My first issue with this unit is that I think that the students might find its objective to be somewhat ambiguous. Is it the goal to study the work of Sargent Shriver, or to understand its implications in the current perspective or to learn how public policy could be effectively shaped for the betterment of the society? Since all of them are equally compelling topics, there should have been some clarity to guide student research for this unit. The other point that I would like to make about the content is that there is hardly any background information on Sargent Shriver. It covers his work in detail but fails to shed light on what really motivated him and made him so effective in his one-of-a-kind role. Perhaps some information on his upbringings and experiences would have helped the students to realize what really drove this iconic personality and made him a part of our history.
In addition, the unit could be more organized on the basis of his specific initiatives and an analysis of the factors that impacted their success. While the content is complete in portraying the difficulty of his task, it doesn’t explore the details on how the War on Poverty was actually launched. For example, poverty is not uniform across the country from a geographical or demographical perspective and it would have been interesting to see how the programs uplifted diverse sections of the society in different areas of the country.
Finally, the unit failed to provide any sort of continuity in the subject. From the 60’s till present time, the Government has commissioned multiple programs aimed at reducing or eliminating poverty. The content of the unit would have appeared more thought provoking if it referenced more recent topics that people could have easily connected with.
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