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GROWING
UP IN THE CITY
Introduction...
Part
1-
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The
first program in the Growing Up in the City series tackles the pressures
and fears that adolescents face. In an age of incredible change, everything
seems to affect, for better or for worse, the development of these
young adolescents: the family, the school, the city, the media as
well as popular culture. As Halloween approaches, rumors of gang violence-on
the street and in the media-traumatize sixth graders. Fashion matters
to adolescents, and those who don't wear hip clothes with designer
labels may be isolated and ridiculed. The clothes are expensive and
produce tough choices for the family. In another vignette, young girls
decry the pressures they face from the onslaught of unattainable images
of feminine beauty, even as they confess to being absorbed and fascinated
by those same ideas. Their stories are both timely and timeless. |
Part
2-"Discovering Race"
The second program deals with the ways in which race becomes an issue
in the lives of four adolescents: |
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SASHA,
a Russian immigrant whose mother wants him to marry one of his "own
kind." |
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PAUL,
a Hispanic whose "look" labels him as a gang member. This seems to
cause adults to cross the street. |
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JESSICA,
a white girl who was taken out of her privileged, private school to
attend a NYC public school where she is a distinct minority. |
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JAMES,
who is learning how difficult it is to be a young African-American
male in a white-dominated society. |
Race
is an unavoidable issue in the cities of America. As a teacher Ramon
Gonzales notes, it's not all black and white. Adolescents struggle
with the meaning of color, and the discovery of race is one of the
defining issues of their young lives.
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3-"Family Portraits" |
In
this hour we accompany five adolescents home to meet the adults
who are raising them.
We meet parents who are struggling with age-old dilemmas: how
to combat negative peer pressure, how to teach children to be
careful of the city's dangers without making them too scared;
when to let go and when to hold on, as their young adolescents
press for more freedom.
In two of the families, the fathers are absent, and the adults
struggle to help their daughters come to terms with their absence.
Our five families are typical urban Americans. Every family
has at least one working adult: a chauffeur, a store clerk,
and a sanitation worker.
All graduated from high school, and one has a college degree.
Their family income ranges from $17,000 to $45,000 a year.
This final program is perhaps the most personal. |
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Original
Airdate: April, 1999
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