Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Abstract

Economic inequality—the relative distance between the wealthy and the poor—is growing in the United States. Relatedly, social mobili-ty—the opportunity to rise economically—has stalled for many in the nation. This is most true for the urban poor, who experience extreme poverty and are trapped in American inner cities. Meaningful economic opportunity and robust public educational support are among the tradi-tionally discussed means by which the urban poor may attain enhanced economic and physical mobility. The question becomes whether civic education—an understanding of the structure and contents of the U.S. Constitution and of the American government more broadly—has any-thing to offer in terms of uplifting the urban poor out of their economic stagnation and physical isolation. This Article explores, by way of interviews with various stakehold-ers, whether there is a cognizable relationship between civic education and increasing the urban poor’s prospects for social and physical mobili-ty. It affirms that civic education can play a role in facilitating such mo-bility and argues that law schools should shoulder some of the responsi-bility to provide civic education in high schools located in urban areas of concentrated poverty. The Article also provides specific guidance on how civic education programs can be tailored to be most effective in these high schools.

Publication Title

Denver University Law Review

Volume

90

First Page

977

Included in

Law and Race Commons

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.