Literacy in Urbana
To most University students, Urbana is just part of the University
of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. However, Urbana and Champaign are
two very different cities. Urbana was founded in 1833 as an agricultural
community. Originally, Champaign was Urbana West. It was only
when the railroad began to go through Urbana West, that Urbana decided
they did not want to affiliate with industry and factories. This
decision has been one that has affected both the cities and their differences.
Urbana has a quainter atmosphere while Champaign has most of the stores,
malls, and restaurants in the area.
But, what makes Urbana unique? Who are the people in the area?
What are their races, interests, likes, and dislikes? How do these
affect the diversity and literacy of the area? These were some of
the questions the Urbana group sought to answer. By observing and
asking questions at places such as King Elementary School, Urbana Police
Department, the Adult Education Center, Urbana Middle School, and the Market
Place Mall, the Urbana Group began to discover how the Urbana community
affected literacy. The large amounts of diversity lead to a plethora
of multicultural interest, languages, and nationalities. These in
turn contribute to a more literate society on multiple levels. There
were also interesting discoveries such as, although Urbana is clearly its
own community, what an intricate part the University does play in the development
of Urbana. Throughout the community observation, the Urbana group
has found that Urbana caters to many levels and types of literacies and
is continuing to challenge itself to reach new levels.
