1. The Content of Undergraduate Education in Population Studies.
- Author
-
Marden, Parker G.
- Abstract
Rather than simply transferring the patterns and materials used in graduate school demography studies to the undergraduate curriculum in population education, it is argued that certain objectives should be established for the education of students in accordance with their special needs. Four kinds of demography--folk, citizen's, scholar's and humanist's--are identified and described. Folk demography allows the student to view himself as a population actor, to see himself as part of larger trends and to recognize his contribution to them. Citizen's demography requires an understanding of population literacy and of the interpretation of evidence and the development of judgements about facts and figures. The perspective of a scholar's demography is based on research processes. Humanist's demography views population as a key to understanding of the history of society and of ideas. Concluding remarks reiterate that courses should be organized around what the student should know and indicate two problems for further consideration, the specific concepts and findings to be communicated to undergraduates and the place for population concerns within the curriculum. (Author/KSM)
- Published
- 1973