Introduction and Methods

Janet was a smart kid who grew up in the projects.1 She did well in school and was often taunted by her classmates for being a nerd. In fact, “book learning” was a favourite insult, “They believed that common sense exists in inverse proportion to academic instruction, a notion that found expression in cutting comments such as ‘The girl ain’t got nothin’ upstairs but book learning’ and ‘You got about as much common sense as a speck on a fly!’” (35–36). When Janet did in fact manage to find her way to college, however, she received a new unwanted identity – “project girl.”