Coming of Age in the Other America - Inspirational Memoir About Overcoming Poverty in Urban America | Perfect for Book Clubs, Sociology Studies & Personal Growth Journeys

It has become an article of faith among many that inner-city youth (read: black youth) in cities like Baltimore are unmotivated, shiftless, and dangerous. In "Coming of Age," Stefanie DeLuca, Susan Clampet-Lundquist and Kathryn Edin (hereinafter "DCE") demolish that stereotype by relating the experiences and perspectives of Baltimore youth who were the subject of intensive interviews and case histories in 2010 and 2012.The most important takeaway from DCE's work is that these impoverished young people already have many of the values that their middle-class and upper-class counterparts have: a desire to make money legitimately, a willingness to work hard, a desire to improve their skills through education, and aspirations of having a real career. Less than 20% of the youth surveyed ever engaged in serious delinquency, and only about 13% were "in the street" for a lengthy period of time. The youth were three times as likely to graduate high school as their parents, and four times as likely to attempt some sort of post-secondary education. In fact, half of the youth had entered college or a trade school at some point.The problems these young people face, however, are legion. They must deal with bad schools, impoverished neighborhoods (DCE find that prolonged exposure to very poor neighborhoods is a very good predictor of which kids will end up "in the street"), dead-end jobs that fail to pay a living wage, and for-profit trade schools which overpromise and underdeliver on career credentials while saddling their students with significant amounts of debt. The youth lack critical social connections that could help them obtain better information about educational options and find better jobs (connections that many middle-class Americans take for granted). Over time, even the brightest and most promising young people end up "downshifting" their goals because of financial and personal pressures.This book focuses more on the stories of the youth and certain thematic themes instead of policy solutions. There is certainly room for more discussion and exploration of the topic, but this book has already done a tremendous service in 200 pages by giving voice to a group of people who have been relentlessly stereotyped and dismissed. Furthermore, DCE do point to the importance of things like housing reform and integration (to prevent kids from being trapped in high-poverty neighborhoods), better educational counseling about post-secondary opportunities, better regulation of for-profit colleges and trade schools, and support for personal "identity projects" that can give young kids a sense of meaning and purpose to guide them through the transition into adulthood. These solutions are not tremendously detailed or exhaustive, but they provide an important starting point for a conversation about future investment or reform.Our underprivileged youth are far tougher, more resilient, and more eager to be productive citizens than most American believe. They deserve far more support than they currently receive, and DCE have done those youth a great service by publishing their life stories for a larger audience. If you have any sort of opinion on education, housing policy, or underprivileged youth, you should read this book.