ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned to show that most of what the middle-class youth needs to know can be learned in college, while some of the things the lower-class youth needs to know are not ordinarily taught him by the institutions with which he comes in contact. Indeed, after surveying the educational institutions, conventional and otherwise, with which lower-class postadolescents come into contact, it suggests that there are a number of things that need to be done which no institutions are doing. The middle-class occupational world demands a number of generalized work skills from its recruits. More important than the specific knowledge and techniques necessary for entrance into an occupation is a more generalized kind of work skill, one that in older days was referred to as "stick-to-itive-ness." The chapter addresses the question of whether learning some middle-class skills may not be a disadvantage for many aspects of lower-class life.
