New Perspectives on the History of the Twentieth-Century American High School

Description

The growth of the American high school that occurred in the twentieth century is among the most remarkable educational, social, and cultural phenomena of the twentieth century. The history of education, however, has often reduced the institution to its educational function alone, thus missing its significantly broader importance. As a corrective, this collection of essays serves four ends: as an introduction to the history of the high school; as a reevaluation of the power of narratives that privilege the perspective of school leaders and the curriculum; as a glimpse into the worlds created by students and their communities; and, most critically, as a means of sparking conversations about where we might look next for stories worth telling.  Series Editors’ Preface Acknowledgments Contents List of Contributors List of Figures 1 What Is the Twentieth-Century American High School? An Introduction 2 Politics and Markets: The Enduring Dynamics of the US System of Schooling Politics and Markets and the Founding of Central High Increased Access Leads to a Tracked and Socially Reproductive Central High The Lessons of Central High Applied to the American Educational System What’s Next in the Struggle Between Politics and Markets? 3 Renovations in the Citadel Second Thoughts The Disappearance of Childhood? Mile-Wide, Inch-Deep Lessons from a Kentucky High School Different Sources Numbers: Course Enrollments Visuals: High School Architecture What’s Next? 4 “Intellectual Power” for All: Theodore Sizer and the Origins of the Coalition of Essential Schools at Phillips Academy, Andover “A Private School?” The Power of Personalization From Subjects and Seat Time to “Intellectual Power” From Andover to the National Stage The Coalition of Essential Schools Deeper Learning for All 5 “A Living, Breathing, Curriculum”: Harlem Prep and the Power of Cultural Relevance, 1967–1974 “Everything Spoke to the Times”: Relevant Teaching in Class Spaces “A Curriculum that Holds Their Interests”: Course Selection and Educational Program “It Was like an Open House”: Programs, Initiatives, and the After-School Space In Perspective: Curriculum, the History of Education, and Social Justice Research 6 Gendered Anxieties Pave the Way for a Separate and Unequal Co-educational High School The Expansion of American High Schools Fuels Debates About Co-Education Leveraging Hall’s Theories to Advance the Campaign to Build New High Schools Germantown Residents Receive Funds to Build a Permanent Public High School Germantown High School: A Separate and Unequal Co-Educational High School 7 A Window into the World of Students: An Analysis of 1920s High School Student Newspapers The Progressive High School and Its Newspaper: A Natural Fit The Beginning of High School Newspapers, 1910–1923 The Professionalization and Standardization of the High School Press, 1924–1929 8 Books, Basketball, and Order of the Fish: Youth Culture in Midwest Small-Town High Schools, 1900–1930 The Assembly: The Home of Youth Culture The Assembly: Student Behavior Semi-formal Organizations: From Literary Societies to Basketball Informal Organizations: Order of the Fish Conclusion 9 “Fight for Your Land”: Southern High School Activism and the Struggle for Youth Autonomy During and After the Second World War Politicizing the Southern Black High School Through Protest and the Courts Feigned Militancy: SNYC and NAACP Youth Organization During the War “Behold the Land”: Tilling the Soil of the Southern Youth Movement 10 The Hidden Politics of High School Violence High School Violence in the South High School Violence in the North High School Violence and the Carceral State Conclusion 11 Shifting Public Perceptions of Wichita’s Southeast High School, 1957–2000 The “Golden Years,” 1957–1979 The Road to a Final Desegregation Plan Implications of the Desegregation Plan Little Harvard Transitions, 1980–1999 District Policy Changes: Trading One Problem for Another District Seeks to Retain Students with Policy Initiatives Conclusion 12 Funding the “High School of Tomorrow”: Inequity in Facility Construction and Renovation in Rural North Carolina, 1964–1997 “The Road to Disrepair”22: School Districts Funding New Construction for (De)Segregation “No Help”77: County and State Accountability for Resource Disparities Conclusion 13 Epilogue Index