Homelessness, urban

Earlier in the chapter, it was noted that nearly 57 percent of cfients in public-sector treatment had been in treatment previously and 10 percent had been admitted to treatment five or more times. Certainly, if addiction is a chronic medical condition, it would not be surprising to find that alcoholics/addicts had multiple treatment episodes. However, five or more times implies a chronic addiction problem that simply is not responding to treatment. Also, everyone has seen chronic alcoholics/addicts on the street in urban areas and many of these individuals die (from a variety of causes) without ever becoming clean and sober. In fact, a government study found that 38 percent of the homeless had an alcohol problem and another 26 percent had a drug problem. ... 

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1999. Homelessness Programs and people they serve. Interagency Council on the Homeless. http //www.huduser.Org/publications/homeless/homelessness/ch.2c.html table2.4. 

Other ethnographic chemistry/science education research studies include Driver s classic studies on student misconceptions (id). Barton s studies on science education in urban settings with homeless children (i7), and Hammond s research on bilingual science education (38). 

But consider the reaction of someone who had never encountered a homeless person forced to live on the streets. Likely, this uninitiated person would come to the aid of the fust helpless soul encountered, driven by the desire to do something. Such emotion would be inspired by witnessing the same tragedy most urban dwellers see each and every day. But because it would be the first time, the event would prompt extraordinary action. Indeed, such an encounter would likely force one to wonder how a civilized society could possibly come to accept such a condition for anyone among us. It would be a remarkable event because it had never been witnessed before. 

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