Social Class Links 12/20/2008
December 20, 2008
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Essay on Gladwell’s Outliers, a book on how luck and circumstances often matter more than hard work and native ability in explaining success.
Social Class Links 12/18/2008
December 18, 2008
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Considering “the term ‘hip-hop’ in a broad and flexible way to talk about a particular working class generation of color”.
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College counselors fill role of parent – The Boston Globe
In Boston, non-profits support first-generation students in college selection and retention.
Social Class Links 12/15/2008
December 15, 2008
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As the Rich Get Poorer, Teenagers Feel the Crunch – NYTimes.com
Affluent teenagers face cuts in their $100 a week allowances, private Pilates lessons as parents face economic setbacks.
Social Class Links 12/13/2008
December 13, 2008
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To retain enrollments, Arizona supports speciality public schools.
“They become private schools paid for by the public for an elite group,” said Gary Orfield, a professor at UCLA. “It’s fragmenting the school system. They seem to stratify things terribly.”
Changing Times
December 11, 2008
Browsing my news feeds this morning, it’s hard not to feel vertigo, moving from this piece in the New York Times about thousands of domestic workers, already living hand-to-mouth, being fired by professionals feeling the pinch of the economic downturn, to this in the LA Times about luxury dog houses complete with vintage furniture for the dogs’ wardrobes.
I’ll be heading out for my morning run in a few minutes. I’ll pass the empty storefront where my favorite independent bookstore was a year ago, pass the corner where the drugstore that had employed so many African immigrants is now closed. I’ll check to see whether anything is moving into the buildings where two small clothing stores went out of business a few months ago.
But on an early morning run last week, I did see that the new Gucci Store had opened in time for the holidays, and even as my local newspaper is disintegrating day by day, we are now treated to glamorous full-page Gucci ads most mornings.
Really: The problem here is not just our international competitiveness on math tests, is it?
