1st Edition

Underprivileged School Children and the Assault on Dignity Policy Challenges and Resistance

Edited By Julia Hall Copyright 2014
    234 Pages
    by Routledge

    246 Pages
    by Routledge

    Every day, children living in low-income communities have no choice but to grow up in a climate where they experience multiple unending assaults to their sense of dignity. This volume applies theoretical and historical insights to think through the increasingly undignified realities of life in economically marginalized communities. It includes examples of curricular challenges that low-income students in the US confront today while attempting to learn. Curricular challenges are analyzed as material texts that emerge out of student lived experiences in the economically disposed neighborhoods in which schools are located, and the dynamics of the schools and classrooms themselves. Attention is also paid to educators and students who push back against these forces in an effort to reclaim voice, identity and dignity.

    1. Introduction Julia Hall  Part 1: The Assault on Dignity in Households and Communities  2. People of Color on the Frontline of Environmental Assault Robert D. Bullard, Glenn S. Johnson, Denae W. King, and Sheri L. Smith  3. Poverty and Child Development: Beyond the Schoolyard Gate Nicole Simon and Gary Evans  4. Juvenile Justice in a Changing Environment Rosemary Sarri  Part 2: The Assault on Dignity in Schools  5. Market Ideologies and the Undermining of Democracy, Education, and Equality David Hursh  6. E Pluribus Unum: Elementary School Narratives and the Making of National Identity Mary Christianakis and Richard Mora  7. Neoliberalism and Urban School Reform: A Cincinnati Case Study Dennis Carlson  Part 3: Resistance from Inside Communities and Schools  8. Raising Critique about Unhealthy Food Access Among Marginalized Youth in Communities and Schools Catherine Lalonde  9. Speak it, Live it! Spoken Word Pedagogy as Critical and Culturally Responsive Practice Bronwen Low and Reenah Golden  10. The War on Dignity: Hip-Hop Youth Read Schools the Riot Act Brad Porfilio, Debangshu Roychoudhury, and Lauren M. Gardner  11. Conclusion Julia Hall

    Biography

    Julia Hall is Associate Professor of Sociology at D’Youville College, USA. Her research considers the experiences of low income, culturally marginalized urban youth in the context of a rapidly changing economy. She is likewise focused on the cultures of violence and silencing experienced by dispossessed females and forms of resistance and effective policy change.

    "The book argues that families, educators, and professionals working across a wide range of disciplines are a cross-disciplinary collective, one that has the potential and power of cross-disciplinary collective action that could serve as a critical change agent in building schools capable of upholding the ideal of a democratic public education. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals." - J. C. Agnew-Tally, Missouri State University, in CHOICE, February 2015