Word: underclasses
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...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...
...share of violent racism -- but because an organized and resourceful black community constantly pushed a white leadership that was at least pragmatic. Now it is said to be a land of opportunity for black managers -- who, during the day, mix easily with whites. It also has a huge black underclass reflected in a poverty rate that is the second highest of any American core city. When I lived in Atlanta, at the height of the struggle, the interests of poor black people and well-off black people seemed identical. To some extent, their interests still coincide. But a poor black...
...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...
...diversity of Latin cultures. "Cubans," says Julia, "are as different from Mexicans as French are from Italians." Menendez, Cuban-born, catalogs the differences: "First-generation Mexican Americans are still emotionally connected to their homeland. They want movies that remind them of home. But Cubans don't identify with the underclass. Would you, if you owned Miami...