Reading, Writing and Resistance: Adolescence and Labor in a Junior High School

Description

A story of everyday life in an American junior high school, originally published in 1983, this book demonstrates the ways in which the school culture of early adolescence both supports and denies the cultural and economic requirements of the parent society that surrounds it. It explores this school culture in relation to the local and national in political economy, to class, race and gender, and to the needs of the state. The author approaches the work of students in school as a labor process in the context of an advanced capitalist society. He describes such typical junior high activities as ‘goofing off’ and ‘bugging the teacher’ by examining the meaning of these activities to the students engaged in them, and brings acute observation and sensitivity to bear on the forms of resistance that arise among the students, showing that this resistance is a form of power which students exercise in the face of their estranged status. The nature and consequences of this resistance are examined in detail, especially as they relate to the context of a society in which estranged labor, in one form or another, is the dominant characteristic for most members. Throughout the book, the subtle pressures, the cliques, the vitality, the boredom and the ever-present humor of school life are explored. By integrating the insights of Habermas with the theories of Marx, the author is able to examine the tension between the ‘reified knowledge’ of the school and the ‘regenerative knowledge’ of the students in a sensitive ethnography which captures the student world in ways which have been missed in the past. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Original Title Page Original Copyright Page Table of Contents Series Editor's Preface Author's Preface 1 Introduction The Junior High School Related Studies Perspective for the Book Organization of the Book 2 The Community and the School The Community The Jefferson School District Harold Spencer Junior High Summary 3 The Classroom World Time in Class Classroom Demands Students and Classroom Life Summary and Conclusions 4 The World of Don's Group The People Activities and Perspectives Seventh Grade Eighth Grade Summary and Conclusions 5 The World of Chris's Group The People Activities and Perspectives Seventh Grade Eighth Grade Summary and Conclusions 6 'What did you do in English Today?' 'Nothing, Just Goofed Off' The Students' Map of the School The Social Context of Goofing Off Ways to Goof Off Summary and Conclusions 7 Student 'Power' Classroom Strategies Beating the System Skipping Summary and Conclusions 8 Summary and Conclusions Structural Attributes of the Student Role The Derivation of Meaning within Structure The Student World and What is Learned in School Toward Rethinking Schooling and Youth Appendix A: Lesson Plans Appendix B: Methodology Notes Name Index Subject Index