I feel that when one lives in the inner city, surrounded by concrete and decrepit buildings, crime and all other manner of societal ugliness, one sure way to self-esteem is to look good when one is dressed. Who are we to tell inner city people how to dress. They generally cant afford to escape to Disney World or a Caribbean vacation so they escape their surroundings by dressing up. If you can pay your rent and buy food, I say, why not ? I dont see it as an either or situation. Learn to appreciate nice clothes, AND study, AND go to college.

An interesting corollary to this is how rich white kids tend to dress down in public. Check out any school for a while. Many young white boys look so unkempt that you couldnt tell them from a homeless person and the girls dress in such trashy clothes that they look like whores going to solicit. So Black kids try to look sharp. So what ?