Nice Is Not Enough: Youth, Inequality and Schooling

This talk tells the story of American High, a school filled with well-meaning staff and students, where acceptance, connection, and kindness characterize school culture. A two-year study of the social world at American High suggests this regime of kindness can obscure the systemic nature of inequalities, making inequalities seem like they are individual problems of merit, hurt feelings, meanness, individual effort or resilience.