A lot of what you thought you knew about poor black kids growing up in Baltimore may not be true. A research effort by three sociologists who got to know 150 African-American young adults who were born into public housing and exposed to significant violence finds that most of them didn’t turn to crime themselves, and that many kept themselves on track by finding something to be passionate about. But still, despite the promise many showed in school, very few have gotten a college degree and a firm hold on a middle-class life. We’ll talk to sociologist Kathryn Edin of Johns Hopkins, one of the authors of "Coming of Age in the Other America."
During the show, we discussed the pitfalls of for-profit and career schools, a topic we previously devoted an hour to.