Word: underclass
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...World society within a First World nation. Theirs is a Hobbesian universe where life is nasty, brutish and often cut short by violence, disease and drugs. They live lives without: mothers without husbands, men without work, families without homes, days without structure, neighborhoods without hope. They are America's Underclass, a disturbing daily reminder that American Democracy has not measured out liberty and justice...
...book doesn't claim to have solutions to the problems of growing up Black and poor in the ghetto, and doesn't join the current debate over whether the rising Black underclass is the product of cultural pathology in the Black community, or the lack of economic opportunity for Blacks. Instead it proceeds on the worthwhile premise that not enough people on the outside even know that these problems exist, or, more significantly, know that people exist behind the problems, and behind the traditional stereotypes...
...learning than custodial institutions complete with wardens (principals) and guards (teachers) striving to control a mob of prisoners (students), some so preoccupied with the three Cs -- crack, crime and casual sex -- that they have no time for the three Rs. But the educational blight is not confined to underclass ghettos and barrios. Despite efforts to upgrade the math skills of U.S. students, a recent survey indicates that nearly half of American 17-year-olds cannot perform simple calculations that are normally learned in junior high school. Other surveys have documented equally dreary student performance in reading, writing and critical thinking...
...positions require more education and skill than ever before. As a result, the number of minimum-wage earners has dropped from 12.8% of all hourly workers in 1981 to 7.9% in 1987. Yet these jobs represent stepping-stones for many people trying to climb out of the economic underclass. A hike in the minimum wage, many economists point out, would eliminate opportunities for people who are less well educated or just entering the job market. Low-paying training jobs that provide work experience and employment skills will be the first to go, contends Marvin Kosters, director of economic policy studies...
...suppose a lot of white people in Atlanta spend much time talking about its underclass or its soul. They talk about what a splendid place it is to live and about how many people have dug in their heels when faced with transfer to the office parks and new suburbs of some other city. They find Atlanta relatively free of the dreaded insects of Southern summers (because it is higher in altitude than anyone might imagine) and conveniently located (because it is more westerly in longitude than anyone might imagine...