Challenges & Opportunities of Teaching Postwar Suburbia

Most of your students will typically have some experience with the suburbs, whether or not they live there. Therefore you might begin this unit by surveying their sense of suburban life. What is the attraction of the suburbs? What are the limitations? How does suburban life differ from life in the city or country? Would they want to spend their college years in the suburbs? Would they want to spend their adult lives there?

As part of this preliminary assessment, you might want to help them understand that the "suburbs" are more than just a place—they are a way of life. And the culture and lifestyle of the suburbs is a large part of both the appeal and the criticism of the "burbs."