The Ambitious Generation; America`s Teenagers, Motivated but Directionless

by Barbara Schneider and David Stevenson

• ISBN13: 9780300079821
• ISBN10: 0300079826
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 1999-04-10
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Reveals that the modern teenagers are not only misdirected, but often very alienated. Shows how parents and teachers can take adolescents' admirable raw ambition and provide them with direction and social support.

Author Biography

Barbara Schneider is professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and senior social scientist at the National Opinion Research Center. She currently is the co-director of the Alfred P. Sloan Center on Parents, Children, and Work David Stevenson served as a senior adviser to the deputy secretary of education, as the assistant director for social and behavioral sciences in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and as the deputy director of the National Council on Education Standards and Testing. He also held research and teaching positions at the University of Chicago, Stanford University, and Oberlin College

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Ambitious Adolescents	1	(14)
Part I Voices from the 1950s and the 1990s
Imagining the Future	15	(41)
Trying to Make It with a High School Diploma	56	(23)
The Importance of Aligned Ambitions	79	(34)
Part II The Formation of Aligned Ambitions
Channeling Ambitions in High School	113	(28)
Families and the Shaping of Aligned Ambitions	141	(29)
Teenage Work and Internships	170	(19)
Being Alone and Being with Friends	189	(26)
Part III Defining a Pathway
The Ambition Paradox	215	(30)
Supporting the Development of Aligned Ambitions	245	(20)
Appendix A The Alfred P. Sloan Study of Youth and Social Development	265	(4)
Appendix B Logistic Regression Models	269	(8)
Notes	277	(32)
Index	309