This article addresses a particular area of research in the field of education and child protection: the protective role of schools in the contexts of HIV/AIDS and poverty. Such adverse situations may lead children not to enroll in school or to drop out of school and subsequently to be subjected to abusive child labor and, in some cases, the worst…

The author argues that some of the modernization strategies undertaken in the less developed countries (LDCs), particularly those pertaining to literacy and "conscientization" programs, might be applied profitably to alleviating the plight of the poor and powerless in underdeveloped areas within the United States. (Author)