cooperation and hard work, the children in that community can be given a far better future. This book is a powerful illustration of the socioeconomic transitions that must take place for that brighter future to become a reality.

Geoffrey Canada and the Harlem Children's Zone

When a neighborhood is motivated to fight creatively and assertively to improve its socioeconomic conditions — by focusing on enrichment programs for children — it is worthy of a book like this one. What Tough accomplishes, beyond documenting this extraordinary neighborhood, is to provide a road map for other communities where parents roll up their sleeves to change the future for their children. Though Tough is the author, the book follows the movements of Geoffrey Canada, a bright, alert, and highly competent organizer.

The story of how the Harlem Children's Zone became a reality is also the story of Canada's energy and creative vision. Canada had previously set up programs — "decent programs," according to Tough on page 2 — that provided after-school activities, truancy prevention staff, and supplemental classes. But Canada could see there was more to attacking poverty than those programs offered. The existence of a waiting list for enrollment showed him that parents were genuinely interested in helping their children. Yet he was troubled: "If all he was doing was picking some kids to save and letting the rest fail, what was the point?" (Tough, 2). Ingeniously, Canada changed course. He moved the programs "off the treadmill" and reversed his strategy so that by starting with the outcomes he wanted and "worked backward" from there, he might create something far more meaningful (Tough, 3). From there, he moved toward combining educational, social, and medical services — and his instincts proved correct.

Canada's program is about giving families the opportunity to embrace services for their children, participate actively, and develop both cognitive and social skills. "We're not interested in saving a hundred kids," Canada told Tough on page 19. "Even three hundred kids — even a thousand kids to me is not going to do it. We want to be able to talk about how you save kids by the tens of thousands, because that's how we're losing them" (Tough, 19).

Only a man with Canada's drive and ambition could have tackled a task so immense. In order to "transform every aspect of the environment that poor children were growing up in" and to change the way their families were raising them — as well as the "character of the neighborhood" — Canada needed to enlist funding sources and build enthusiasm among parents, teachers, and community leaders. On page 45, Canada confronts two critical questions as he moved from waiting lists and lotteries to a program that embraced the whole community: first, was the problem related to poor parenting methods among lower-income families? And second, was it possible to "quantify a practice as subjective as parenting?" (Tough, 45). These were highly pertinent questions, especially given that previous research showed middle- and upper-class parents tended to be "more sensitive, more encouraging, less intrusive, and less detached" (Tough, 45).

The book also touches on Canada's personal life, including the circumstances that led to his having twins with Joyce Henderson, the death of one of those twins from sudden infant death syndrome, and the strain of maintaining a marriage in a "cramped apartment" while working full time and attending college (Tough, 55). These details deepen the reader's understanding of the world Canada came from and the forces that shaped his commitment to his community.

Contrasting Educational Models

Throughout the book, Tough employs a strategy of contrast and comparison — placing the Harlem Children's Zone alongside the widely lauded middle-school program KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) — to help readers understand how successful the Harlem Children's Zone was becoming. There is a dramatic difference between the two programs. As successful as KIPP has been, it primarily serves students who are already demonstrating outstanding academic potential. What Canada did was far broader: he served not only impoverished children who could thrive with the right program, but also young people whom society had largely written off — those involved in gangs, those struggling with substance use, and others on the margins.

This inclusive vision distinguishes the Harlem Children's Zone from most other educational interventions. Rather than selecting the most promising students, Canada sought to transform entire blocks and entire populations, insisting that the scale of the problem demanded a response of equal scale.

Conclusion

It is informative, enlightening, and educational to read Tough's book because such a powerful story about education and poverty in America has not been told in quite the same way before. Whether other leaders and teachers will follow in Canada's footsteps — helping young people of all ethnicities who are caught in a cycle of poverty to develop skills that can carry them forward — remains to be seen. What is certain is that the Harlem Children's Zone represents a far more visionary and yet practical solution than policies such as No Child Left Behind. Canada's quest and his success deserve to be replicated across the country, wherever poverty persists.

Works Cited

Tough, Paul. Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America. Houghton Mifflin, 2008.