Coming from a critical youth studies perspective, this article sketches a participatory action research project designed by youth and adults in New York City to evaluate the impact of neo-liberal public policies on young people. Through telling the counter-story of the Polling for Justice (PFJ) project, we propose that re-considering…

The author analyzed the economic and social arrangements, school policies and practices, and individual and collective psychologies of adolescent dropouts from a comprehensive high school in New York City. (MT)

Presents a case study of a New York City high school with a high dropout rate. Focuses on teaching quality, students' attitudes and stresses, and school structure and practice. Argues that school reforms must be developed along with efforts to improve the overall life conditions of students. (KH)

Public obsession with issues of measurement, early intervention, promotion, suspension, education, age of exit, and alternative education dominates discourse on what can be done about high school dropouts. Additional controversial issues of societal structural interdependence are examined for their importance in education reform for minority and…

The deeply fractured nature of U.S. society is examined, focusing on poor and working class people in cities. Based on data from 154 poor and working class young adults aged 23 to 35, the study reveals the ways in which this urban generation has suffered from social change. The following chapters are included: (1) "Voices of Hope and Despair:…