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URBANIZATION AND EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES
by ROBERT
J. HAVIGHURST,
Chicago
MetropolitanDevelopment
American cities have grown in two ways. Many of them have grown
in sheer physical size by annexing land aroundtheir edges. Sometimes the
394 ROBERTJ. HAVIGHURST
TABLE I
1) The term "public school system" includes two types of governmental entity
with responsibility for providing public schools:
(a) those which are fiscally independent of any other government unit and are
listed as "school districts" in this table;
(b) those with less autonomy, which are treated in the census as a dependent
agency of some other government unit. For example, the New York City school
system is one of these "dependent" systems. The number of public school districts
includes a rather large number of "non-operating" districts, which are rural districts
that do not operate schools but collect local taxes and pay the tuition cost of
children in their districts who attend school in a neighboring district. There were
6,031 non-operating districts in 1962 and 2,421 in 1965.
2) Estimated on the basis of data from neighboring years.
land was open farmland which was laid out in city blocks with new streets
and sidewalks. Other times the newly-annexed area was a town or village
which had grown up separately and then was engulfed by the city as an
amoeba spreads itself around a foreign object. Cities thus became larger
in area as well as in population.
In another form of growth, cities extended their economic and social
nets to take in people who did not live within the geographical city limits.
Many people living outside of the city bought their furniture and clothing
and did their banking in the central city. People from a wide surrounding
area came into the city for theater, concerts, and lectures. Thus the city
URBANIZATION AND EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES 395
was the intellectual and economic capital of an area that extended out
some distance from its physical boundaries.
By the middle of the current century it had become clear that a new
type of community was in existence. The Bureau of the Censusrecognized
this fact by defining a "standard metropolitan statistical area," as a city
of 50,000 or more with its county and any contiguous county that is
economically and socially integrated with the central county.
There were 216 metropolitan areas by 1966, with over 65 percent of the
total population of the United States. The most populous SMSA(standard
metropolitan statistical area) was New York, with 10,695,000inhabitants
and the smallest was Meriden,Connecticut, with 52,000. The median size
was 250,000. The distribution by sizes in 1960 was:
incomes; the outer shells of the city contain people with middle incomes;
and the outer edges of the city and the suburbs have high incomes.
Since the total population of the metropolitan areas has increased, an
area that had 500,000 people in 1940 might have 1,000,000 people in 1960.
This means that the number of working-class people was doubled,
approximately, and the number of middle-class people also doubled.
They tended to live in separate and segregated residential areas, which
thus grew in size. As a result of this process, children grew up with less
contact with children from other types of families than their parents had
experienced as children.
In effect, schools became more homogeneous with respect to socio-
economic status. From 1920 to 1965, the segregation of children by social
class (and by race in northern cities) was increasing. This means that the
percent of middle-class children attending schools in which 80 percent or
more of the students are middle-class has increased since 1920; and the
percent of working-class children attending schools in which 80 percent or
more of the students are working-class, has increased since 1920. In the
northern cities, the percent of Negro children attending schools, in which
80 percent or more of the pupils are Negroes has also increased.
Source: 1940 Census of Population, v.2; 1960 Census of Population, Tables 73, 74, 76
of State Reports in Series PC(1)C and PC(3)1D, Table 8.
suburban area outside the central city. This may be seen in Table III,
which reports data on the percent of adults aged 25 and over who were
graduates of secondary schools, comparing 1940with 1960and comparing
the central city with the area outside the central city. This table shows
that the area outside the central city gained in proportion of adults with
at least a secondaryschool education when comparedwith the central city
in almost every one of the 23 SMSAs represented. This table also shows
that there were metropolitan areas of high polarization,such as Cleveland,
398 ROBERTJ. HAVIGHURST
TABLEIV
Percentage of Elementary School Pupils in Non-Public Schools in SMSAs in I960
SMSA Population % of elementary
(000) school pupils in
non-public schools
TABLEV
Public School Systems Inside and Outside of SMSAs: 1961
Enrolment Size of School Systems
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Governments: I962, Vol. V, Local
Governmentin Metropolitan Areas. Tables 1, 2, pp. 22, 24.
400 ROBERT J. HAVIGHURST
29,391 public school districts that existed in 1964, 1,231of them accounted
for 22 million pupils, or 56 percent of the total number. These districts all
had more than 6,000 pupils, and nearly all were in metropolitan areas.
In addition, there were another four thousand smaller districts located in
metropolitan areas. Table V shows how school districts are distributed
according to enrolment size in metropolitan areas. In 1960, 95 percent
of public school enrolment in metropolitan areas was in school systems
with more than 1,200 pupils. Thus one of the consequences of metro-
politanization is a consolidation of small school systems to the point
where a negligible number of pupils are attending school systems with
less than 1,200 pupils.
The Urban-CommunitySchool
The quality of the public schools is the greatest single factor in the
decision of middle-income people to live in the central city or to live in
the suburbs, and to live in one section or another of the central city or the
suburbs. Knowing this as a fact, educators tend to divide into two groups
with respect to their views on the properways to operate a school system
in the contemporary metropolitan area.
One school of thought may be called the "four-walls"school. The basic
principle is to do the best possible job of educating every boy or girl who
comes into the school, whoever he is, whatever his color, nationality, IQ or
handicap. This means building good school buildings, equipping them
well, and staffing them with well-trained teachers. At its best, it means
being courteous and friendly to parents and to citizens who are interested
in the schools, but making it quite clear to them that the schools are run
by professionals who know their business and do not need advice from
other people. It means making use of the cultural resources of the city -
museums, theaters, orchestras, TV programs - under a system which
guarantees the safety of the children and meets the convenience of the
teachers.
It means keeping the schools "out of local politics." Staff appointments
are to be made on the basis of merit alone, and promotion of staff on the
basis of performance. It means a limited cooperation with other social
institutions, public and private. The welfare and public aid and public
health agencies are asked for help when the schools need it, but they
cannot initiate school programs. Youth welfare and delinquency control
agencies have their jobs to do, which meet and overlap the work of the
schools. On this common ground the schools' administration must have
full control of the use of school personnel and school facilities. In the area
of training youth for employment, the school system will use the facilities
of local business and industry for on-the-job training according to
agreements worked out. Over-all policy for vocational education is the
responsibility of the school administrationunder the Board of Education,
and local business and industry are not closely related to policy deter-
mination in this area.
The four-wallstype of school system works for efficiency and economy,
and attempts to free the creative teacher to do the best possible job of
teaching under good conditions. The community outside of the school is
regardedas a source of complexity and of tension-arousalif the boundary
URBANIZATION AND EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES 403
between community and school is not clearly defined and respected.
The other school of thought may be called the "urban-community"
school. The educators who advocate this believe that the big city is in a
crisis which has been in force for some years and will last for at least 10
years and requires the active participation of schools in the making and
practisingof policy for social urbanrenewal.This big-city crisis is reflected
in feelings of uncertainty and anxiety on the part of parents and citizens.
There is danger of a collective failure of nerve which saps the vitality and
flexibility of the city's efforts at urban renewal. Parents and citizens of
middle income are tempted in this situation to escape to the suburbs,
where life seems simpler and safer, especially for children.
The urban-community school attempts to act constructively in this
crisis by involving the parents and citizens in the decisions about school
policy and practice. The educator accepts the frustrationof workingwith
people who themselves are confused and uncertain about the schools,
believing that the only way to solve the problems of the city is to work
on a give-and-take basis with citizens and community organizations.
The urban-communityschool includes the intra-school program of the
four-walls school, but differs at important points on the relation of the
school to the community.
Those who take the urban-communityschool point of view believe
there is no viable alternative. They believe that the four-walls school
actually causes some of the problems of the community through its rigid
rules about attendance districts and about keeping the public away from
the classroom.They believe that the schools by their policies and practices
either attract or repel people in the local community. Under present
conditions, the typical school system repels people whom the central
city cannot afford to lose as citizens. Proponents of the urban-community
school believe that the present trend toward economic and racial segrega-
tion in the metropolitan area will continue, and the central city will lose
quality, unless the schools take a more active part in social urban renewal.
An AmericanDilemma - The ComprehensiveSecondarySchool
The metropolitan areas after they reach a size of about one hundred
thousandtend to becomestratified or polarizedalong socio-economiclines,
with consequent segregation of school pupils along socio-economic and
racial lines. This is seen by American educators as a serious problem,
because they believe that democratic characteristics of a society depend
in part upon a free association of children from all socio-economicgroups
in school.
A principal spokesman for this point of view is James B. Conant,
404 ROBERTJ. HAVIGHURST
TABLE VI
Socio-economic Area and Pupil Achievement in Chicago High Schools
17 66 28 4 0
18 61 32 8 3
19 54 11 16 28
20 54 43 0 3
21 53 21 15 88
22 53 26 0 11
23 53 25 12 19
24 52 17 15 98
25 50 23 0 0
31 23 11 16 9
32 22 10 41 100
33 22 4 56 94
34 20 10 46 80
35 20 14 29 44
36 19 8 36 99
37 17 4 37 91
38 14 4 42 100
39 11 6 41 100
Possible Solutions. Thus the educator faces the dilemma created by his
desire for democratic mixing in a comprehensive secondary school and
by the socio-economicstratification of the metropolitan area which tends
to produce secondary schools that reflect this form of economic and racial
segregation.
The solutions proposed for this problem fall into two widely different
categories. One would abandon the comprehensive school, and the other
would restore it.
One solution lies in the establishment of a number of selective and spe-
cialized secondaryschools, which serve the entirecity orlargesections of it.
There might be university-preparatory high schools which admit only
pupils who give promise of success in university work. These schools
would draw their students from large and heterogeneousareas of the city.
At the same time, there might be other schools for training in commercial
occupations, industrial occupations, and semi-skilled service and factory
jobs. Since this would mean abandoning the comprehensive school
concept, this solution is unpopular with many American educators.
Restoration of the comprehensive high school would be at least par-
tially achieved by the development of very large and complex secondary
schools serving large sections of the city. This scheme has been widely
discussed in recent years, and is being tried in several of the largercities.
It is called the "educational park "or "educational plaza" plan.
In this plan, a large complex of school buildings would be placed in a
location that is accessible to students from a large and heterogeneous
area of the city. The enrolment might be from 5,000 to 10,000. There
might be several different units for students with different educational
goals - one for university preparation, one for commercial training, one
for industrialtraining, etc. Thus there would be some differentiationwithin
the school, but students would associate for athletic and social activities,
and there would be a relatively free flow of students from one type of
URBANIZATIONAND EDUCATIONIN THE UNITED STATES 407
course to another within the complex, as students changed their occu-
pational goals and as they and their faculty advisors became aware
of their abilities.
Another way by which the comprehensivehigh school may be restored
is through the working of social urban renewal. As has been noted, the
movement for metropolitan planning has for one of its goals the resto-
ration of the central core as a place where people of all income levels and
occupations will want to live and raise their children. At the same time,
the suburbs will become more nearly cross-sections of occupation and
income, as industry moves out from the central city.
The various designs made by city plannersand architects for the metro-
politan area of the future generally envisage the creation of units of
200,000 to 500,000 population with their own local business, cultural,
and religious facilities. Each unit would be nearly a cross-section of the
metropolitan population. Each unit would have its own schools, from
kindergartento community college or university. The high school or high
schools in this unit would be comprehensive in nature, reflecting the
heterogeneous character of the community.
The problem of the secondary school in the big city illustrates the close
interaction between schools and the structure of the community in the
contemporary metropolitan area. The schools do not simply reflect the
structure of the community of today. They also influence the structure
of the community of tomorrow.
REFERENCES *)
1. James B. CONANT: The American High School Today. New York: McGraw-Hill,
1959.
2. Alan B. WILSON:"Residential Segregation of Social Classes and Aspirations of
High School Boys." American Sociological Review. 24, 1959, pp. 836-845.
*) For further literature on Urbanization and Education in the United States see
the Bibliography, this number pp. 491-94.
408 ROBERTJ. HAVIGHURST
und mehr, deren Vororte wirtschaftlich eng mit der City verbunden sind. Verstad-
terung und VergroBstadterung haben folgende Auswirkungen auf die Schule gehabt:
1. Anstieg der durchschnittlichen Schiilerzahlen pro Schule von 202 im Jahre
1931 auf 1.600 im Jahre 1965.
2. Riuck gang der Zahl der Schuldistrikte von 127.000 im Jahre 1931 auf 27.000
im Jahre 1965. (Ein Schuldistrikt ist der Verwaltungsbezirk der jeweiligen lokalen
Schulbehbrde in den USA).
3. Riickgang der Zahl der landlichen einklassigen Schulen von 143.000 im Jahre
1931 auf 9.895 im Jahre 1965.
4. Zunehmende Segregation der Schiiler entsprechend ihrem sozio-6konomischen
Herkommen. Dies ist die Folge der sich standig vergroBernden Wohngebiete des
Mittelstandes und des Handwerks in den wachsenden Stidten, und der schwin-
denden M6glichkeit der Schiiler, unter diesen Umstinden mit Kindern anderer
Milieus zusammenzukommen.
Es besteht die Tendenz, kleine Schuldistrikte in groBstidtischen Siedlungsgebieten
zu gr6oBerenDistrikten zusammenzufassen. Die Schuldistrikte der GroBstadte arbei-
ten dariiber hinaus in zunehmendem MaBe zusammen, um folgende Einrichtungen zu
ermoglichen: Sonderschulen fur geschadigte Kinder, Schulfernsehen, regionale Be-
rufsschulen, ein zweijahriges community college, dessen Ausbildung an die Sekundar-
schule anschlief3t. Hauptprobleme, denen sich die Schulen gegentibersehen, sind die
schon erwahnte sozio-6konomische Segregation als Folgeerscheinung der Verstadte-
rung und die Rassentrennung, bedingt durch Abwanderung der Familien mit h6herem
Einkommen in die Vororte und Randbezirke der GroBstadte sowie durch Ballung
der armen Bevolkerungsschichten im Innern der Stadte. Da die Integration von
Kindern verschiedener sozialer Milieus in 6ffentlichen Schulen den amerikanischen
sozialen Prinzipien entspricht, bemiiht man sich, die Segregation - vor allem in den
Sekundarschulen - zu iiberwinden. Eine Losung ware die Einrichtung einer Anzahl
selektiver Sekundarschulen mit bestimmter fachlicher Ausrichtung, die Schiiler
einer ganzen Stadt oder doch weiter Bereiche einer Stadt aufnehmen k6nnen. Dies
wiirde jedoch ein Abweichen vom Konzept der comprehensive school bedeuten.
Eine andere L6sung k6nnte umfassende Schulkomplexe fur 5.000 bis 10.000 Schiiler
in sogenannten ,,Schulparks" schaffen, die Schiiler aus weiten heterogenen Gebieten
einer Stadt aufnehmen konnen. M6glicherweise wird die Bewegung, die man als
,,soziale stadtische Erneuerung" bezeichnet, das Gesicht der GroBstadte revolu-
tionieren, sodal3 diese nur noch aus relativ kleinen (200.000 bis 500.000 Einwohner)
Wohnbezirken bestehen, die in sozio-6konomischer Hinsicht heterogen sein werden.
Eine solche Entwicklung wiirde die comprehensive high school begiinstigen, die
sozial-heterogenen Wohngebieten dient.
La population des Etats-Unis est pass6e de 40 a 70% d'urbains entre 1900 et 1960.
(La population urbaine comporte les agglomerations de plus de 2.500 personnes).
Ce qui est encore plus important, c'est que la population am6ricaine s'est "m6tro-
polis6e." Soixante cinq pour cent de la population vivent dans des agglom6rations
m6tropolitaines d6finies par le recensement comme villes de 50.000 habitants ou
URBANIZATIONAND EDUCATIONIN THE UNITED STATES 409