Learning Brooklyn, Neighborhood by Neighborhood
9/14/2009
You probably know that Brooklyn has 2.5 million residents. But did you know that nearly half of them were born in a foreign country, one-third of them are black, slightly more than half are white, and the Asian population—specifically the Chinese—has grown the most in recent years?
Brooklyn College Professor Emeritus of Sociology Jerry Krase knows these kinds of figures like the back of his hand, and he has stories to go along with them, too. This is why every year he leads the new faculty on a bus tour that starts on campus and makes its way to the southern tip of the borough, right on through Coney Island, and back through Flatbush via Bensonhurst, New Utrecht Borough Park and Kensington.
These are the neighborhoods from which most Brooklyn College students hail, and for new faculty members, says Krase, riding through these streets can be a very insightful experience.
"There’s a difference between knowing your students in the classroom and seeing where they live," he explains.
As the 2009–10 academic year started to rev up, the new professors took in the boardwalk at Brighton Beach, markets in Sunset Park Chinatown, an old historic Dutch church in Flatbush and much more.
