Initiating population education in Baltimore.

Abstract

At a 3-day workshop in population education for 50 secondary school teachers, 4 members of the Baltimore City Public School system were appointed with 4 members of Planned Parenthood Association of Maryland to deal with the inherent difficulties of bringing population awareness to city children, many of whom in Baltimore are both poor and black. This group believed that it was essential that racial sensitivities, both black and white, be explored in a realistic and humane manner. After considerable soul-searching, it was decided that the approach would be to talk about the city of Baltimore and then demonstrate that Baltimore and its problems represented a microcosm of the world. A pilot institute for 30 selected Baltimore City public school teachers was held in June 1971. The participants of this institute felt that population education should be included in the public school curriculum, and materials to implement this were requested. On the basis of this experiment, the Rockefeller Foundation gave Planned Parenthood Association of Maryland a grant to continue its work with the Baltimore City school system. Nine 3-day Urban Life Population Education Institutes for 30 teachers each were held during school hours in the 1973-1974 school year. All teachers in the system could apply to attend. During the summer of 1973 nine creative and imaginative classroom teachers who had attended an institute were selected to develop curriculum materials. They adopted 6 basic concepts covering the overall view down to the individual level. With the aid of another grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, the materials developed will be piloted in the Baltimore schools during the 1973-1974 session. 10 more institutes for 300 members of the school system will be held during the 1973-1974 school year.