AN EXAMINATION OF

TWO SCHOOL CULTURES THROUGH FILM

by

Victor A. Montemurro

St. John’s University

Prepared for Professor Frank L. Smith, Jr.

EDU 5571 Administrative Leadership in Schools

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Chapter One: Problem

School cultures are complex and often hidden from view. In order to understand a school,

the student of school culture must understand the fundamentals of organizational theory that

pertain to culture (Schein cited in Shafritz & Ott, 1996). A set of specific questions may be used

to provide a basis for examining an organizational culture such as a school (Carlson, 1996, pp.

116-117). The problem of understanding a school culture may be viewed in two ways. One may

look closely at the institutional and administrative culture resulting in a managerial logic that

influences how structures of authority are justified (Ogden & Germinario 1995). A second way

to view a school culture is from the perspective of those who deliver and receive instruction:

teachers and students. An alignment or disparity between the managerial logic and the

instructional perspective may reveal an understanding of the school culture particularly when

critical incidents in both cases are placed in a typology of institutional regimes (Smith, 2002).

School culture may be studied through film. Two school cultures are revealed in the

documentary films High School (1968) and High School II (1994) both directed by the influential

and prolific documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman. Wiseman uses an observational

approach in both films. No direct interviews, and no commentary or music are used in either

film. The effect is to capture the life of the school in a direct manner that presents the artifacts of

the school culture as critical incidents leaving the viewer to determine the assumptions and

values beneath the surface of the exposed culture. High School (1968) tells the story of Northeast

High School, a 4000 student, predominately white, high school in Philadelphia. According to the

director, there were only twelve black students in the school and the school was thought to be

one of the best high schools of in Philadelphia at the time

(http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2001/highschool/thefilm.html). In High School II (1994) “Wiseman

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visited New York's Spanish Harlem where he took his camera into classrooms at Central Park

East Secondary School [CPESS], a successful alternative high school with a predominantly black

and Hispanic student body” (http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=133512).

Both films offer an opportunity to view the life of a school through the lens of the film director.

Both films provide ample material for the study of school culture through film.

The problem of understanding the underlying culture of a social organization like a

school is significant to school leaders because they must guide or control, and often, build or

inhibit, aspects of the culture. Without fundamental understanding, those who would manage and

lead schools will be lost. Deeper knowledge comes from an examination of existing theories

about organizational culture. School cultures also may be looked at through three lenses that

offer perspective on instructional culture: technical, illusory, or constructivist (Popkewitz,

Tabachnick & Wehlage 1982). The consideration of cultural fundamentals, managerial logic of

cultures, and instructional perspective of school culture will be explored in greater detail in the

next section in order to develop a conceptual framework that can be used to examine the cultures

of two high schools as expressed by the Wiseman films.

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Chapter Two: Literature Review

Organizational culture is complex, deep, often ambiguous and developed over time. The

fact that culture is hidden from its group members and works as a “form of magnetism” (Moore

cited in Carlson, 1996, p. 31) makes the study of organizations and their cultures a challenge.

Rational thought may influence how human behavior and relationships are perceived, but

feelings are the way group members are connected. Cultures form in groups and organizations

because of the predominant need of individuals to seek emotional support and to feel connected

to one another. (Weick cited in Carlson, 1996, p.32). Individuals in a group or organization such

as a school who feel connected to one another by emotionality build a knowledge structure

through which they interpret reality. This knowledge structure is socially constructed and the

basis of culture. A framework for understanding cultures is based on three dominant

perspectives: integration, differentiation, and fragmentation (Martin & Meyerson cited in

Carlson, 1996, p.35). An integrated culture is one that is consistent and organization wide. The

members have general agreement on the knowledge structure that binds the group. A culture of

differentiation is one that stresses inconsistency but subcultural agreement. Members are bound

by disagreement and inconsistency; subcultures exist that may have competing knowledge

structures. A fragmented culture is one of ambiguity that pervades the entire organization.

Ambiguity within a culture is considered more difficult to study and generally not given

sufficient attention. Organizational ambiguities present a view of culture that is more expressive

of diverse points of view and more dynamic than a traditional view of culture as a hierarchal and

structured system of (p.35) relationships and obvious symbols. Without consideration of the

fragmentation view of a social organizational culture, one may male assumptions about a culture

that are not fully inclusive of all the assumptions of the culture. While there may exist within a

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culture aspects of integration that work as organizing forces, there may also be competing forces

of ambiguity that interact in such a way as to significantly affect the culture (p. 35).

Schein (cited in Shafritz & Ott, 1996) provides fundamental concepts that give a theoretical

basis for understanding the culture of organizations. Organizations are social groups that share or

hold in common beliefs and values based on assumptions that often go unnoticed by the

members of the groups themselves. Group members hold onto a “prevailing set of beliefs and

customs that guide the actions of persons within that group” (Carlson, 1996, p.31). According to

Schein (1992, pp. 8-9), some of the major categories of shared phenomena that a social group

may exhibit in their culture are:

• Language, customs and traditions that are observable

• Group norms that come to be understood by everyone

• Publicly espoused values and principles

• Formally stated philosophy

• Rules of the game that are implicit

• Climate or feeling in the physical layout or the interaction

• Embedded skills

• Habits of thinking or mental models

• Shared meanings

• Metaphors and symbols

The term culture integrates the above phenomena into a whole pattern that can be used to

understand the organization. Organizational culture creates stability within the structure of the

group that allows the shared learning and meaning to continue as members join or leave. Over

time, groups develop sufficient history to form a set of shared assumptions. The way we tell our

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story of the organization is one definition of culture that highlights the importance of language

and communication in a group’s culture. The narrative of the history of the group and its culture

carry meaning to the members by keeping traditions alive, providing norms of behavior and

discourse.

Culture can be defined simply as “the way we do things around here” (Deal and Kennedy

as cited in Bolman and Deal, 1997). The shared learning, beliefs and values are based on

assumptions that are not visible to the group members and become embedded in the culture of

the organization. Schein (1992) provides a comprehensive, complete definition of culture as

follows:

A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of

external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be

considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to

perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems (p. 12).

Researchers who strive to seek out the pattern of shared assumptions and beliefs that

express the values of the school culture must examine closely the artifacts of the school culture.

Organizational values are expressed in the artifacts of the school and can be examined by careful

consideration of the critical incidents observed in the culture. Critical incidents are the “events

that heighten people’s attention and may cause a considerable amount of reflection (Carlson,

1996, p.40). When viewed with a historical perspective, critical incidents can help uncover the

hidden assumptions, values and beliefs of an organization.

Carlson (1996) suggests specific questions for examining the culture of an organization.

Carlson’s twelve questions may be utilized to obtain a perspective a school culture (pp. 116-

117). The questions are diagnostic and not intended to include all possible ways of analyzing an

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organizational culture. The questions may be presented or viewed in sequences other than as

listed below.

1. What is the theme/glue that appears to connect parts of this organization?

2. What are the overarching cultural norms for this organization?

3. What “meaning” do persons take from this organization?

4. What is the dominant culture of this organization? How does it treat minority cultures?

5. What are the common and core values, understandings, beliefs, and expectations in this

organization?

6. To what degree is the culture integrated, differentiated, and/or fragmented?

7. How do cultures differ in this organization at the center and periphery? Between the

occupational groups?

8. What external, environmental cultures (e.g., general society, region, local community,

and professional organizations) affect this organization? What is the nature of its

relationship with external cultures?

9. What historical values are emphasized in this organization?

10. What are the organizational ambiguities in this organization?

11. What “incidents” of a recent nature seem to capture and hold the attention of people

in this organization?

12. What are the patterns of interactions, activities, sentiments, and symbols in this

organization?

Answers to the above questions may not be conclusive or correct and could possibly be unclear

or ambiguous. Responses to the culture questions should prompt reflection and reframing

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process and could possibly lead to additional questions. Insights gained by beginning with the

Carlson culture questions should lead to careful, in depth analysis.

In depth analysis and careful questioning is necessary to get at the hidden assumptions,

values and beliefs of the culture. The assumptions upon which people in a school base their

values and beliefs, which in turn influence their behavior, do not function on the conscious level

in the school organization. In a study of a school reform effort, Popkewitz, Tabachnick &

Wehlage (1982) found that “ a school reform effort responds to different social contexts and

predicaments” (p.162). Specifically, school cultures may be looked at as the sum total effort of

the organization’s members striving to answer three questions each of which is fundamental to

the role of school in society: What does it mean to know? What does it mean to learn? What does

it mean to justify authority? Organization members’ answers to these questions reveal

assumptions that express the values and beliefs distinct to each of three types of school cultures.

These cultures are called technical, constructivist and illusory (Popkewitz, Tabachnick &

Wehlage, 1982). Appendix C shows, in a detailed chart, the characteristics of each culture based

on the reporting of the researchers.

The cultural patterns identified by the researchers in the IGE schools as technical,

constructive, and illusory, are revealed in the artifacts of the school that represent the values and

underlying meanings, the beliefs and assumptions (Popkewitz, Tabachnick, Wehlage, 1982, p.9)

of the members of the organization. The work, knowledge and professionalism of the school are

encouraged by existing institutional patterns and beliefs as well as the context of social

conditions. “The three characteristics of schools direct attention to the social assumptions and

values that underlie school practices, and provide a vantage point from which to consider the

authority, legitimacy, and social control that are maintained in the day-to-day activities of

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schooling” (p.11). Beliefs, values and assumptions about work, knowledge, and authority give

deep meaning to the school culture and strongly influence the patterns of behavior within the

school culture. These three categories of schooling presented by Popkewitz (1982) and his

colleagues offer an instructional perspective on school culture.

Research on the best schools in America (Ogden & Germinario, 1995) adds to the

instructional perspective by examining the managerial logic of excellent schools and the school-

wide culture that creates an excellent school. The managerial logic of schools is identified by

three terms: the conventional or collected school, the congenial school, finally, the collegial

school. Each school organizational type has its own distinct cultural characteristics and each may

be aligned as follows in the table below with the Popkewitz framework that describes the

instructional perspective on schools.

Administration: School Cultures and Instruction Management Logic 1. Illusory 2. Technical 3. Constructivist “Congenial” and (1. Illusory)

School A: Functions as both an illusory culture instructionally and managerially.

Collected/market (bureaucratic) and (2. Technical)

School B: Functions as a collection of individual classroom entities with teachers going through the motions instructionally

School BC: Constructivist but, collected in managerial terms. Teachers create a constructivist environment that has little or no interest to administration as long as everything runs smoothly

Collegial or vital (Toyota model) inquiry and collaborative (3. Constructivist)

School C: Constructivist and, also, collegial in terms of managerial culture.

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In the conventional or collected school, the classrooms function independently of one

another, teachers work in isolation of one another and believe that they share common goals and

belief about teaching and learning. The collected school managerial logics aligns with the

technical school instructional perspective. The principal is primarily the manager of the building

running a safe and orderly environment smoothly and effectively. If stability and lack of conflict

are evident, it is because the individual teachers are accountable for their own classrooms in

terms of management and instruction, not because of any commonly held belief and values.

Teachers have no need for leadership except to be assured that things will operate smoothly and

administration will handle public relations appropriately. Members of this school culture are

joined together as a loose collection of autonomous individuals. This school is successful if there

are no problems perceivable to the central administration or public. Members of a conventional

or collected school view student achievement as a matter of hit and miss and beyond their control

because of the problems students bring to school. There is a persuasive belief that the school can

only do so much and can only have a limited impact (Ogden &, 1995). This belief about limited

student achievement is also common in the congenial school.

The congenial school focuses on the needs of the adults to make the school a happy place

and reduce stress. Members of this type of school culture, to be sure, want the same goals of

reduced stress and improved climate for students but only inasmuch as the environment affects

the adults of the school. Teachers and administrators convince themselves that a happy school is

a good school. Challenging students with higher expectations and accountability is seen as a

problem for the status quo of the congenial school as students may experience failure and low-

self esteem. Therefore, the weak instructional effect of the congenial school is nearly the same as

the collected school. Achievement is restricted by poor classroom practice and low expectations.

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The collegial or the professional school, based on the model of the Blue Ribbon Schools,

is an effective, student outcome-based school. Such a school holds very different beliefs and

values from the other two models about which Ogden and Germinario (1995) write. The

collegial school establishes the nature and purpose of the school as student learning and members

of such a school culture are never satisfied, always trying to improve conditions for student

learning. They derive satisfaction from striving to do better professional work and holding

students to holding students to high standards. The principal leads by making explicit the values

of learning and school improvement. Teachers work together to learn, share knowledge, and they

know that collaboration will improve education for children. Teachers share in the leadership of

the school because leadership is defined as understanding and improving instruction. Collegial

schools are vital places in which teachers find excitement and satisfaction from continuous

improvement and collaboration in an integrated culture of strong values and beliefs.

No school exhibits the characteristics of one particular culture whether viewed from the

instructional perspective or with managerial logic suggested by the research on best schools.

Since cultures of schools are usually plagued by various problems often hidden in the

assumptions of subcultures of a differentiated school culture or lost in the confusion of the

ambiguity of a fragmented culture. Gray areas exist are exposed in the study of school cultures.

A complete understanding of the various aspects of the organizational culture lens and the

questions that may be asked, as well as the research of others who have established credible

models for viewing schools is necessary for any development of a conceptual framework with

which to study a school culture.

A process of study will be explained in the next section. This process of study is based

upon activities that took place during class in July 2002 as students acting like researchers

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developed a methodology for studying the culture of the two schools presented in Frederick

Wiseman’s documentary films High School (1968) and High School II (1994). Graduate

students, not unlike educational leaders, need a logical method of study in order to apply a

conceptual framework to the understanding of school culture based on the data presented by

analysis of critical incidents gleaned from the two films.

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Chapter Three: Method

This chapter presents the various methodologies that were used by the student researchers

who conducted the culture study after viewing the Wiseman films in a classroom setting.

Students were instructed to watch each video carefully and take notes on critical incidents that

may reveal hidden assumptions, beliefs and values. This process was similar to a qualitative

research process because that data gathered was based on observation within the school culture

as may be gleaned from the director’s choices in each film documentary. Unique to Wiseman’s

techniques was the absence of commentary in the form of voiceover or music that might

underscore an observation. Also, the director chose not use direct interview. The camera showed

the viewer strictly observational shots albeit the director retained the choice to edit and juxtapose

shots and sequences that might have emphasized a particular point of view. The viewer was free

to interpret as one might if immersed in the culture conducting an ethnographic study.

Class members, working as a team of researchers might work, meet in groups to compile

and categorize the critical incidents from the observations of both films and align them in a chart

form with the essential Carlson culture questions (1996, p. 116-117). These charts are presented

in Appendix A and B. When considered with the basic ideas about organizational culture, the

questions become the basis for a conceptual framework for understanding each school’s culture.

The categorized critical incidents were then viewed in light of Popkewitz and colleague’s three

instructional perspectives (1982) and the Ogden & Germinario, (1995) lens for viewing the

managerial logic of a school organization. Professor Smith (2002) provided a “Typology of

Institutional Regimes” that to plot major critical incidents on an X and Y-axis of a matrix (See

Appendix D). The critical incidents analyzed in terms of the culture questions revealed

assumptions, beliefs and values about learning and educational programs, communication,

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teaching, learning, classroom management, student-teacher relationship, peer relationships,

administrative roles, discipline, parent-school connection, and parent-child relationship. Once the

questions were answered using the critical incidents as the basis for the answers, the answers

could be placed in various bins provided the Popkewitz or Ogden framework. Conclusions could

then be drawn about where to place each school culture on the on the matrix of the typology of

institutional regimes. Finally, a metaphor was selected for each school culture.

The next section details the findings of an analysis of the critical incidents as indicated in

Appendix A and B. The description of the significant findings will attempt to organize them

according to the culture questions provided by Carlson (Carlson, 1996, pp.116-117).

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Chapter Four: Findings

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Chapter Five: Conclusions

Popkewitz (1982) three types of instructional perspectives that reveal hidden assumptions about

the three questions: What does it mean to work? What does it mean to learn? What does is

professional authority?

Ogden & Germinario (1995) managerial logic of the school organizational culture: collected,

congenial, and collegial school organizational cultures

Owens (2001, p. xxii) indicates that the “conventional, conforming, submissive, and controlled”

climate or culture that exists in schools today is a matter of concern for school leaders.

Culture, the catalyst for productivity, is often subdued and dulled when the focus of the

organization is on structure and control of people (Cunningham and Gresso, 1993, p. 19-20).

Schein (1992) The learning leader as a culture manager

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Appendix A

Critical Incidents from Wiseman’s High School II (1994) based on Central Park East Secondary School) Cultural Question Incident (Artifact) How Incident Revealed

Underlying Values 1. What are the instructional and organizational values that connect people to this organization?

a. Student proves his position on front of two teachers. His position is that the true inequity is economic, not racial. b. Groups of tables showing cooperative learning. Two girls work together to solve a physics problem. c. Science project of growing own fruit flies and predicting genetic disorders. d. Students must convince and back up assumptions and answers e. Review of science terms about electricity

a. Student must defend his position with well though out evidence. Alternative ways of assessing student knowledge is accepted. b. Students can learn from each other and that teachers can facilitate learning, not dictate it. c. Students are capable of independent learning and predicting sophisticated outcomes. d. Students must defend answers with coherent detailed explanations. e. Represents sub-culture. Rote learning and review of vocabulary and definitions.

2. What are the common beliefs, values and basic assumptions about human nature of this organization?

a. Prominent display of student artwork b. Advisory teacher counseling a student about failing one of his classes. c. Student internships at leading companies, including Lehman Brothers. Self-evaluation of her time there. d. Five Habits of Mind, what thoughtful people do. Perspective, Evidence, Connection, Differences, Why e. A student didn’t go home, so

a. Students’ whole person is valued. Students’ are important to the whole school community. b. Teachers work together to help students succeed in all areas. The fact that there is an “advisory” teacher indicates that there is great concern for the overall student. c. Students are able to understand and explain their own thoughts and experiences and reflect upon them. d. People who are thoughtful and reflective are important and valuable. To be able to apply this knowledge to all areas of life. e. All people are important and

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the school is calling her friends to see if anyone has seen her. f. Parent-Student-Teacher conference. Ms. Meier states that the school is open from 3-5 weeknights and all day on Saturdays for students to get their work finished.

valuable. Security is important. f. Education is important and faculty and support staff available after hours. Equity

3. How do the external, environmental cultures affect this organization?

a. Debbie Meier interviewing a teen parent who wants to reenter school. Ms. Meier asked her, “What would you do if you see trouble coming?” b. Group of students talking about issues: having a gun pointed at him, student has a son and is married. c. Principal talking on the phone about the third shooting this week. d. Problem with demonstrations and rallies. Students and teachers talking about other viewpoints and solutions to the problem. e. Students in the library discussing the Rodney King situation and the need to organize and deal with prejudice in a positive manner.

a. Students live in the inner city. Teen pregnancy is an issue, however teachers, administrators, students, and parents work together on the issues. b. Students are mature and yet child-like in their discussion. 18 year-old talks about how he loves his son, “I can’t believe I’m a parent”, “a baby is a life”. A girl states, “you’re too young to be a parent”. Outside issues prevalent inside the school and students’ lives. c. Inner-city problems infiltrating the school and a lack of security. d. Rodney King and racial rioting is an issue the students are very concerned about. Lack of equity. e. Lack of equity, yet students are determined to deal with it in a peaceful manner.

4. What assumptions underlie the management of power, control, and influence?

a. Students call teachers and administrators by their first names. b. Teacher talking to an upset student with his head down. c. Parent-Teacher-Student conference concerned with the

a. Equity, everyone is on a level playing field. Assumption is that no one automatically is deemed more powerful. b. Teacher does not yell or say that she orders the student to do work. There is no power struggle. c. All participants sit in a circle, no one at the head of a table.

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student only having one week left in the term and only inquiring about his grades then. Talked to the student about being honest with himself and self-awareness. d. Planning session of the faculty, want to make students more powerful political citizens. e. Peer mediation between two seventh graders and two upper classmen. A teacher was present. f. Faculty meeting’s main questions were “how does the school relate to reality? How can the school change reality?” Discussed adding a literature paper as part of the exit portfolio and concern over students’ lack of basic skills. g. Security guard outside of the school with hands in his pocket. No weapons visible

Student is brought to understand he needs to take responsibility for himself. d. There was no clear authority running the meeting, all members were able to voice opinions. Indicates desire for civic capacity. e. Certain discipline problems are handled among the students. There was no forceful authority present. Students came to understanding on their own. f. Vital inquiry. There was racial injustice and they wanted to discuss alternative ways of dealing with it. Not just go along with everyone else – liberty and equity g. An underlying assumption that there is security.

5. How do people in this organization clarify ambiguous roles, such as gender, race, and economic status?

a. Parent-Student-Teacher-Administrator conference. Administrator asks student point blank if his anger is racially motivated. Mom states it’s “how we use our prejudice”. b. Problem with demonstrations and rallies. Students and teachers talking about other viewpoints and solutions to the problem. c. Students in the library discussing the Rodney King situation and the need to organize and deal with prejudice in a positive manner. d. Post graduation plan, college advisory

a. Not afraid to address ambiguous roles head on. Here is the problem, let’s talk about it. Student was told it is how one deals with prejudice, not that there is a cure for it. b. There was racial injustice and they wanted to discuss alternative ways of dealing with it. Not just go along with everyone else – liberty and equity c. There was racial injustice and they wanted to discuss alternative ways of dealing with it. Not just go along with everyone else – liberty and equity d. All students have opportunity to go to college. Discuss strategies to get there.

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e. Practice/feelings/facts about condoms and sex ed for the teachers.

e. Make teacher better informed and as knowledgeable and comfortable as possible so better able to educate the students and make them knowledgeable and comfortable.

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Appendix B

Critical Incidents from Wiseman’s High School (1968) based on Northeast High School Cultural Question Incident (Artifact) How Incident Revealed

Underlying Values 1. What are the instructional and organizational values that connect people to this organization?

a. “Casie at Bat” lesson in which the teacher just read the poem aloud, students did not participate in any manner. One girl was smiling at the camera and other students were talking to her about it. b. Simon and Garfunkel as poetry lesson. Students were given a copy of the poem and listened to teacher read the poem and then listened to the song c. Film class where active debate takes place about attitudes toward education, issues of the world, and hence the school.

a. As long as the students are quiet and out of trouble they must be doing something. b. The lesson tried to deviate from the dry, rote lessons that seem to be the norm. However, the lesson did not have true student involvement; the students were still very passive c. This is the counter-culture or sub-culture. A student states that he was told that he doesn’t look like a “Northeasterner” and he comments that he is unsure as to what that label entails. This class shows the value of liberty a great deal more than any of the other classes.

2. What are the common beliefs, values and basic assumptions about human nature of this organization?

a. Disagreement between student and gym teacher about getting into gym clothes

a. Gym teacher states, “Don’t talk, just listen” and “We’ll determine that”. Students are unable to know what is good for them and to make their own decisions. There is a lack of liberty and social capital.

3. How do the external, environmental cultures affect this organization?

a. Student and administrator discussing student’s unwillingness to take a detention. Administrator tells students to show character by taking the detention and then asking the teacher why he received the detention. Administrator told him to “Be a man and take orders”. Student says he will take the detention, “under protest”. b. Space Re-enactment where

a. At this time, there is social discord between the old regime of taking orders and following what authority dictates and a new regime of standing up and protesting when an individual feels injustice is being done. There is a lack of liberty.

b. This time period is in the

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three students spend a prolonged period of time in a space simulator at the school. The principal reads a letter from NASA.

middle of the Cold War and Space Race. Schools, reflecting the concerns of the external society, greatly push science in the curriculum.

4. What assumptions underlie the management of power, control, and influence?

a. Student is failing, but essays received “fabulous writing”. Administrator and parents discussing the situation. b. Teacher on hall duty trying to get students off of the phone. b. Prom dress discussion.

Students want leeway in dress code. Teachers say to do what the majority wants and that nobody likes it, but everybody has to do it.

d. Administrator and two students. One student hit another. Administrator tells the student who hit the other, “don’t sir me.” And continues to mention how bad the deed was considering the other student was wearing glasses. e. Student, mother, and administrator discussing the student’s misbehavior in class. Administrator tells the girl to be a positive leader, that everyone knows who the leader is in a group. Don’t disrespect the teacher, even if she isn’t doing her job. f. Police Officer with a nightstick

a. Parents are arguing on behalf on their daughter, but in the end side with the administrator and school. The underlying assumption is that the school is always correct. There is a lack of equity in that the parents do not truly have power to make changes.

b. Teachers are perceived to

have the power, but are not always able of enforcing that power. This indicates a lack of true control.

c. Administrators mandate the

following of rules no one likes or finds fair, even the administrators. Power is even beyond their control. This is also an economic equity issue, the student whose boyfriend couldn’t afford a tuxedo, cannot attend the prom.

d. A person cannot take

advantage of power he possesses. The administrator’s emphasis was on the fact that the stronger student took advantage of a weaker student.

e. There must be an illusion of

power maintained, by respecting teachers, seen as authority figures, even if they are not doing their jobs or earning that respect. There is also much power in the unstated leaders of groups, especially social groups among students.

f. Security and control of power is

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supervising crowded halls, seemingly before a large gathering.

important, even if it means enforcement through violence.

5. How do people in this organization clarify ambiguous roles, such as gender, race, and economic status?

a. Girls’ gym class. Students were wearing uniforms and hanging from rings and were told to “be feminine”. b. Teacher telling girls who are rehearsing for a fashion show that they are too fat for the outfits. c. Boys’ health class. Teacher telling them that only the lower animals have the mother in charge, that women are only in the Bible as an afterthought, and that is against how modern Jewish families are being run. d. An auditorium full of girls listening to a talk about the birth control pill. The information given is misleading and wrong. e. Student, parents, and counselor discussing the student’s future plans for college. The girl is asked how long she wants to go to college for, what type of college she wants to go to, want she wants to be, and how much money her father makes. f. Teacher tells about affluent America vs. other America. Class poll on joining a club with minorities.

a. Femininity is important, even in gym class when exercising.

b. Being feminine and looking good are incredibly important, more important than one’s self-esteem. c. Women are only afterthoughts and women with power are only found in the classes of people that are unworthy. Sexism and anti-Semitism is being portrayed. d. An illusion of being liberal,

but the information is incorrect.

e. The father is only asked about

income, not the mother. And the questions were cursory questions. When the student indicated a career that would require many years of schooling, the counselor dismissed it. The father’s income limits where the student can attend college. This is an equity issue for gender and economics.

f. This is an equity issue for

economics and race. Students were told of economic disparity and polled about their views of minorities. When students were not raising their hand to indicate that they would join a club if a majority of the members were of a minority ethnic group, the teacher said it “was ok, there is no wrong or right answer”.

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g. Pep rally with the football players dressed up as cheerleaders. h. Boys’ sex ed. class in the auditorium. Boys are more responsible than girls for pregnancy because “males are the aggressors and females are pacifists”. The gynecologist was unprofessional in his manner of giving inaccurate information.

Illustrating a not too covert racism.

g. Indicates a sexist attitude and

lack of equity in a school sanctioned program.

h. Inequity in gender roles and

perpetuating stereotypical misinformation.

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Appendix C

Popkewitz Matrix of Technical, Constructivist, Illusory Schooling Category Technical Constructive Illusory Style and patterns of work (IGE assumes that work is structured by IPM model and is a system of planned sequential activities involving testing, grouping, instructional materials, and testing again.)

• Technologies and procedures elevated to the status of values.

• Work is fragmented, isolated, and unrelated to truly purposeful activity.

• Characterized by repetition and routine.

• Children learn through active participation in school affairs.

• Variety of activities that emphasize interpersonal skills and strategies.

• Work includes plays, art, music, and group activities.

• Personal responsibility in instructional setting

• Instructional processes concern community pathology and docile student behavior.

• Illusion of productivity relieves pressure by producing an appearance of work.

• Self-discipline and hard work lead to substantial achievement.

Nature and conceptions of knowledge (IGE assumes that knowledge may be formulated in advance of instruction by way of behavioral objectives that can be measured subsequently by performance criteria.)

• Excellence defined as looking busy (process) or by producing in quantity (outcomes).

• Knowledge is standardized reducing the curriculum to that which can be measured.

• Pedagogy stresses ways knowledge is created; principles are established.

• Emphasis on students’ responsibilities, rights, and personal knowledge.

• Self-discovery and multiple ways of knowing are emphasized.

• Knowledge is seen as permeable and provisional.

• Definition of knowledge is tangential to formal curriculum.

• Formal curriculum secondary to developing a controlled, morally correct student.

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Ideology of professionalism: authority, legitimacy, and social control (IGE assumes that the role of the professional is to implement the instructional program as defined by IGE designers. Reform has taken place when the school staff manages instruction according to the practices prescribed by IGE.)

• Poverty of professional dialogue.

• Managerial nature of professional discourse limited the range of teachers’ decision making.

• Teachers have little or no professional autonomy over nature and character of work.

• Teaching and learning is seen as correcting children’s deficiencies and managing instructional program efficiently.

• Teachers exercise control by appealing to students’ interests and establishing norms of behavior.

• Teachers’ notion of competence related more to developmental theory than a fixed notion of achievement.

• Activities guided by behavior for participation and expression, not external control.

• Teacher and student relationship influenced by children’s intellectual and social growth.

• Teachers are concerned with an image of the school that projects what they want parents to think.

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Appendix D

Typology of Institutional Regimes

Managerial Logic

Significant Managerial Incidents Recorded in Column X Y Z

A. Illusory

Instructional Perspective

B. Technical

C. Constructivist

Significant Instructional Incidents Recorded in Row A B or C

A B C

X. Congenial Illusory

X. 1. 2. 3.

Y. Collected / Market Bureaucratic

Y 4. 5. 6.

Z. Vital / Inquiry

Z 7. 8. 9.

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