Alice Goffman: How we're priming some kids for college — and others for prison
In the United States, two institutions guide teenagers on the journey to adulthood: college and prison. Sociologist Alice Goffman spent six years in a troubled Philadelphia neighborhood and...
========== On the path that American children
travel to adulthood, two institutions oversee the journey. The first is the one we hear
a lot about: college. Some of you may remember
the excitement that you felt when you first set off for college. Some of you may be in college right now and you're feeling this excitement
at this very moment. College has some shortcomings. It's expensive; it leaves
young people in debt. But all in all, it's a pretty good path. Young people emerge from college
with pride and with great friends and with a lot of knowledge
about the world. And perhaps most importantly, a better chance in the labor market
than they had before they got there. Today I want to talk about
the second institution overseeing the journey from chi...