By the way, many of the 'name bran' that inner city folks buy for their kids, are not what they appear to be. If you get my drift.

Yes. I agree with you to some extent. However a vast majority of clothing lines from celebrities such as P. Diddy, Russell Simmons, just to name a few of many, target inner city kids to sell their products and their stuff ain't cheap. Read in Time the other day, that Damon Dash of Rock a fella records has his own vodka brand. I am off on a tangent, but I think that you are completely right about designer clothes having nothing to do with learning and self esteem. I only hope that in a world of limited resources, that parents/kids don't have to face the opportunity cost of purchasing a Sean John (sp?) shirt, which could be the price of additional tutoring for that failing grade.