Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

If You Know The Way To San Jose It Helps, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Not uncommon in this country is the manner in which a location is described: "Far from the center of California, as the name implies, El Centro is the seat of the Imperial County, DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND, BOTTOM CORNER OF THE STATE AS YOU LOOK AT A MAP..." Apparently, for this local columnist describing the poorest county of the 58 in our most populous state, stating that it is located in the southeast corner of the state is something that was never learned. Oh yes, it should also be made clear that San Bernadino County is the largest in …

Rhode Island Teachers Ahead Of The Crowd, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"For teachers this is the time to enjoy the summer break to travel, stay home with their own children or just take a vacation. But for the majority there is something called professional development. Summer is the usual time when teachers go back to school to hone their skills, learn more about their subject area, work for advanced degrees or pick up some new practices for that high tech equipment sitting in the classroom. Like may other professionals who want to advance their careers and keep up with new ideas and practices, teachers also take courses during the school year …

Measuring Up Rhode Island, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Among its several distinctive characteristics is Rhode Island's small size. The smallest state gives its residents a distorted perception of distance (a trip to Woonsocket requires an overnight); is often used as a measure of scale (the fire burned an area the size of Rhode Island); and in the eyes of non-Rhode Islanders does not exist as a state (island off the coast of New York or a spot on the highway to Cape Cod)."

There's Good News From The Nation's Classrooms, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Last May at the finals of the National Geographic Bee held in Washington, DC, Alex Trebeck was getting concerned because he thought that he would be running out of questions for the ten finalists who came from throughout the country. Well, he did have enough, although it was close.

In the previous year it took just 80 questions to determine a winner of the Bee, an annual event sponsored by the National Geographic Society in which over five million kids nationwide from grades four through eight compete. In 1999, however, it took 140 questions before a winner was determined. In …

Are You Geographically Informed?, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"With all the hoopla today about kids not knowing their geography, the question could also be raised about today's businessperson and his knowledge of the world. After all, aren't the buzzwords now the global economy and knowing your place in it?"

Excellence In Geography In The Schools, Chester Smolski, Anne K. Petry

Smolski Texts

"Most people know of the National Geographic Society through its well-know magazine, nine million of which are mailed out each month and most of which now reside in attics throughout the world.

"But what many do not realize is the $80 million effort over the past 12 years that the Geographic has made in the schools of the country to make our teachers an children better understand the world around them. This it has done throuh its support of the Geography Alliances established in every state, Canada, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia."

Helping Teachers Help Students Enjoy Geography, Chester Smolski, Anne K. Petry

Smolski Texts

"The concern to improve the education of your young people, whether at the national, state or local levels, is manifesting itself in a variety of ways. One of these is the national program sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

Time To Trade In Our Island Mentality For A World View, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The 836 residents of New Shoreham (Block Island) don't leave that island very often because of the expense and inconvenience. And some say that there is no need to leave that 10 square miles of beauty because they have everything there, so they are happy to stay.

That type of mentality, of feeling isolated and different from other places, may also be true of the state which, coincidentally, has the name "island" in its name. The reluctance to leave or move across the minuscule box of orders that define this smallest of states means that we turn inward and don't …

Turned On Teachers Help Students Tune In To Geography, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"If you hear your youngster just home from school talking about some local issues related to transportation, land use, natural resources, air quality, water pollution, zoning, population growth or economic development, you can bet that she has been turned on by her geography teacher."

Rhode Island, The Rosetta Stone Of Comparisons, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Unique among the states because of being the smallest of the fifty, Rhode Island thus often serves as the measure of size when talking about other places. Most recently it was Lake Champlain."

Is Geography In R.I. Going Down The Drain?, Ann K. Petry

Smolski Texts

"Global Village. World understanding. Political Alliances. Trade agreements. Global warming. Cultural differences. Population growth. Refugees and migration. Declining resources. Environmental degradation. It's a big world and it requires study to address these issues, but here in Rhode Island the one school that turns out the most teachers is dropping the subject that specifically speaks to all these problems--geography."

On Students, Standards, Employers And Jobs, Chester Smolski

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"The recent an first national census survey on hiring, training and management practices in business in this country statistically reaffirmed the complaints of business leaders made a decade ago--young people coming out of our schools are not ready nor qualified for the workplace."

Bringing Geography To Life!, Chester Smolski

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"When Gil Grosvenor, president of the National Geographic Society, called a meeting of Kit Salter and other geographers from California nearly a decade ago, he had no idea that the discussion would have a profound impact on the teaching of geography in the nation's schools."

Attacking Geographic Illiteracy, Chester Smolski

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"It has been clearly demonstrated through numerous surveys that US residents are among the most geographically illiterate people in the world. Whether trying to locate our own country or the Soviet Union on a world map, we score among the lowest of the major industrial nations of the world in such a simple exercise. But the future looks brighter, both in the nation and in Rhode Island, thanks to the efforts of the National Geographic Society.

Finding Out When A City Is Not A City, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"'Welcome to America's most livable city' was the slogan in gold letters on a blue banner that hung from the rafters. This was the greeting that a passenger received on arrival a few years ago at the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport. The banner no longer hangs there."

Skewed Distance Perception Is Rhody Tradition, Chester Smolski

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"We all joke about the size of this state and the attitude that its residents have regarding traveling any distance: Packing a lunch if you are going to Westerly from Providence, staying overnight if you go to Burrillville from Bristol and driving from Pawtucket all the way to Exeter to visit a friend. We hear it enough to start believing it."

Our Place On The Map, Chester Smolski, Anne K. Petry

Smolski Texts

"National Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 11-17) will have special significance for the schools of Rhode Island. The National Geographic Society has just awarded a $1000 planning grant to the two of us, one of such seven awards granted this year, to begin the process by which all of our schools may again bring geography to its full importance in the curriculum."

Cape Cod's Drive To Curb Overdevelopment, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

The mid 1980s in Rhode Island will be long remembered as a time of intensive real estate development, explosive house process and manmade growth sprawling over the countryside. These phenomena also generated a reaction in the form of environmental concerns, the NIMBY syndrome, affordable housing issues and the passage of the 1988 Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Regulation Act.

Unlike Most Top 100 Cities, Providence Losing Population, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Given the recent history of population decline in Providence and other large cities throughout New England, one might think that major cities throughout the country are also losing population. Not so."

Providence Pleases Geographers, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"New England and eastern Canadian geographers recently held their 61st annual meeting at a hotel in downtown Providence. The 175 college and university faculty members, including some college students, were joined by 40 public school teachers for the two-day conference on urban revitalization."

A Silo Is A Silo Is A Silo--But Not In Akron!, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The short ride from Cleveland to Akron provides lasting impressions of America's sixth most populous state located in the center of this nation's industrial heartland. Space and cleanliness seem to dominate. There is much space on which to construct long, low industrial buildings, space around houses and schools, and great expanses of openness between cities. Visiting a large state that also uses much space for its farming makes one aware of the constricted space in our small state and the greater concentration of people. In Rhode Island, on average 903 persons occupy every square mile of land area, making us …

The Local Planning Boards Miss An Opportunity, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Planning boards in the communities of the state have the responsibility to study, advise and recommend strategies and policies for the growth and development of their respective cities and towns. These appointed members frequently have no background on such matters and must often make decisions on which they have little understanding. This is particularly true in areas of housing where PUD, PURD, Condo, Co-op, zero lot line zoning, and a host of other acronyms and concepts sometimes defy comprehension."

A Quiet Day In The City?, Chester Smolski

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"It was the invitation which got me to thinking: it read "Come to our house on Sunday and spend a quiet day in the city." A quiet day in the city?"

Soul City Deserves To Succeed, Chester Smolski

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"Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream--a dream of equal opportunity and justice for all. An assassin's bullet prevented him from realizing his dream. His friend and well-known leader in the civil rights movement also had a dream--a dream to build a new town in which the injustices of society would be lessened. Today, in the rolling farmland country of North Carolina, Floyd McKissick is working to fulfill his long sought dream."

Are Trees Necessary In The City?, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It appeared as a small news item: the Providence Park Commission had requested that 40 trees be planted along Atwells Avenue as part of the $2.8 million facelift scheduled for Federal Hill but the Providence Redevelopment Agency did not act on the request. Businessmen along the street were also opposed to the plantings because they considered that their shops would not be visible behind the trees and thus, they would lose some potential business. As a result, no new trees will appear along that business thoroughfare."

Revival Of Downtown Providence, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Finally, on September 29, more than two years after the initial correspondence and subsequent competition, design, debate, public hearings and more public hearings, the proposal for the Kennedy Plaza auto restricted zone (ARZ) was passed by the Providence City Council. This necessary approval cleared the last barrier before the September 30 deadline of the Urban Mass Transit Administration (UMTA) so that Providence may be considered for nearly $5 million of federal funds to implement this project."

City Land Bank Would Promote Industrial Development, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"On the 19th of May, in the city of Providence, 200 properties were offered for sale to the public. These were properties on which owners were in default of taxes and which the city hoped to sell in order to get them back on the tax rolls, as well as to collect back taxes. Only 21 of the properties were sold."

A New Park To Give The Downtown A Lift, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

The recent discussions on the proposal for an auto-restricted zone in Kennedy Plaza have centered essentially on one idea: should this area continue to be used for cars and parking space or should it be turned over to pedestrians, with limited auto access, increased bus usage, and fewer parking spaces?

Don't Be Too Quick To Dismiss Pedestrianized Malls, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The recent proposal to close off parts of the Kennedy Plaza and Dorrance Street to automobile traffic and transform autoways to pedestrian use has raised an important question: What would be the impact on downtown stores if this proposed auto resticted zone (ARZ) were implemented?

Providence Needs More Than Parking Space, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The automobile has made us highly mobile. Today we think nothing of driving 30, 40 or 50 miles to do different kinds of shopping. The success of suburban malls attests to this fact: with good access from interstate and highways, these asphalt oases have sprung up like mushrooms throughout our suburban areas. And with few exceptions, they have successfully fulfilled the single function for which they were intended--retailing.