ERIC Number: ED164658
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1978
Pages: 8
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Toward a Conceptualization of Urban Education.
Gordon, Edmund W.
IRCD Bulletin, v13 n3 Sum 1978
Studies of urban living and its consequences for education tend to focus on issues related to ethnic minority status and low economic status. There are problems, however, more critical to urban life than those faced by low status people in our cities. Continuity and change present problems in urban areas. Three broad categories which have special relevance for urban education are human diversity, human mobility and human and institutional rigidity. Due to these characteristics and to the political and economic climate, urban populations are diverse and mobile, and at the same time stereotypic and immobile. These populations vary with respect to their status (ethnicity, culture, class, sex) and their functions (language, cognitive style, affective response patterns, etc.). These differences have implications for the way in which educational opportunities are designed and delivered. Yet, these various groups are eventually held to similar mainstream standards despite the pluralistic nature of their reference groups. These populations seem to be in constant geographic movement within the city and into and out of the city. Between groups, though, movement is very limited and upward mobility is more a dream than a reality. In urban education, attention must be given to these and other aspects of urbanicity. (Author/WI)
Descriptors: Cultural Differences, Educational Environment, Educational Problems, Elementary Secondary Education, Minority Groups, Social Influences, Social Mobility, Urban Demography, Urban Education, Urban Population, Urban Problems
Institute of Urban and Minority Education, Box 40, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027 ($1.00)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, New York, NY.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A