ABSTRACT
Over 40 years ago, education historian Lawrence A. Cremin (1970) defi ned education as “the deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to transmit, evoke, or acquire knowledge, attitudes, values, skills, or sensibilities, as well as any outcomes of that effort” (as cited by Franklin, 2003, p. 153). Our conceptualization of urban education is captured in the preceding quote as well as in Banks (2006) description of the general purpose of education in a democratic society. Specifi cally, he asserted that:
Education in a democratic society should help students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to become productive workers within society as well as develop the commitment, attitudes, and skills to work to make our nation and the world just places in which to live and work. We should educate students to be effective citizens of their cultural communities, the nation, and the world. (Banks, 2006, p. 145)
Historically and contemporarily situated, the preceding quotes provide an appropriate start to our discussion on health, nutrition, and physical activity through the medium of physical education for youth in urban schools and communities.
