Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/working-with-the-tensions-in-the-human-struggle/5026880/
The U.S. Census Bureau defines urban communities as urban clusters and urban areas. Urban areas include communities with 50,000 or more, and urban area clusters include populations of 10,000 and less than 50,000 people. The bureau further describes the conditions in both of these urban communities. Those conditions include poverty, pollution, violence, and poor proximity to essential medical and educational services.
Children can experience socioeconomic inequalities through something as simple as a 15-minute bus ride across town. They can peer out a bus window and see children and families from urban clusters whose lives appear convenient and uncomplicated. They can observe people living with ease, with ample grocery stores and well-built homes with lawns. These children can compare these scenes to their neighbor-hood a few blocks down the street in an urban area with liquor stores on every corner, deteriorated homes and buildings, and a rusted playground in an overgrown public park. Similarly, a child living in an urban cluster may experience a car ride through an urban area and contemplate the stark differences between the two communities. The intersectionality of children’s experiences might remain at a superficial level, unless early childhood professionals and supporting systems apply effort to considering their experiences.
As ...