Comparing Kewaunas Ambition And Marita's Bargain

“Marita’s Bargain” was written by Malcolm Gladwell and “Kewauna’s Ambition” by Paul Tough, and both Tough and Gladwell use similar techniques in these articles of text to elaborate on the success and broadening abilities of students. However, there are also keen differences which lead to one being more effective than the other.
Gladwell goes in depth in “Marita’s Bargain”, implying and downright exposing the struggles of impoverished families and how it effects the following generation, and remarks “Lou Gehrig [Junior High] is in the seventh school district, otherwise known as the South Bronx, one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City. It is a squat , gray 1960s-era building across the street from a bleak-looking group of high-rises…

These are not streets that you’d happily walk down, alone, after dark.” The author uses not only imagery but pathos to captivate the reader for a greater purpose and increase of knowledge to learn in depth about KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program). Gladwell is appealing to the side of a reader that may relate and deeply comprehend the dire need for the situation as written and depicted. Extending on the factor of appeal and this specific technique, Gladwell states “KIPP Academy seems like the kind of school in the kind of neighborhood with the kind of student that would make educators despair—except that the minute you enter the building, it’s clear that something is different.” The author is luring in the reader from a more realistic, relatable, and convincing standpoint.
In the text of “Kewauna’s Ambition”, Tough mentions a program, OneGoal, adhered by that of his topic, the topic being a young woman named Kewauna.

According to Tough, “Of the 128 students, including Kewauna, who started OneGoal as juniors at six Chicago high schools in the fall of 2009, ninety-six were enrolled in four-year colleges as of March 2012. Another fourteen were enrolled in two-year colleges, for an overall college-persistence total of 85 percent. Which left only nineteen students who had veered off track to a college degree: twelve who left OneGoal before the end of high school, two who joined the military after high school, two who graduated from high school but didn’t enroll in college, and three who enrolled in college but dropped out in their first six months.” The author appeals to logos as does Gladwell later in his text with various charts and data to prove the reliability of the program he was promoting, more or less. Here Tough has elaborated on this program started by someone he believes to uphold what he considers positive character traits to have strong character. Similar to that of what Gladwell has said, Tough explains that once in high school that students didn’t live up to their expectations. The fact that students who were mostly lost causes as well could affect the more positive results the program that OneGoal is hopes to find. Unlike OneGoal, KIPP is for impoverished children that are chosen at random from a lottery in middle school. The same

tactics and advantages they once had in the prior environment can result in failure in high school, as further broadened by Gladwell in “Marita’s Bargain”.
Though both texts imply what leads to success specifically for teenagers with the likes of education and gaining knowledge, they’re dissimilar unlike their persuasive techniques. Tough speaks of character and what traits can further take you along a brighter path to being successful with no clear guarantee. At the same time he is aware that these ideals of non-cognitive skills don’t promise anything. Gladwell speaks highly of KIPP Academy and low regards for the community around it, all out of good faith. He, along with Tough, have gone as far as concluding their overall states by saying in the end it’s also up to a person to do what they can to make something out of their lives. Even when it does come to that, due to what appear to be unfair circumstances it is not possible. The authors almost appear to be reneging on their beliefs. In their entireties in contrast, Tough is direct about his point by keeping his points cut and clean. He relates his views through another person and their experiences, relying on them for what he does not truly know. The same could be said about Gladwell about what he may not know, but he goes into very specific detail, regarding references and anecdotes to aid his point such as the rice paddies, farming, Asian schooling, and American schooling.
Both Paul Tough and Malcolm Gladwell are effective authors in how they give their purpose and point of views. Gladwell is thorough in telling the story and being heard, appealing to the reader through words, picture, and logic. This gives him an edge versus Tough whom lacks in comparison and yet is no less of a writer in his own right in gaining an understanding for his own points and argument.