Many students assume that history has nothing to do with them and therefore is a waste of their time, so finding a way to get involuntary history students truly involved in a topic is always the most challenging aspect of teaching it. As passive listeners they will remember little; as active participants they will remember more and--in at least a…

Presents findings from research on Chicano gangs in Los Angeles, which indicates that many gang members do not live in the territory they defend as their "turf." Suggests that the ecological premises of research from the old "Chicago school of sociologists" no longer apply to gangs in modern U. S. cities. (Author/GC)

Shows how the advantages of ghetto living may be used in teaching communication and composition. (DD)

Questions the commitment of the Democratic party to address the problems of African Americans. Examines the economic roots of the drug problem in the ghetto and emphasizes politicians' and the media's attempts to scapegoat the Black family. Suggests ways to help Black children break the social isolation of the ghetto. (FMW)

A passionate and persistent advocate for American inner-city children, Jonathan Kozol has spent most of his adult life teaching, speaking, and writing about the conditions and problems of urban youth. In this interview, Kozol discusses his commitment to children who live in the poorest inner-city neighborhoods. (Author/AEF)

Argues that Black political action is the only solution to freeing African Americans from the poverty of the ghettos. Proposes that the two fundamental tasks facing the Black community are the restoration of the self-esteem of Black children and the elimination of the American myth of national equality. (FMW)

In this essay, Chaya Herman explores the interaction between two powerful global dynamics that have affected educational institutions and society at large: one is neoliberalism, with its attendant notions of marketization and managerialism; the other is the resurgence of ethnic and religious, often fundamentalist, communities in the search for…

Racial discrimination and racial segregation resulting from discrimination have an effect upon life in central cities. In central cities the costs of retail business and of housing are often higher than elsewhere. Minority group populations, concentrated in ghettos of central cities, are subect to limited job opportunities. The results of racial…

Argues that, as a matter of social ethics, the government should undertake policies to mitigate the economic marginality of those languishing in the ghettos of America and that affirmative-action policies are necessary and justified. Presents a new model for affirmative action and explores various moral and political considerations. (GR)

Most of what the world envisions of the period of westward expansion in America has been crafted through Hollywood cinema. The myths of the West are so ingrained in America's culture that they have taken on a truth all their own. In a series of recent films, which began with the release of "Boyz N the Hood," Hollywood is at it again, presenting…

The urban Black underclass can be traced to the sharecropper South of a generation ago. The propagation of underclass culture has been hastened by an exodus of working class Blacks from the ghettos. Interviews with urban and rural Blacks help identify the problems of the underclass. (Author)

The problems that now seem overbearing in the ghettos--out of wedlock childbearing, unemployment, crime, poor educational achievement--have existed in the ghettos for more than half a century. Anecdotal material from a Chicago project highlight these conditions. Federal efforts must focus on helping individuals to escape. (Author)

In New York City ghetto schools eighty-five percent of the students are reading below grade level. This points to failure, not of the students but of the school system. In District One, although seventy-three percent of the children are Puerto Rican and eight percent are Chinese, only six of the district's nearly 900 teachers are bilingual. If…

Discusses the problems of public policy responses to the AIDS epidemic in relation to a number of recent research reports and analyses. Suggests that effective policy will be increasingly difficult to formulate as AIDS becomes focused in the Black and Hispanic ghettos. (FMW)

The United States has one of the highest poverty rates in the industrialized world, especially among its children and the working poor. The underclass is comprised of a group of 2.5 million chronically poor people who live in inner-city communities where crime, drug abuse, teenage childbearing, dropping out of school, and welfare dependency are…