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EDU 6315 

Urban Environments and Multicultural Education

EDU 6315 Midterm Exam

Instructions:

1) The exam period will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will end at 9:20 p.m. Plan on writing for approximately 80 minutes for each question. You may take a brief break between questions, if you wish.

2) You must answer one of the two questions in section I and one of the two questions in section II. Please write legibly.

3) You may write in English or in Spanish for either question,; please do not mix languages in a specific answer.

4) The exam is open-book and open-notes, but you may only use the materials that YOU bring to class. This is not a collaborative exercise.

Section I

Question 1. Urban life has distinctive features in different regions of the world. Compare and contrast the major features of urban life in the United States, in Latin America, and in the rest of the world. What similarities do you observe across the range of societies defined as "developed" and "developing"? Finally, what "global" patterns, if any, do you observe in urban life in the contemporary era?

Question 2. For more than a century, social scientists have struggled to define "urban," "urbanism," "urbanization," and "urban system." Give operational definitions of each of these four terms. Finally, provide useful examples from your readings of these four different aspects of urban phenomena.

Section II

Question 1. The book Left Behind in Rosedale paints a dismal picture of urban development at the community level. What are the major arguments of its author? What are the data presented to support these arguments? Finally, explain how his arguments are (or are not) applicable to the community (or communities) where you teach and/or live?

Question 2. Numerous social scientists have used a theoretical dichotomy (or continuum) between "rural" and "urban" dimensions of culture, society, and institutions. Discuss the validity and utility of such a dichotomous (or continuous) perspective on urban phenomena. Give examples of the urban-rural dichotomy (or continuum) in the readings that you have encountered in this course.