AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF ADOLESCENT INTERACTION. IN AN INNOVATIVE URBAN HIGH SCHOOL Dissertation for the Degree of. Ph. D. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSIIY JOHN H. BUTLER 1975 IIIIII IIII IIIIIII "I III I This is to certify that the thesis entitled An Exploratory Study of Adolescent Interaction in an Innovative Urban High School presented by John Butler has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Administration & Higfier Education PhD . __—degree 1n Major professor 1 1 Date 1/ 1/75 0-7 639 ABSTRACT AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF ADOLESCENT INTERACTION IN AN INNOVATIVE URBAN HIGH SCHOOL By John H. Butler This research project was designed to explore adolescent interaction in an innovative, urban, high school to (I) describe (a) the interactions among students in selected groups in this par- ticular high school and (b) the interactions among selected groups of students in that same school, and (2) explain the interaction between some student groups and other facets of this school organ- ization. The researcher, using the methodologies of participant observation over a period of four months, obtained permission to conduct such a study in the fall of the school year, 1973-74, in Central City at Metropolitan High School. The research was guided by nine exploratory questions: 1. Why do students form into groups in the school organization? 2. On what basis do student groups form? 3. What are the salient characteristics of these groups? How are they similar and how do they differ in terms of group structure, norms, status, communication patterns, beliefs and activities? John H. Butler 4. Are these groups bi-racial and if so, on what basis are these relationships formed? 5. How is the school viewed by students and student groups in terms of administration, teachers and curriculum? 6. Do student groups achieve organizational goals? 7. What, if any, facets of the organization seem to effect the group's perspective? 8. Do the structural characteristics of the organi- zation, in fact, bring the goals of the informal student associations and the formal organization together? 9. What is the perspective of black athletes towards the formal organization? The study concluded that the school consists of a strong group oriented student subsystem. Previous research, i.e., Coleman, Cusick, Cusick and Ayling, Palonsky, have found the same thing. Additionally, the innovations developed by the school did not really seem to penetrate that group structure. The fact is that the innovations did not change student behavior and even that the student behavior, a fragmented kind of behavior, forced the retraction of the innovations. AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF ADOLESCENT INTERACTION IN AN INNOVATIVE URBAN HIGH SCHOOL By dirt John H? Butler A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Administration and Higher Education 1975 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation to Dr. Philip A. Cusick, Associate Professor and Chairman of the Dissertation Committee. Gratitude is also expressed to the other members of the Committee, Dr. Joseph H. McMillan, Dr. James B. McKee and Dr. Dale V. Alam for their support and professional advice. Many other persons were involved in the successful com- pletion of this study. Although their efforts were sincerely appreciated, it is impractical to recognize each person by name. However, the efforts of some deserve special mention: To the students, faculty members and administrators of Metropolitan High School, appreciation is expressed for their assistance and support during the data collection phase of this research study. To Robert and Joy Brown, appreciation is expressed for their concern and support in opening their home to me during the year the research was carried out. To Roy Roberts and Barbara Rollins for their assistance in duplicating the rough copy of the manuscript. To the department of Administration and Higher Education and the Department of Human Relations for their financial assis- tance during the school year. it Of all those cited, my wife, Bobbie, daughter, Natalie and mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Strickland, are due the greatest expression of love and appreciation. My mother for her early and continued guidance and total support. My wife and daughter for enduring the year of the research without a husband and father. Their patience, understanding, and encouragement during my doctoral studies is ' appreciated far more than words could ever express. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ..................... Chapter I. BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM STATEMENT ............ ’ Purpose ....................... Conceptual Framework ................. Methodology ..................... Selection of Students ................ Significance ..................... II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ................ III. IV. TABLE OF CONTENTS Literature on Participant Observation Methodology /~Innovations in Schools ................ METHODOLOGY Participant Observer in the Field .......... Methodological Problems ............... Entering the Building ................ ./Limitations of the Study ............... Summary ....................... PRESENTATION OF THE DATA ................ ‘Aintroduction ..................... The Community .................... sThe School ...................... Administration .................... Staff ........................ "The Student Population ................ ‘tStudent Groups .................... wDeviants ...................... ‘"Deviants in School ................. Summary of Deviants ................ iv Page vi l4 I6 29 38 66 Chapter Page Black Athletes .................. llO Summary of Black Athletes ............ l37 Hempies ..................... l40 Hempies in School ................ 149 Summary of Hempies ................ 152 Some Isolates .................. l54 Summary of Isolates ............... l63 -—Interaction of Groups .............. 164 V. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA ................. l68 Conclusions .................... 200 Recommendations for Further Study ......... 205 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY .................... 207 APPENDICES ......................... le Figure 4.l 4.2 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Chart Showing Floor Plan of Metropolitan High School ........................ Organizational Chart Showing Lines of Authority vi Page 72 86 CHAPTER I BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM STATEMENT To set the frame for the discussion, the following basic assumption concerning the nature of organizations will be made. "What an organization is is what it does." By an organization we mean "a set of stable social relations deliberately created with the explicit intention of continuously accomplishing some specific "1 According to this assumption. we mean that goals or purposes. the way that the formal and informal activities are regularly carried out in an organization constitute its structure, and that structure or what the organization is, becomes, to a high degree, what the organization does. Schools, like any bureaucratic organization, are highly structured and complex. In this study we are interested in acttiv- ities of students in school. Coleman's Adolescent Society? (1959), Gordon's Social System of the High School3 (1957), Hollinghead's 1Charles Perrow, Complex Organizations - A Critical Essay (Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Feresman and Company, 1972)} pp. 5-8. 2James Coleman, Adolescent Society (New York: The Free Press, 1962). 3C.W. Gordon, The Social System of the High School (Glencoe, 111.: Free Press, 1957). 2 Elmtown's Youth4 (1949), Stinchcombe's Rebellion in a High School5 (1967), and Cusick's Inside High School6 (1973), demonstrate that high school students form strong, informal association among them- selves, and whether they take the form of dyads, tryads, large groups or entire subcultures, these associations are carried on within the school and can be powerful determinants of students' behavior. The same research indicates that what those students do in those informal groups is carry on sets of activities often quite unrelated to the formally stated goals of the schools. For instance, Coleman found that cars, music, the opposite sex and dress were important elements in the student subculture - not grades or academic achievement. He also found that personal and material resources of adolescent fun as well as extra curricular activities rated higher than academics.7 It might be argued that school structure and modes of operation could be adapted to meet the exigencies which the student society creates. However, the findings of Bidwell on student subculture makes it unlikely that a school staff can break apart the student 4A.B. Hollinghead, Elmtown's Youth (John Wiley and Sons Inc., l949). 5Arthur Stinchcombe, Rebellion in a High School (Chicago: Quandrangle Books, l964). 6Philip A. Cusick, Inside High School (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1973). 7James Coleman, The Adolescent Society (New York: Free Press, 1961). society, reducing the student group to the client aggregate which is its formally defined character.8 If this line of reasoning is correct, that is that students form groups and that those groups carry on activities independent of school goals, that means that the organization and the staff confront a client society characterized by patterns of activity likely to be opposed to the service goals of the school, and if high school students carry on group activity in school, then the groups are an important part of the school structure and therefore, an important part of the school policy. Coleman (1959) is one of those who has argued that schools must instead channel student peer group activities in organiza- tionally acceptable directions. But it seems that this has not proved feasible. In some schools, it seems that while we recognize that there is a student subculture characterized by strong school- independent peer groups, we do not seem, within most school struc— tures, to be able to alter channels or use that subculture to attain school approved goals. Many schools in recent years have made statements that they are different. However, research, Hollinghead's Elmtown's Youth (1949), Cusick's Inside High School (1973), and Stinchcombe's Rebellion in a High School (1967), refute 9 those claims and show that schools are not that different. How- ever, in some cases, schools have made structural alternatives in 8Charles E. Bidwell, The School as a Formal Organization, Handbook of Organizations (Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 197?), p. 990. 9Hollingshead, Stinchcombe, Cusick, loc. cit. an effort to foster greater harmony between the student and the organization. Metropolitan High in Central City is such a school with structural alternatives. Examples of these alternatives as of the beginning of the academic school year 1973-1974, are (l) The curriculum: Metropolitan employs an innovative flexible modular system which allows for (a) individualized instruction (b) inde- pendent study, (c) a more varied and enriched curriculum, and (d) self-discipline which leads to the maturity needed in the adult world; (2) The staff: This system has (a) more flexibility and freedom to plan courses which better meet the needs of students and (b) provides the opportunities for the flexibility necessary to a differentiated staff (lead teachers, team teachers, instructional and clerical aides), and (3) The facilities: Metropolitan's built- in features allow for (a) large, medium and small group instruction, and (b) individual departments and divisional grouping to have own resource centers for tutoring and study in addition to the school library media center. In addition, Metropolitan is unique among high schools in that it provides a student arena where students may smoke without the threat of suspension from school. All in all, Metropolitan utilizes a system that its staff believes inspires teachers, motivates students, and invites community participation. Metropolitan's philosophy is very simple - "reorder priorities." This is an effort to determine if a school with structured alter- natives as opposed to a school with a traditional program and curriculum does indeed make a difference in student behavior patterns and perceptions. Purpose The purpose of this project is to (1) describe (a) the interactions among students in selected groups in this particular high school and (b) the interactions among selected groups of students in that same school, and (2) explain the interaction between some student groups and other facets of this school organization. Conceptual Framework The sociological theory used to guide my research is "symbolic interaction." Accordingly, an explanation of symbolic interaction is necessary. As Blumer explains: The term, 'symbolic interaction' refers, to the particular and distinctive character of interaction as it takes place between human beings. The pecularity consists in the fact that human beings interpret or 'define' each other's actions. Their response is not made directly to the actions of one another but instead is based on the meaning which they attach to such actions. Thus, human interaction is mediated by the use of symbols, by interpretation or by ascertaining the meaning of one another's actions. 0 The basic assumption of this process is that an individual constructs his actions as a result of interacting with his environment; therefore, 10Herbert Blumer, "Society as Symbolic Interaction," Human Behavior and Social Processes, ed. by Arnold Rose (Boston: Houghton- Mifflin Co., 1962), p. 180. he learns to behave in certain ways as a result of this interacting and over a period of time, he uses these sets of previous constructed beliefs to guide his future actions. Extending this concept to group action, Howard 5. Becker, et. al., in Making the Grade, explained that members of a collectivity create a perspective, meaning in this case, an ordered view of one's world. Groups, like individuals are acting units and construct their actions on the basis of its members perceived and shared understanding of the environment. He goes on to say that they will: develop ideas in this interaction that, because they are held in common, create a universe of discourse, a common frame of reference in which communication takes place. Similarly, they develop, as they interact in a variety of institutional settings and specific situations, patterns of individual and collective activity. The activity grows out of ideas being their logical exten- sions in actions. They also give weight and meaning to the ideas by creating patterns of everyday experience that make the ideas seem reasonable and appropriate to the situations they are applied to. In this sense, the ideas grow out of the activity.II Using the concept of "symbolic interaction" in this high school, we specifically want to know, "How does this group(s) (a) react, (b) behave toward, and (c) construct beliefs about certain facets of the organization and in this instance, how are the curriculum modifi- cations perceived and reacted to by students and their groups in this high school. 1"Howard S. Becker, Blanche Gear and Everett Hughes, Making the Grade (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., I968), p. 28. Applying the concepts of "symbolic interaction" and "perspec- tive" of informally structured groups in a secondary school organi- zation to the relationship of students in an urban, integrated, secondary high school, I hope to answer the following questions: l. Why do students form into groups in the school organization? On what basis do student groups form? What are the salient characteristics of these groups? How are they similar and how do they differ in terms of group structure, norms, status, communication patterns, beliefs and activities? Are these groups bi-racial and if so, on what basis are these relationships formed? How is the school viewed by students and student groups in terms of administration, teachers and curriculum? Do student groups achieve organizational goals? What, if any, facets of the organization seem to effect the group's perspective? Do the structural characteristics of the organi- zation, in fact, bring the goals of the informal student associations and the formal organization together? What is the perspective of black athletes towards the formal organization? Methodology The type of methodology I have selected for the study is the participant observer method. This particular type of methodology requires a commitment on the part of the researcher to involve him- self as intimately as possible in the experiences of those he studies. This means, in essence, the researcher must, to the extent of his abilities, learn as much as he possibly can about the social world and values of his subjects. In order to do this, the partici- pant observer must establish himself as an insider so that he may participate in the activities of his subjects so that he will fully understand the social conditions created by them through their shared perceptions and actions. In taking a direct part in the activities of the individuals and groups that he is studying, he thus becomes more than a researcher, he becomes a participant. Severyn Bruyn, in The Human Perspective in Sociolggy, The Methodology of Partici- pant Observation, makes much the same point when he states, "the participant observer understands the meaning of group actions by being an actor in the same environment and symbolically interacting "12 He later states with the environment and the other individuals. that underlying the participant observer methodology is the assump- tion that the participant can communicate a message to another participant and have it understood as he intended it. The assump- tion, of course, is that people can arouse in others that which is aroused in themselves. Robert K. Merton in his essay, "Manifest and Latent Function," states that a realistic understanding of an organization necessitates the gathering of extensive empirical data. He goes on to say that how the researcher collects the data and specifically what he looks for in human interaction is crucial to accurately presenting 12Severyn Bruyn, Human Perspective in Sociology: The Metho- dology of Participant Observation, (Englewood Clefs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1966), p. 12. descriptive data. That if, in fact, a clear understanding of the organization is to be realized, a systematic process whereby only relevant data is gathered must be developed. Merton suggests the descriptive protocol should include: 1. location of participants in the pattern within the social structure differential participation; 2. consideration of alternative modes of behavior excluded by emphasis on the observed pattern (i.e., attention not only to what occurs but also to what is neglected by virture of the existing pattern); 3. the emotive and cognitive meanings attached by participants to the pattern; 4. a distinction between the motivations for participating in the pattern and the objective behavior involved in the pattern; 5. regularities of behavior not recognized by participants but which are nonetheless associated with the central pattern of behavior.I3 Participant observation, when appropriately conceived, employs the simultaneous use of many methods; first and foremost is the direct participation in the groups' activities by the researcher. Also, documents are collected and analyzed; inter- views are conducted and informants are sought out for their unique perspectives. 13Robert K. Merton, On Theoretical Sociology (The Free Press, 1967), p. 114. 10 Raymond Gold states in his "Roles in Sociological Field Observations," that there are four roles the particpant observer may assume while he is conducting field research. They are: COMPLETE PARTICIPANT - The true identity and purpose of the complete participant in field research is never made known to those whom he is observing. He interacts with them as naturally as possible in whatever areas of their living interest him and are accessible to him in which he can role play successfully. PARTICIPANT AS OBSERVER - Both field worker and informant are aware that theirs is a field relationship. Although the participant as observer role is known, he attempts to be a normal and acceptable member of the group. This mutual awareness tends to minimize many problems of role pretending by the researcher. OBSERVER AS PARTICIPANT - This particular role is used primarily in studies involving one-visit interviews. It calls for more formal observation than either informal observation or participation of any kind. It also involves less risk of going 'native.‘ COMPLETE OBSERVER - The complete observer role entirely removes a field worker from social interaction with informants. Here a field worker attempts to observe people in ways which make it unnecessary for them to take him into account, for they do not know he is observing them or that in some sense, they are serving as his informants.14 Of the four field work roles, the participant as observer will best serve my purpose at Metropolitan High. A major advantage of this particular role is that it will permit me to become an intimate part of the group and yet does not require that I go "native." Intimacy in this role is not based on the content of the relationship. In 14Raymond Gold, "Roles in Field Observation," in Sociological Methods, A sourcebook, ed. by Norman K. Denzin, (Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1969), pp. 373-378. ll other words, in certain situations statements and confessions, usually reserved for our closest friends only, may be made to rela- tive strangers. Another advantage of this role is that it will permit me as an adult and observer to move to different groups, something that students cannot always do. It, also, allows me to observe without personally engaging in the drug and sexual experiences of my subjects. I will spend approximately three months at Metropolitan High School in Central City and while there will conduct formal and infor- mal interviews as well as collect data from participant observation in an effort to answer basic questions on student subculture that have been posed. It is hoped that the results of this work will lead to the formulation of theory and testable hypotheses dealing with that culture. The advantages of this methodology is that it is, (l) a longitudinal method which allows the researcher to study a dynamic situation over a long period of time, and (2) it allows the researcher to become intimately involved with the people he is attempting to study. In essence, the participant observer as a researcher becomes an "insider" acting and reacting to individual and group situations by actual participatin in them; the participant observer can ask for types of explanations to situations that an interviewer arriving fresh on the scene cannot. In addition, parti- cipant observation has built-in validity and reliability measures. Validity refers to whether you are really measuring or classifying what you say you are measuring or classifying while reliability 12 refers to the consistency, dependability, or repeatability of the measuring instrument. In other words, would the researcher get the same results with this instrument if he uses it more than once? This method of research has validity and reliability because: 1. the participant observer studies the situation over a long period of time; 2. he takes note of things that happen; 3. he interviews people to check perceptions; 4. he is part of that perception. For example, if the participant observer misinterprets some bit of interaction and then acts on the basis of this misinterpre— tation, the group will show him his error. Blumer endorses this methodological approach and believes that the study of any social action must be perceived through the eyes of the actors. The study of action would have to be made from the position of the actor. Such action is forged by the actor out of what he perceives, interprets and judges; one would have to see the operating situation as the actors see it. You have to define and interpret the objects as the actor interprets them.I5 The disadvantages of the method are: (I) it is time consuming and (2) the participant observer is unable to control the action of the group and often must wait for something to happen that interests him. This lack of ability to control the "action" often results in 15Blumer, op. cit., pp. 179-192. l3 repetitiveness of activities for the participant observer, and, (3) the method can be very demanding. That is, it demands a total commitment as well as putting the researcher in a position where he is expected to learn a great deal in a short time. (3) Another limitation is that a researcher cannot join deviant groups. In deviant groups, the participant observer may be asked or required to perform immoral or illegal activities, such a drug use, as a requirement for continued group association, and, (5) the partici- pant observer may find it increasingly difficult to study a group objectively the deeper he immerses himself in their culture. The reason is simply that the actions he becomes involved in become, over a period of time, normal to him. Selection of Students Selection of students will be based on theoretical sampling procedures rather than on statistical procedures: Theoretical sampling is the process of data collection for generating theory whereby the analyst jointly collects, codes, and analyzes his data and decides what data to collect next and where to find them, in order to develop his theory as it emerges. This process of data collection is controlled by the emerging theory whether substantive or formal. It is not based on a preconceived theoretical framework. Metropolitan High has an enrollment of 1200 plus, tenth, eleventh and twelfth grade students and, therefore, it is physically impossible to 16Glaser, Bernard and Strauss, Anselm, "Theoretical Sampling" in Norman K. Denzin, ed., Sociological Methods (Aldine Publishing Company, 1970), pp. 105-106. I4 meet, observe and participate with all of them or even most of them. As a result, it was decided that the best method would be to gain entrance into a small, informal group of students and begin the study from there. August B. Hollinghead, in his Elmtown's ngth, demonstrated that high school students subdivide themselves ‘7 Therefore, I believe that this method will into small groups. not only allow me to gain acceptance into a group, but hopefully, will lead to acceptance by other students. Significance The need for such a study is the necessity for school personnel to know as much as possible about the realities of student culture within the formal school organization. High schools in recent years have experienced increased difficulty with students and student groups in areas such as teacher-admin- istrator-student interactions, minority-majority student inter- actions, particularly black and white and drugs to name a few. School districts are spending thousands of dollars yearly on such personnel as security officers, truant officers and hall monitors in an all-out effort to combat student activism. To date, there has been very little research done to see what actually goes on and occurs in this daily interaction of students and student groups in innovative schools. If educators 17August B. Hollingshead, Elmtown's Youth (New York: John Wiley G Sons, 1949). 15 are sincere in their efforts to bring about change within the school so that the school experience of students is more viable, then it is of vital importance that we know more about the attitudes, perceptions and behaviors of students toward the school in order to formulate hypotheses and generate theories for possible solutions to these problems. While it cannot be assumed that the findings in this school are generalizable to all similar schools throughout the country, earlier research shows that schools are not that different. Therefore, I believe that this school is quite representative of schools of this type across the nation and an indepth description and explanation of student interaction in this school will add significantly to our understanding of this student phenomenon. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE The review of the literature will encompass two areas pertaining to the research. The first consists of a number of selected works dealing with the school - student relationships as they are carried on within the school. The second will focus on a select number of participant observation studies. The first body of literature is of major importance to the study not only because it deals with students in school but it also identifies characteristics of informal student relationships. The concept of an adolescent subculture has been traced to Waller's (1932) The Sociology of Teachihg_rather than upon physio- logical maturation. Waller described the school as a social system comprised of a cohesive teacher subculture and a separate student youth culture, and he depicted a strained student-teacher relation- ship resulting from the conflicting values and interests of these two groups. In Waller's view, the adolescent subculture, possessing its own status-assigning system, norms, values, and leading groups, has a distinctive and self-contained quality.1 1Willard Waller, The Sociology of Teaching (New York: Wiley, 1932), pp. 185-186. l6 17 A decade after Waller's introduction of the concept of youth culture, Parsons (1942) posited the existence of a somewhat similar age-graded youth culture.2 Parsons characterized this youth culture as consisting of adolescent boys who derive a sense of achievement predominantly through athletics and adolescent girls who concentrate on social popularity through sexual attractiveness. This youth culture was described as irresponsible, manifesting a strong tendency to repudiate interest in adult things and feel at least a certain recalcitrance to the pressure of adult expectations and discipline. Moreover, Parsons (1942) viewed this pehenomenon as being uniquely American. There are a number of studies (e.g., Campbell, 1964; Cole- man, 1961; Parsons and Bales, 1955; Sherif and Sherif, 1964; Simpson, 1959) demonstrating that the adolescent subculture has marked and widespread influence on the adolescents' developing attitudes, values, interests, and aspirations and that these influences often are divergent from or in conflict with the influences of adult society. Coleman (1961) probably advanced this theme most explicitly in The Adolescent Society which he designed to study the effects of the adolescent climate on individuals living within them.3 His study, more than any other, encompassing nine public high schools and a Catholic parochial high school, is distinctive as an effort to compare the student subculture. The schools varied in size and 2Talcott Parsons, “Age and Sex in the Social Structure of the United States,” American Sociological Review, Vol. 7, (December 1942), pp. 604-616. 3Coleman, The Adolescent Society_(New York: Free Press, 1961), p. 3. 18 community settings as well as student social class background. Coleman worked with data drawn from questionnaires and interviews administered to the entire student bodies of these schools at the beginning and end of an academic year, supplemented by questionnaire data from parent and teacher samples for each school. After the study Coleman stated: Our society has within its midst a set of small teenage societies which focus teenage interests and attitudes on things far removed from adult responsibilities and which may develop standards that lead away from those goals estab- lished by the larger society.4 He goes on to say that the adolescent is "cut off" from the rest of society, forced inward toward his_own age group and made to carry out his whole social life with others his own age. He further states: The most modern adolescents in our modern society are most impatient with the passive dependency that the school imposes upon them in its educational activities. They have been liberated by parents and by the worldliness that today's mass media brings and are no longer pleased by the congratulations that follow good report cards. Their parents have liberated them and the liberation is more social than intellectual. The areas on which this liber- ated and adolescent society focuses are those areas in which it has responsibility and authority to act. The social games of dating and parties, athletic contestssfor boys; yearbook, newspaper and drama groups for girls. Coleman suggests that such a shift in the social maturity of adoles- cents need not work havoc with education, although it will likely do so if the structure of secondary education remains as it presently is. If intellectual activities remain passive exercises, while the 4 5 Ibid., p. 9. Ibid., p. 292. 19 excitement of doing, exploring, creating and meeting a challenge is left to the athletic field, the yearbook office, and the back seat of a car, then interest in academic directions will certainly decline. But if the bright scholar is no longer merely a grind working for good grades, but becomes the captain in brilliant moves of strategy or discovery, as he is in the adult world, then his image will again become an attractive one. The second study of any major scope into the student society 6 was C.W. Gordon's, The Social Structure of a High School. It is very detailed and comprehensive investigation into an entire student subculture in a single high school. The study is concerned not only with the student subsystem of the school society but how it affects the formal school activities as well. Gordon found that the entire student subsystem of the school society was prestige stratified and the friendship network closely aligned itself with the formal organ- ization in terms of school class (age-grade) and sex differentiation. These friendship groups tended to cluster into distinct subcultural complexes reflecting either emphasis upon aspects of the dominant student subculture or assimilation to the school's official academic values. He further found that conformity to teachers' expectations influenced peer social status. The power of teacher expectations arose largely from the grading system because good grades allowed students entree into the extra curricular segment of the school. 6C.W. Gordon, The Social Structure of a High School (Illinois: Free Press of Chicago, 1957). 20 Paradoxically, the student subculture and the existence of the extra- curriculum redefined the meaning of academic achievement. As stu- dents became socialized to this subculture and gained leadership prestige from their peers, they learned how to and were in a position to manipulate teachers to insure adequate grades without having to go through the formal process. In the classroom the teacher con- fronted the student society and its alien values and found that reliance on teacher authority was ineffective. Therefore, the teacher aligned himself with high status students of the subsystem and kept his position of authority by reliance on the force of personality and on affectively laden interaction with students. The student society resultingly redefined the authority of the teacher and modified the instructional effectiveness of the school. An earlier and more significant study of the student society was Elmstown's Youth in which the author, A. B. Hollingshead, examines in a small community study the ways in which the status system within the school parallel parental positions in the community's status structure, and the effects of such a parallelism upon the success of educational aims.7 He found that there is a direct functional relationship between the class position of an adolescent's family and his social behavior in the community both within and outside the school setting. The Elmstown social structure was found to be stratified into five classes with the upper three classes the con- trolling factions. The school paralled the prevalling community 7A. B. Hollingshead, Elmtown's Youth (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1949). 21 patterns and therefore, reinforced the social struture. For example, in the school situation students from the upper three classes were singled out as leaders, given recognition, and rewarded with grades. In essence, his behavior patterns and what he has learned is accept- able while the behavior patterns of students from the lower classes were not only unacceptable but the student was not socially accept- able. Hollinghead concluded that if the study did nothing else it demonstrated clearly that, for a complete cross section of a relatively homogeneous age and sex group in one community in contemporary America, the home an adolescent comes from conditions in a very definite manner the way he behaves in his relations with the school, the church, the job, recreation, his peers and his family. Arthur Stinchcombe in his Rebellion in a High School, worked with individuals instead of groups and offered an explanation as to why rebellion occurs among high school students and also provided basic suggestions to remedy the situation. In the study he iden- tified rebellion as an active rejection of the social world of the school.8 That is, it involves rejection of both the goals and the means of success as success is defined by the school and by the labor market. He went on to demonstrate that rebellion is associated with a complex set of emotions and attitudes toward the school envir- onment which he called "expressive alienation," including short-run hedonism, negativism, alienation from school authorities, and claims for autonomy. He gave strong supporting evidence for his hypotheses 8Arthur Stinchcombe, Rebellion in a High School (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1964), p. 7. 22 that rebellion in high school to a great extent occurs (1) when high school students reject the doctrine of adolescent inferiority, (2) when future status is not clearly related to present performance, and (3) whenever the goals of success of the organization are strongly internalized and students find them inaccessible. In summary, the author found that the causes of rebellious student behavior lie partly in the educational system itself. He demonstrates that the basic problem is one of distortion between the student's own know— ledge of our society and the image of that society which the school presents to him. If school does not conform to the adolescent's career goals and if he is not content to have fewer rights than adults, he rebels. When he fails in school, the pressure to succeed generates tension and more tension brings rebellion. Therefore, Stinchcombe concludes by saying the problem of order in school will not be an easy matter to solve. The reason he states is that the school cannot promise much because society cannot promise much and tinkering a bit with the curriculum to make it more meaningful for the duller children will have little effect. Phillip Jackson's Life in Classrooms, analyses the institu- tional pressures on both children and teacher in the overcroweded rooms that we have become used to in our schools. The resulting delays, the continuing denial of help when it is most needed or wanted, the environment of interruption and distraction in terms of 9 pupil satisfaction and success is now the normal procedure. Students gPhillip Jackson, Life in Classrooms (New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1968), p. 17. 23 are continuously denied the freedom to speak except when specifically directed to do so by the teacher. Also, he is denied participation in extracurricular activities because of stipulations established by the school. Other characteristics of the classroom that students are subjected to are delays and interruptions. Children are con- stantly told by teachers to wait their turn, get in line and raise their hands, and it is expected that students will do this without question. Interruptions occur frequently caused either by other staff, administration, or misbehavior of other students. If students are to survive within the institution, they are expected to and the institution demand that they internalize these institutional qualities. Philip Cusick's Inside High School is a study of a rural- lO suburban New York school. He investigated the formal and informal structures of the school as they relate to the students' social system. He concluded that the formal organization of the high school, with its teacher and subject specialization, downward com- munication flow, batch processing of students, and emphasis on maintenance procedure . . . provided students with an enormous amount of time in which they literally had nothing to do but stay in some state of spectatorship, waiting, watching or listening. The students, according to Cusick, used this free time to engage in small group activities and personal relationships. It was these small groups that became the social referrent or "significant other“ for the majority of the school population. 10Philip A. Cusick, Inside High School: The Students' World (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973). 24 Again, Cusick with Ayling did an exploratory study of an urban high school in Flint, Michigan, to determine how the bi-racial nature of integrated schools effect various aspects of the school's 1‘ They concluded that the potential for conflict was organization. high between whites and blacks and that there was an "insufficient internal organization or 'consensual basis' among the members of the school to assist in its resolution." Claude Buxton in his book, Adolescents in School, explored adolescent attitudes toward schools and their peers. The study substantiates the claim that conventional public schools are insen- sitive to the needs of students. A summary of his conclusions indicates that almost all adolescents expressed a clear indifference to school, yet they firmly denied disliking school, showed a favor- able attitude toward teachers, and rated themselves an conscientious. Their responses implied that interaction among peers was considered a distraction from studies, and they admitted that school was a source of anxiety and guilt. Although most students claimed the importance of education to their postschool lives, they took excep- tion to the rules, regimentation, and the lack of self-determination that characterized the school as a social system.12 1]Philip A. Cusick and Richard J. Ayling, An Exploratory Study of the Formal and Informal Relationships Between White and Black Students in a Racially Mixed, Urban, Secondary School (E. Lansing, Michigan, by the author, Michigan State University,l973). 12Claude E. Buxton, Adolescents in School (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973). 25 Edgar Friedenberg in his book, Comingyof Age in America, indicts schools for their colonialistic attitude toward students.13 It is his conviction that in large measures the schools of this nation encourage and, if necessary, demand a kind of obedience and compliance from children that may well prepare them for their place in American life. He further states that schools are unintended for and uninterested in educating children to use their powers of critical thinking, independent judgment, and creativity. Instead, they learn to think, feel, and act in the manner our society expects. A somewhat similar work is Paul Goodman's Growing Up Absurd, in which he looks at youth problems and critizes the society in 14 He asserts that we live increasingly in a which they occur. society in which little attention is paid to the object, the func- tion, and the need, but much is given to role, procedure, prestige, and profit. Growing up, according to Goodman, calls for adquate objects in the environment to meet the needs and capacities of the young, but American society, its affluence notwithstanding, lacks opportunities that make growth possible and invite instead the development of delinquents. Goodman demonstrates that it is more difficult for boys than girls to grow up to be useful and make something of oneself when the pressure of economics alienates the young, the absence of patriotism and faith deprives them of purpose, and when the general social attitude toward sexuality is inconsistent. 13Edgar Friedenberg, Coming of Age in America (New York: Random House, Vintage Books, 1968). 14 1960). Paul Goodman, Growing Up Absurd (New York: Random House, 26 He goes on to say that it is hard for adolescents to grow up when space, time, clothes, opinions, and goals become so preemptive that they cannot establish individuality and experience genuine spon- taneity. As a result, they look for fringes, margins, or loopholes or they just run. It is hard to grow up with nothing to be or do. Goodman stresses that all these social and cultural inadequacies are accumulation of what he calls the missed and compromised revolu- tion of modern times falling most heavily on the young. Children and adolescents need a coherent and simple society in which to grow up, but a missed revolution makes obsolete the system that persists and a compromised revolution shatters but does not replace the standards and community that once were. Delinquency is one response by the young, a compulsive proving and identifying behavior which asks for what society will not legitimately give at this time-- manly opportunities to work, self-esteem, adequate space and fear, and loyalty to community and country. Under our present system, the recourse instead is to curfews, ordinances, threats, police and reformatories. Thus, the policy works to increase delinquency rather than to remedy it. The authors in this first section of the review of the liter- ature have demonstrated and listed a number of characteristics important to the study of school student relationships. Waller cited the school as a social system with a cohesive teacher subculture and a separate youth culture with conflicting values and interests. Parsons, Coleman, Gordon and Hollingshead demonstrated that high school students form intricate social systems based on social status, 27 athletic ability, participation in extra curricular activities, academic standing and popularity with the opposite sex. These authors showed that since these student activities are carried on within the school then the subcultural structure is an important part of the school's policy. Arthur Stinchcombe, Philip Cusick and Claude Buxton demon- strated that adolescent problems in high school lie partly in the educational system itself. Phillip Jackson in Life in Classrooms, analyzed the institutional pressures on adolescents and may have pointed out some of the characteristics of educational institutions that cause deviant behavior.15 A very controversial book, Coming of Age in America, by Edgar Friedenberg indicts schools for their colonialistic attitude toward students, and Paul Goodman in Growing Up Absurd, looks at youth problems and critizes the society in which they occur.16 All the above were highly successful studies dealing with the daily world of the student. As these researchers in their effort to understand and interpret the social world of the adolescent it is even more incumbent on us today as administrators in that very powerful educational institution, the school, to have an even greater understanding of it as it is perceived by the student and his peer group if we are sincere about gaining an understanding of his life 15Jackson, loc. cit. 16Friedenberg, Goodman, loc. cit. 28 and making the school experience a more viable one. If, in fact, as the authors of these studies have demonstrated, these social charac- teristics of the school do indeed exist, i.e., alienation, interrup- tions, social stratification, delays, denials, etc., then there must be continuing research of the student world as it is perceived by them so that administrators of the school have available to them up- to-date information of this subsociety so that they will be able to evaluate their programs adequately and make necessary changes when needed. These authors have demonstrated that as a group carries on its activities in school, it will do so through a process of inter- preting and defining its environment, and as stated by Blumer, the study of any social action must be perceived through the eyes of 17 Since there are so few studies concerned with small the actor. student groups and the idea that it is important for those in charge of educational institutions to have available to the informa— tion of the student world, it is, therefore, the purpose of this research project to study a small group of students over a period of time to see how they interpret their environment and determine if the school and its innovations impacted student attitude toward it. 17Herbert Blumer, Society as Symbolic Interaction, Human Behavior and Social Processes, ed. By A. Rose (Boston: Houghton- Mifflin Co., 1962). 29 Literature on Participant Observation Methodology The findings of any study is intrinsically related to the methods used to develop them. Therefore, the second body of litera- ture consists of a select number of works in which field researchers using the participant observation methodology looked at the inter- action of human beings in various social settings. A classic study of group interaction is William Whyte's 18 Whyte's major reason for making the study Street Corner Society. was to analyze and describe the social structure and leadership of informal groups of "corner boys" whose main interest in life appeared to be "hanging out on the corner" with friends, and he successfully used the methodology of participant observation to accomplish it. For three and a half-years, 1936 through mid-summer 1940, Whyte lived in the Italian section of Boston's northend studying the community's social structure. The young men in Cornerville fall generally into two groups, corner boys and college boys, and Whyte, in the role of a corner boy, successfully examined and contrasted these two groups looking at various areas of life including rack- eteering, politics, economics, and the social institutions. Further, Whyte, using the role of participant as observer, analyzed and described the informal group life of these two predominant groups in terms of norms, status, communication patterns, beliefs, and activities. 18William Foote Whyte, Street Corner Society(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967). 30 Whyte's study became the prototype on small group participant observation studies because of his analysis and the detailed descrip- tion of the way he went about his study. A somewhat similar study and patterned very much along the same lines as Whyte's Street Corner Society, is Gan's Urban 19 Villagers. It is a study of an inner city Boston neighborhood known as the West End, and, in particular, of the native-born Americans of Italian parentage who lived there. Gans, the author, using the participant observation methodology, to carry out the study, lived in the West End from October, 1957, to May, 1958. Gans had two reasons for undertaking the research. They were: (1) a desire to study and understand neighborhoods known as slums and (2) to learn first hand what differentiates working-and lower-class people from middle-class ones. The author's field work in conducting the study employed six major approaches: (1) Use of the West End's facilities which permitted him to observe his own as well as other pe0ple's behavior as residents to the area; (2) attendance at meetings, gatherings, and public places, for the most part, in the role of an observant spectator; (3) informal visiting with neighbors and friends in social activities and conversations that provided valuable data; (4) formal and informal interviewing of community functionaries in all of the area's agencies and institutions; (5) use of informants to keep him up to date on those areas of West 19Herbert Gans, The Urban Villagers (New York: The Free Press, 1962). 31 End life of which they were familiar; and (6) personal observation in which the author observed closely those areas of West End'life in which he was especially interested. Gans believes strongly in the value of participant observation as a method of social research as it allows the researcher to get as close as possible to the social reality of the residents under study. Another study and an important contribution to the under- standing of life in a large city slum is Elliot Liebow's Tally's 20 Corner. Tally's Corner is a study of Negro streetcorner men in the black ghetto slums of Washington D.C. Liebow, the author, lived in the slum area of Washington for a period of 18 months and using the participant observation methodology actually engaged in the daily face-to-face relationships with the inhabitants of the area. "The study is an attempt to see the man as he sees himself, to compare what he says with what he does, and to explain his behavior as a direct response to the conditions of lower-class Negro life rather than as mute compliance with historical or cultural 2] Liebow found in his face-to-face, day-by-day routine imperatives." relationships with these streetcorner men that they are not carriers of an independent cultural tradition but instead are living on the edge of both economic and psychological subsistence and, as a result, expend all their resources on maintaining themselves from moment to moment. He concluded that the streetcorner man's behavior appears 20Elliot Liebow, Tally's Corner (Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1967). 21 Ibid., p. 208. 32 not so much as a way of realizing the distincitive goals and values of his own subculture or of conforming to its models but rather as his way of trying to achieve many of the goals and values of the 22 Since there are so few studies dealing with the larger society. lower class black Americans in daily face to face relationships the methodology of participant observation, according to Liebow, may just be the only true means of understanding and realizing what goes on in this subsociety. Kenneth Clark, in Dark Ghetto, states that there have been a number of studies dealing with the American Negro and a number dealing with the American urban poor but few concerned with the 23 For two years Clark, as chief project Negro ghetto itself. consultant and chairman of the board of directors of Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Haryou), a program financed by the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and by the Mayor of the City of New York, lived in Harlem to study the conditions of youths and to recommend strategies to deal with those conditions. In the study Clark, using the methodology of the involved observer, looks at the total phenomena of the ghetto--the lives, feelings, thoughts, strengths and weaknesses, struggles and patterns of adjustment, problems, conflicts, defenses, and fantasies of the people who live there. The methodology of the involved observer, 22Ibid., p. 222. 23Kenneth 8. Clark, Dark Ghetto (New York: Harper and Row, 1965). 33 according to Clark, has much in common with the traditional method of the participant observer in that it requries the observer to be a part of what is being observed, to join in the lives of the people while at the same time seeking to understand them and the forces which mold them and to which they respond. However, the role of the "involved observer" differs from the participant observer methodology in that it demands participation not only in rituals and customs but in the social competition with the hierarchy in dealing with the problems of the people he is seeking to under- stand. The role is particularly difficult to maintain when one is not only a participant in the community but when one brings to the attempt to use this method, with that degree of clarity and objec- tivity essential to accuracy, a personal history of association with and concern for many of the people in the very community one 24 seeks to study. Clark, like Liebow in Tally's Corner, concludes that the methodology of participant observation or involved observer may be the only realistic way in which to study and understand the problems of the black ghetto. Erving Goffman's Asylums25 is a series of essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. The main point of the book is that the major factor used to establish the behavior code for inmates of a mental institution is the nature of 24Ibid., p. 16, Introduction to an epilogue. 25Erving Goffman, Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates (New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1961). 34 that institution rather than the condition or illness of the inmates. Goffman believes that normal social life and healthy emotional life depend upon a kind of mutually beneficial conspir- acy between two parties. Each one is concerned to present an image of himself to the other which, valid or not, is necessary to his self-esteem and successful role performance. But, mental hospitals (total institutions) deny this basic condition to its inmates and, indeed, they usually make it a point to attack his self-concept directly by depriving the individual of those accoutrements of his prior status which he employed in his presentations of self: hair style, clothing, freedom of association and so on. Goffman tested his theory by assuming a participant observer's role in a mental hospital. The study differs from some previous investigations in that he tested a specific hypothesis rather than answered exploratory questions. Also, unlike Cusick, Whyte, Liebow and other participants as observers in the field, Goffman took on the safer role as a complete observer. Although Goffman took on the safer role as a complete obser- ver, he was still able to explain institutional life from the inmates point of view. Once an individual is admitted to a total institution, Goffman states that he undergoes a process of mortification in which "he begins a series of abasements, degradations, humiliations, and 26 profanations of self.“ In response to these mortification processes, 251oid., p. 14. 35 he states, the inmate develops what he calls secondary adjustments which, collectively, form the underlife of the institution. This secondary adjustment justifies his breaking rules, keeping unautho- rized possessions, getting around the regulations and developing a secretive life outside the expectations of the institution.27 Goffman's depressing picture of inmates' life in mental institutions point up the real need for corrective measures if society is, indeed, concerned about the welfare of mental patients. In an early study involving a series of industrial experi- ments, Roethlisberger and Dickson in their volume Management and the Worker, found the importance of social relations among indus- 28 trial employees. The discovery of the significance of the social factor was found in the widely known "Bank Wiring Room" experiment. In the experiment an observer was placed in a room for six months to closely observe the actions of a group of fourteen workers set up as a work unit as they carried on the task of wiring banks of telephone equipment. The payment system to the group of fourteen were similar to that of the rest of the company workers in terms of hourly rates, based on individual output, a bonus that was based on average group output, and an added incentive of individual allowances for work stoppages beyond their control so that the more efficient workers would not be penalized by the less efficient 271bid., p. 189. 28F.J. Roethlisberger and W.J. Dickson, Management and the Worker (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970). 36 workers. After observing and recording the group's activity and interactions over the period of six months, researchers found that the group of fourteen workers had separated themselves into two cliques and developed norms that extended across the cliques such as, "don't be a speed king or rate buster by working to fast, don't be a chisler by working to slow, don't be a squealer to management and do not attempt to maintain social distance or act officious." Workers who deviated significantly in either direction from the group's norms were penalized by their co-workers while those who adhered to the norms were rewarded with high esteem within the group.29 Although it meant lower pay to the faster workers on piece work, the group norms and the social interaction were of greater value to them than the high pay. The researchers concluded that the forming of the informal groups and the development of norms accomplished two purposes. First, it protected the group from internal indiscretions and secondly, it protected the groups from outside interference, in essence,the workers gained control over their environment. There are two important common elements in this second body of literature that guides each of the authors. The first of the elements is the author's belief and commitment to the concept of living as close as possible to the social unit under study while the second is the strong commitment by the authors to involve 291oid.. pp. 379-537. 37 themselves as intimately as possible in the experiences of those subjects under study. The use of this type of field methodology gives the researcher several advantages: (1) It allows the researcher to study and record the processes as well as the product of group and individual action and interaction over a long period of time; (2) the researcher shares the advantage of interpreting the environment of the social unit under study from the perspective of that unit; and (3) it permits the researcher to acurately describe the social unit under study from the position of the actors. All of these studies in the second body of literature are highly successful studies dealing with groups, individuals, and interaction among these social units as seen from the perspective of the unit under study. If organizations are sincerely concerned about effectiveness and efficiency, then it is highly important that ongoing research be conducted through the methodology of participant observation so that they may truly understand group and individual action and interaction as interpreted by those social units. For those of us in educational institutions and who are responsible for the intellectual welfare of our youths and this country, it is incumbent upon us to understand the behavior of youths and be able to interpret that behavior from their perspective if we ever hope to find solutions to the problems facing these organizations. Therefore, taking an informal group of students in an urban high school as the basic social unit, this research will use the research techniques used by authors in this second body of 38 literature and apply them to the complex school environment described in the first body, and hopefully this research will add new dimensions to the existing research dealing with groups and individuals and the interaction of these social units. Innovations in Schools The decade of the 1960's may well be described as the decade for innovations in education. Many schools throughout the country developed new and innovative programs for their adolescent clientele. What I want to do is tell about the general background of innovations in education and then look closely at one of these situations. I will now present the argument for innovation. Education in America, particularly during the past decade, is emerging as a new frontier. It is said that communities across the country are demanding that schools develop more and better programs of quality education for a bulging and diverse student population. It is further said that in today's contemporary society old solutions for new problems will not be enough to suffice or to meet the new challenges, and, as a result, pioneer educators in districts through- out this country are testing promising new and innovative programs and practices to effect fundamental improvement in the schools. Among these new programs are the newer media, modern learning theory, and flexible scheduling all aimed at individualing instruction. This influx of new programs follows a wave of dissatisfaction by concerned parents and brave educators about the plight of schools and 39 has led to the belief that if schools are to be significantly better, they will have to be substantially different.30 A need for a change in education in the secondary school, according to Johnson and Shutes, is apparent. They have concluded that, "No individual and no institution will make progress by main- taining the status quo; a quality program of yesterday is a sick servant today and a desperate disservice by tomorrow.”31 A simple curriculum change will not be adequate. Curriculum reform must be the order of the day. New approaches to science, increased emphasis on foreign language, modern mathematics, and readjustment of the social studies are practices no longer foreign to the public schools. Many new programs are in evidence, but new curricula are not enough to achieve the goal of quality education. Drastic changes are needed not only in the type of program offered but also in the methods used in instruction and in the way students learn. The full potential of the new curricula cannot be realized within the organizational framework of the conventional school. There is a need for the school to be organized to encourage students to be involved and active in the learning process, to allow teachers to meet with students for individual and small group discussions, and to vary the pace and the content of instruction for each student. 30Donald C. Manlove and David W. Beggs, III, Flexible Sche- duling (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1968), p. 19. 31Robert Johnson and Robert Shutes, "What is Newest in Science Teaching Methods and Techniques," American Biology Teacher (April, 1962), p. 247. 40 An innovative process developed and which encompasses such a broad range of possibilities is flexible scheduling. Flexible scheduling is a process for instruction which: 1. Calls for classes of varying size within and between courses. (Students sometimes may meet in large assembly classes, and at other times in small inquiry classes. In addition, part of the day is spent in individual or independent study.) 2. Provides for instructional groups which meet at varying frequencies and for varying lengths. (Some classes may meet every day of the week, others will not. Some instructional sessions will be for a short duration, others for an extended period of time.) 3. Makes team teaching possible in any content area or for any group of students in the school. (The use of team teaching, two or more teachers working with a given group of students on a common instruc- tional problem, is suggested in this model.) 4. Requires countless professional decisions by tggchers about students, content, and teaching methods. What we have here in Metropolitan is an innovative, urban school that is operating within this framework of the flexible schedule. Metropolitan is (l) a school that changed, (2) these are the changes they made and (3) my point is to see how the stu- dents reacted to these changes. Flexible scheduling is aimed at individualizing instruction. It is a workable way in which educators can move from theory to practice in devising instruction appropriate for each individual. The traditional method of organizing the school in which one teacher meet with five groups of approximately thirty students each day will not do the job that needs to be done. 32Manlove and Beggs, op. cit., p. 23. 41 The majority of secondary schools claim they have indivi- dualized instruction, but according to Allen, individual instruction does not mean that students are treated one at a time, but that the material should fit the student at that time. The problem is to identify which students are ready for what and recommend alternatives such as individual and independent study and discussion of the materials in groups. Teachers, he further states must recognize that students' interests and abilities in related subjects are different.33 Having presented the argument for innovation, I will now show how Metropolitan has done this. 33Dwight W. Allen, "A Technology and Performance Curriculum: Bases for Humanizing the High School," (Paper read at the Western Invitational Conference, Portland, Oregon, Jan., 1967), p. 6. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY The findings of any study is instrinsically related to the method used to develop them. However, before discussing the metho- dology, an explanation of social reality should be presented. The most fundamental idea concerning the nature of social reality is that the properties of the element of social phenomena obtain many of their characteristics from the larger phenomena of which they are a part while the larger entities obtain their characteristics mostly from the relations between part of which they are composed. Thus, a constant and dynamic relationship between the two elements always exists. This process of interaction is transferable to the school environment and is circular in nature, in that, students create and externalize the school while the school has a definite effect on the lives of each of its students. Neither of these two elements can exist in a vacuum. If, in fact, the above is true then, the student perspective of the school is most essential because what they make it, it, in part, will be. This will be a longitudinal study wherein the intent will be to analyze the interaction among a small group of students in an urban high school as they define their group and its actions according 42 43 to their developed interpretation of the school and its environ- ment. Since the emphasis of this study is on the continuous inter- action among student groups and the school, the methodology used must be one which will reduce the gap between researcher and subject and/ or one that will allow the researcher to get as close as possible to the actual social situation. The sociological theory used to guide my research project is symbolic interaction. According to Blumer, the symbolic inter- actionists believe the most efficient method of studying group activity is through the experience and eyes of the acting unit. He brings this point into sharp focus by stating: To catch the process, the researcher must take the role of the acting unit whose behavior he is studying. Since the interpretation is being made by the acting unit in terms of objects designated and appraised, meanings acquired, and decisions made, the process has to be seen from the stand— point of the acting unit. . . . To try to catch the interpretive process by remaining aloof as a so-called 'objective' observer and refusing to take the role of the acting unit is to risk the worst kind of subjectivism-- the objective observer is likely to fill in the process of interpretation with his own surmises in place of catching the process as it occurs in the experience of the acting unit which uses it.1 Therefore, the research method which allows the researcher to get as close as possible to the acting unit and which permits him to view and describe the social situation through the eyes of the actors is participant observation. 1Herbert Blumer, "Society as Symbolic Interaction," in Human Behavior and Social Processes: An Interactionist Approach, ed. Arnold Rose, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1962), p. 188. 44 Cusick supports the symbolic interactionists' theory, in that, he says, the first and foremost task of the participant observer is to establish himself as a legitimate member of the group so that he may actively pursue and participate in the realities created by the subjects under study and share in their meanings. According to him, participants in a social setting will actually create their own social reality and in order for one to understand it he must take part in that creation. The information gathering procedure is based on the assumption that any group of individuals will develop a reasonable way of behaving in their environment, and if one wishes to understand that behavior, he can do so by joining them, submitting him- self to the routine, rules, and regulations that structure their world, and recording everything that goes on.2 Inherent in the participant observation methodology is the concept that society is composed of acting units, and as these units inter- act with each other and interpret their environment, they create through a consensuswwhat is to them social reality. The acting unit, to the extent that it is a distinctive unit, has to some degree a culture differing from that of other units, a somewhat different set of common understandings around which action is formed, beliefs are acquired and patterns of behavior developed which allows the unit to derive a measure of gratification from the environment. Therefore, the symbolic interactionist believes that in order for one to understand the social process and reality one must catch 2Philip A. Cusick, Inside High School (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Incorporated, 1973), p. v. 45 the process of interpretation through which these units construct their actions. What makes the methodology of participant observation so distinct is the manner by which the researcher gains knowledge. By taking the role of his subjects, he re-creates in his own imagina- tion and experience the thoughts and feelings which are in the minds of those he studies. It is through this process of symbolic inter- pretation of the experienced culture that the observer discovers and/or gives meaning to his data. The intent, then, of the participant observer is to catch the process as it occurs in the experience of those he studies. In order to do this, the researcher must establish himself as a legiti- mate member of the acting unit and thus become an actor in the reality of the social process. According to Geer, A participant observer in the field is at once reporter, interviewer, and scientist. On the scene, he gets the story of an event by questioning participants about what is happening and why. He fills out the story by asking people about their relation to the event, their reactions, opinions, and evaluation of its significance. As inter- viewer, he encourages an informant to tell his story or supply an expert account of an organization or group. As scientist, he seeks answers to questions, setting up hypotheses and collecting the data with which to test them.3 Participant observation methodology is a research procedure which works at two levels: (1) Description - the researcher describes the acting unit from the position of a participant in the social 3Blanche Geer, "First Days in the Fields," Socioligist at Work, ed. Phillip E. Hammond (New York: Doubleday & Co., Inc., T961). p. 383. 46 process as it is constructed and occurs and (2) Explanation - that unit's behavior from his "insider's" position as a scientific observer and legitimate member of the group. Participant observation studies are a longitudinal process in which the researcher studies the acting unit over a period of time. During this longitudinal process, the researcher formulates tentative or working hypotheses in which to guide his study. As he immerses himself deeper into the social processes of the acting unit, while gathering data, his intent is to substantiate or refute those hypo- theses. The process of participant observation is not meant to determine any final answer to social processes but instead is used merely as an exploratory process in areas where research has been lacking. The concluding product of any exploratory study is the tentative explanation of social behavior which could be used to generate hypotheses for further testing. Participant Observer in the Field In order to catch the acting unit processes as they occur, the researcher must take on the role of a legitimate participant in the daily routines of that unit. Unless he becomes an intimate part of the on-going processes of the group's activities and takes part in the daily pressures and exigencies of that unit, the researcher, at best, can only expect superficial acceptance within the group and, therefore, superficial results. 47 Throughout the entire study I found, like William F. Whyte in Street Corner Society and Philip A. Cusick in Inside High School, that acceptance by the unit under study "depended more on the personal relationship I developed far more than upon any explanation I might give."4 The acting unit and the individuals within that unit tend to develop an explanation for the researcher's presence and his actions as he is trying to develop explanations for their actions. Thus, the researcher must assume a role which not only explains his presence but one he can adequately perform. There are four basic roles that the participant observer may assume in the field: Complete Participation - The true identity and purpose of the complete participant in field research are not known to those whom he observes. Role pretense is the basic theme for these activities. The researcher interacts with his subjects as naturally as possible in whatever areas of their living interest him and are accessible to him as situations in which he can successfully role play. Participant as Observer - Both field worker and informant are aware that theirs is a field relationship. This mutual aware- ness minimizes problems of role pretending and permits researcher to become a normal and acceptable member of the group and its activities. Observer as Participant - This role is used in studies invol- ving one visit interviews. It calls for relatively more formal observation than either informal observation or parti- cipation of any kind. It also entails less risk of going native than either the complete participant role or the participant as observer role. However, because the observer as participant's contact with an informant is so brief, and perhaps superficial, he is more likely than the other two to misunderstand the informant, and to be misunderstood by him. 4William Foote Whyte, Street Corner Society (Chicago: Uni- versity of Chicago Press, 1943), p. 300; Cusick, op. cit., p. 7. 48 Complete Observer - The complete observer role entirely removes a field worker from social interaction with informants. Here a field worker attempts to observe people in ways which make it unnecessary for them to take him into account, for they do not know he is observing them or that, in some sense, they are serving as his informants. Of the four field work roles, this alone is almost never the dominant one. It is sometimes used as one of the gubordinate roles employed to implement the dominant ones. The variation of the methodology of participant observation that I used to carry out this project was a modification of the "participant as observer“ role. Simply identifying myself as a university researcher interested in students and their interactions was the key element that permitted an "over-thirty" to infiltrate age-grade peer groups as well as the ability to move from group to group even though they were of different racial make-up, something that group members could not do. The modification of the role was the obvious limitations I imposed on myself in dealing with the drug and sex experiences of the subjects under study. Certainly, as an over-thirty and an administrator and teacher for fourteen years in the field of education and one who is most concerned about student concepts and values, it would not have been wise to presonally take part in these activities. The participant observation methodology is a multi-faceted research design which permits great latitude. Although the great majority of the data was generated by the interaction of the group and recorded in the form of typewritten notes and tapes at the end 5Raymond Gold, "Roles in Field Observation," in Sociological Methods, A Sourcebook, ed. by Norman K. Denzin (Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 1969), pp. 373-378. 49 of each school day, library research was an ongoing part of the study and formal interviews were held near its completion. The data for this research project was generated from the following: 1. Introduction to P.O. studies: My initial introduction to and contact with participant observation studies came from a graduate course taken at Michigan State University dealing with secondary education. 2. Library research: The literature on adolescents in school and participant observation studies were reviewed and this information was not only an aide in helping to formulate the explor- atory questions but served as an aide in helping to validate the research findings. 3. Participation: Most of the data for the research was generated from the group interaction and compiled in typewritten notes and tapes after each day's classes. My typewritten notes, including formal interviews, totaled nearly 500 pages. My cohort in the study, Mr. Stuart Palonsky, totaled more than 300 pages and periodically, we exchanged notes as well as discussed similarities and differences in our findings. In addition, we discussed to a great extent the direction in which we felt the research should go. 4. School suppjied data: The school was most generous and cooperative in placing at my disposal all necessary and relevant data. Statistics quoted in the research (e.g., truancy rate, failure rate, etc.) were supplied by the school and compiled by the school or the school district research office unless otherwise noted. 50 5. Formal Interviews: Near the end of the study, formal taped interviews were held with the building principal, a counselor, three classroom teachers and twenty-five students. These interviews provided information about official school policy as well as the perceptions held by the administration and staff as opposed to or compared to that of students. Methodological Problems Although participant observation has been used widely in a variety of social settings, the reliability and validity of the method continue to be suspect to opponents. However, according to Dalton, this suspect is exaggerated and without foundation.6 He states that some personal observations are more of a projection than an observation but the merits of participant observation far outweigh its defects and especially when the method is combined pragmatically with other methods as a supplement or as an equal or major research arm. He offers the following support for his assumption: (1) The researcher is not bound by fixed research plans and (2) The technique enables the inquirer to avoid pointless questions which often cause ridicule behind his back and injure the research in unconsidered ways. (3) Greater intimacy allows the investigator more correctly to impute motives. (4) He is better able to get at the best informed informants as he needs them later in the research. (5) The partici- pant has a great advantage in getting at covert activity. (6) He 6Melville Dalton, "Men Who Manage," Sociologist at Work, ed. Phillip E. Hammond (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1964). 51 has time to build superior rapport before he asks disturbing questions. (7) He is not committed to treating the always dissimilar informants uniformly. (8) In many cases the participant is able to work his way to files and confidential data that the peripheral formalist usually never reaches.7 Bruyn also states that the participant observation approach to empirical research is more reliable than other methods, in that, while in the subject's natural setting, the participant observer is in a unique position to evaluate any rationalizations which the subject may make in response to a questionnaire or formal inter- view.8 Cusick supports the reliability of the participant observa- tion methodology when he states: As one lives close to a situation, his description and expla- nation of it have a first-person quality which other methodo- logies lack, and as he continues to live close to and moves deeper into that situation, his perceptions have a validity that is simply unapproachable by any so-called standardized method.9 In the process of establishing participant observation as a method of credibility, there is a great need for developing a system of signs or indexes which gauge the degree to which a researcher 71bid., p. 75. 8Severyn T. Bruyn, The Human Perspective in Sociology: The Methodology of Partigipant ObservationTTEnglewood Cliffs: Prentice- Hall, Inc., 1966), p. 180. 9 Cusick, op. cit., p. 232. 52 records fully and accurately that portion of the cultural life of a group which he seeks to study. George Homans developed such an index.10 (1) Time: the more time an individual spends with a group, the more likely it is that he will obtain an accurate interpretation of the social meanings its members live by. (2) Place: the closer the observer works geographically to the people he studies, the more accurate should be his interpretations. (3) Social Circumstances: the more varied the status opportunities within which the observer can relate to his subjects, and the more varied the activities he witnesses, the more likely the observer's interpretations will be true. (4) Language: the more familiar the observer is with the language of his subjects, the more accurate should be his interpre- tations. (5) Intimacy: the greater degree of intimacy the observer achieves with his subjects, the more accurate his interpretations. (6) Consensus: the more the observer confirms the expressive meanings of the community, either directly or indirectly, the more accurate will be his interpretations of them. By using and bringing into play these six indices, the researcher is capable of thrusting himself imaginatively into the role of the group or culture he is studying and is thereby able to reach an acceptable degree of accuracy in his interpretation of their attitudes and opinions which in turn gives greater validity to his findings. 10Bruyn, op. cit., pp. 181-183. 53 During the three and one-half months of field study for this project, Homan's six indices of subjective adequacy were used as a guide in carrying out the research. The role of participant observation that I utilized in conducting the study gave me entree to a wide range and variety of student activities both formal and informal. Utilizing the role of participant as observer not only permitted me as an over-thirty-year old to become familiar with the language of the adolescent groups without appearing abnormal but also helped to confirm the expressive meaning of those groups through the close personal contact with each member. Although I am reporting this research in the first person, I have had the benefit of sharing data and perceptions with Stuart Palonsky, a fellow graduate student in secondary education and the College of Education. Mr. Palonsky, a white student and former teacher with a number of years in secondary education, and I con- ducted this research independently and at different times during the academic year but we shared data and discussed different per- ceptions of the different studies which not only added to the longitudinal dimension, so needed in participant observation studies of this kind - approximately eight months long, but also provided us with another measuring device in which to judge the fruitfulness and/or validity of the study. Schools, in recent years, either because of court or local school board decisions dealing with integration and/or 54 desegregation of schools, have experienced racial disruptions. I was fortunate enough, or unfortunate depending on how one views it, to have worked in such a school as an administrator, assistant prin- cipal, for a total of three years. One of the underlying focal exploratory questions which guided #3 this research project during the approximate four months of study I dealt with the problem of bi-racial interaction among students in an I innovative, urban, high school. We wanted to know the effects bi- I-e racialness had on the school environment, that is, the school organi- zation, staff behavior and classroom structure as well as its rules and regulations. Generally, we wanted to know how the school operated and did it, in fact, make some genuine efforts to improve through innovations and if black and white students interacted and if so, where, when and how did this interaction take place. Of course, in a study of this nature we would have to assess the converse of black and white student interaction. In essence, what is the nature of non-interaction of black and white students in this school? To answer this question we had to examine what the students did together both within and outside the school. The examination included everything students did together in class, the corridors, the cafeteria, the lavatories, the driver's education range as well as the school's campus. The extra-campus activities were also looked at in an effort to determine if there were associations and, if so, on what basis these associations were established. 55 The nature of the question of black and white interaction requires that both black and white groups are investigated. Obviously, there are limitations to the investigation of white groups by a black researcher and this limitation becomes even more pronounced if he is attempting to move back and forth from black to white groups. There- a} fore, the decision reached with Stuart Palonsky to share data and . perceptions in the study not only added a greater degree of reliabiltiy and validity to it but also added a dimension to the investigation I" of the white group that I, as a black researcher, could never attain. Mr. Palonsky, an easterner from New York and a white former high school teacher, was more completely accepted by the white groups than the acceptance accorded me. He also, was rather fluent in Spanish and, as a result, was accorded more of an acceptance by the Chicanos in the school than I. In the group investigations, he examined three groups that I studied and two additional white groups which I did not study. I investigated one additonal black group which he did not study. However, the focus of the study was on the white and black groups we both examined. In focusing on these groups and comparing statements and behavior of group members when we were with them, we were able to acquire the degree of validity and reliability we sought in the study. Our perceptions of group members statements and behavior did not always coincide but by using this method of sharing and comparing we could re-investigate the disparities in our findings until we reached a conscensus. That is, precisely, a major advantage of using this method. 56 Participant observation methodology requires that the researcher, to a great extent, rely on his perceptions when reporting or relating individual or group behavior in many of the social relationships he observes. These perceptions may be easily distorted by him depending on how he perceives these observations and in what context he reports them. According to Becker and Geer, parties to a social relationship will have differing ideas as to what ought to go on in it, and frequently as to what does in fact go on in it.H These differences in perception will naturally affect what is reported. Therefore, researchers using the methodology of partici- pant observation need some instrument to help reduce the personal bias which he may subconsciously report. An instrument we used to check for personal bias was the interview. During the investigative process as well as near its conclusion, students were constantly consulted to insure us that we saw what we actually thought we saw. Also, near the completion of the study a number of the staff, teachers, counselors, and admin- istrators were interviewed to check perceptions. Student comments supporting the findings were one-hundred percent while the great majority of the teachers also approved of them. In addition, the building administrator informed Mr. Palonsky and I that he intended to use participant observation studies as an ongoing internal assess- ment of the school's impact on students. This statement by the nHoward 5. Becker and Blanche Geer, "Participant Observation and Interviewing," in Symbolic Interactions: A Reader in Social Ps cholo , ed. by Jerome G. Manis and Bernard N. Meltzer (Boston: AIIyn and Bacon Inc., 1967), p. 115. V..‘ *flw i ”1 ' ' __ 57 principal shows his high regards for the methodology of participant observation as well as his high level of satisfaction with our findings. Entering the Building Researchers using the participant observation methodology often-time are suspect when entering into social situation that are regarded as rather sensitive. School staff, both teachers and administrators, are quite concerned about his purpose and method while realizing that the least insignificant event could result in total chaos. Therefore, since Metropolitan High was considered quite sensitive, it is necessary that I briefly explain our entry into the district and the school. A major tenet of participant observation studies that is not a part of the scientific method is the question of ethical con- cern. Studies of this nature almost always represent an intrusion into the private lives of the people under study without their having any definite assurances that injury or harm will not come to them. Therefore, researchers using the participant observation methodology must be guided by several ethical considerations. In this research project we were guided by the following ethics: (1) all of the subjects consenting to participate in the study were volunteers, (2) information generated by participants who volunteered to cooperate with the researcher were assured no harm would come to them, and (3) all efforts would be made to preserve their anonymity 58 and the information generated by them would be treated with the strictest of confidentiality.12 The study officially began in the fall of 1973, although I did not enter the school on a fulltime basis until March 1, 1974. Initially, I had planned to conduct the research alone, however, my adviser had spoken with Stuart Palonsky who had approached him and who also was interested in doing a P.O. study. Dr. Cusick felt it would be a good idea to conduct the study with another individual as it would add an additional link to the dimension of validity and reliability of our findings, in that, we could bounce our percep- tions of the students interactions off each other to see if what we perceived were in fact occuring. After Mr. Palonsky and I met and completed the preliminary talks, we approached the building principal with our pr0posa1 to do the research in October, 1973. We felt competent of securing the necessary permission to enter the school and do the research for several reasons. First, the superintendent of the school district is a good friend to the Department of Adminis- tration at the University; second, the building principal recently received his doctorate in administration and possibly would be sympa- thetic to such a project; third, the school was in the process of becoming accredited and our research would supply additional data to the evaluators; and fourth, we had prior information that the school would be sympathetic to such a proposal. 12Earl R. Babbie, Survey Research Methods (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1973), pp. 348-351. 59 Metropolitan High is a relatively new school with a lot of new and innovative programs. The school is in its third year of operation, and since it has such an innovative curriculum as well as lying close to Michigan State, it has received numerous requests to aCcomodate research projects. The principal informed us that because of the sensitivity of the school environment, all research requests are refused unless they feel that the research will directly benefit the school. He related several research proposals that had been denied. One of them was rather humorous and we all chuckled as he recalled it. The school had received a request from the Department of Sociology to study the habits of students in the use of the lavatories in the school. Needless to say, the request was denied as the principal could not see how such a study would benefit the school. Although the principal has some reservations about doing such a study, we were able to convince him that participant observa- tion methodology would provide him with realistic data that no other methodology could match. He agreed to the study under the condition that he and/or we together could convince the staff. Of course, we were elated, and since he were unfamiliar with participant observa— tion sutdies, we left with him a copy of Dr. Cusick's book, Ihsigg_ High School, so he could familiarize himself with the methodology of participant observation as well as being able to present intelligently 13 such a project to the staff. We left with the understanding that he would contact us in about two to three weeks. 13Cusick, op. cit. 60 Within the alloted time, Mr. Palonsky and I were contacted by the principal and were asked to meet with the heads of the various departments of the school including the research director to discuss the study. He also said that it would be worthwhile if Dr. Cusick would attend the meeting to entertain any questions pertaining to his book and/or such a study. Dr. Cusick had already stated during the preliminary inves- tigative stages of the school that he would be available to answer any inquiries pertaining to the study. He agreed to meet with us and the meeting was arranged. The session went well and everyone was satisfied that such a study could be carried out without disrup- tions and/or distractions of the daily process. Cusick's presence was a definite advantage for us, in that, he skillfully answered inquiries dealing with methodological and procedural processes while giving problem examples of those processes he had encountered while doing his study. A short time after this meeting, the building principal notified Stuart and I that the administrators and the departments heads had accepted our proposal and requested that we now meet with the teachers for their input and reactions. If the teachers accepted the proposal, we were in. The principal suggested that we present our proposal to the faculty during their regular monthly departmental meeting and in that way, it would be a more informal, small group and permit more questions. The principal notified us of the next building departmental meeting, and we made a presentation to the Exact Sciences, Careers, 61 and Humanities departments. During the presentations, we were as honest and as candid as possible in explaining the nature of our study. It might be ironic that in all three of the departmental meetings the teachers were more concerned with whether we were there to evaluate them or their teaching methodology rather than what information we might generate from the study that would help them become better teachers. We later found out that more than half the staff were relatively inexperienced and nontenured, thus, the inquiry. We were successful in assuring them that our efforts were honorable ones, and they welcomed us to the school and their classes and invited us to indeed participate in the classroom process. It might be worthwhile to note that during the meetings both Mr. Palonsky and I related to the staff our long careers in public education. Stuart related his role as a classroom teacher, and I told of my role of a classroom teacher and as an administrator in a school that had very similar problems as Metr0politan. It was approximately a month from the first meeting with the principal until the actual field role was to begin. As it turned out, I had to delay my entry into the field until March 1, 1974. However, Mr. Palonsky and I decided that my entry into the field in March, 1974, would work to our advantage, in that, we could cover the entire school year rather than the four months that would occur with both of us in the building during the same period. although my field work would not begin for several months, we decided it would be worthwhile to meet the students together. The first day in the school we were introduced to the security force, a black man Y :‘O — 4. 62 and a black woman, who later took our pictures and issued us each an 1.0. card. We also were issued a locker together so our stay would be as normal to the students as possible. The principal took us on a tour of the building in an effort to find a number of "student leaders" for us to get acquainted with. As we toured the halls and he greeted a number of students, we reached a consensus that it might be better for us and might make our entry into the student population less difficult if we hung around and met students on our own rather than use the "organization man." During the remaining time that we were in the school on this day, our major thrust was to meet as many students as we possibly could. In our effort to achieve this, we wandered the corridors, sat in on a number of classes, and hung around the cafeteria during the lunch hour. Needless to say, We were two suspect characters. When visiting the classes, the teachers made every effort to make our transition as normal as possible by introducing us to the class and asking us to, in a few words, explain our presence in the school. In explaining, we kept the explanation as simple and as direct as possible. We told the students that we were two graduate students from the university and wanted to look at a high school from a students' perspective. Of course, students were very curious and asked many questions at the end of the class sessions and as we wandered the halls. It seemed that just a week or two prior to our arriving at the school, a number of students had been busted (arrested) by the police for having pot (marijuana) and they seemed to think that we were undercover agents (narcs). "Com on you guys, what do 63 you really want here? You were put here by the school in an effort to bust (arrest) as many students as you can, right?" These comments were frequently among those made, but the one that I thought vividly drew the picture for us was the one which stated, not only did they bust us before but this time they have a black and a white (narc) to infiltrate our ranks. Obviously, entering into a sensitive situa- tion just after a bust (arrest) would make anyone suspect, and when the parties are black and white, the situation becomes even more of a possibility. We did not act like narcotic agents by spending time with the administration and teachers, and besides we have no idea how an agent is supposed to act. Furthermore, people just do not change their behavior that much unless they feel one is intruding which Stuart and I refused to do. It was difficult for the students to understand why we would want to come back to a dead, boring high school. However, they said if we were sincere about our efforts, we were welcome and they would do everything they could for us but if anyone ever got busted (arrested) we had better make tracks (leave) and never come back. Although this was our first day in the school with the students, we found a wide variation among student opinion of the school environment. When asking a group of students what went on in the school, a girl said, "There ain't shit that goes on here," but when she was asked why did she bother to come, she answered, "Cuz' ain't nothing else to do." Later, we found students who had nothing but praises for Metropolitan High. As one girl said, "When I first had to come here I didn't want to but now since I've been 64 here I found that it is the best school in the city. The staff is young, innovative and willing to help students and the curriculum is just outstanding." At the end of the day's session, Stuart and I talked over the events and concluded that our entry into the student population had been a successful one but our acceptance into the various group structures would take several weeks. i"”‘-"~nm-IIV ’ I Limitations Of The Study Metropolitan High has an enrollement of just over 1200 students. It was, therefore, technically impossible to interact with all or even most of them. However, any researcher who observes students will find, as we did, that they segregate themselves most rigidly into clearly marked groups. Since it is impossible to study each and every student or student group within the school, the researcher who seeks to utilize the participant observation methodo- logy to study them must select a group and stay with them. Thus, by not technically being able to study the entire student body, the generalizability of the results will be limited, in that, the researcher will not have been able to observe the complete range of phenomena within the total student body. Researchers, however, who have utilized the participant observation methodology have found that human beings in common situations do not react that different. Although our study sought to report on a student population of 1200+, we probably met and talked with no more than 100 to 125 students. Moreover, our personal intensive contact with the high 65 schoolers numbered no more than twenty-five. Because of the size of our sample of students, we did not attempt to randomize it. The Metropolitan High students with whom we had the most frequent and intensive contact were those who had not internalized the system's goals and reward structure, those students who were the most problems for the teachers and administrators. We wanted to find out the causes of these problems and what if anything can be done about them. In order to do this, we investigated some groups who internalized the school's goals and reward structure to determine what it is the school is doing which make some students successful while turning others off. Summary In this chapter, it was my intent to describe and explain the type of methodology used in this study. The participant observation is a qualitative research method that allows the researcher to see social situations from the actor's view point. The methodology works at two levels, description and explanation. In terms of description, the researcher describes the group perspective from the vantage point of the actor as a legitimate member of the various groups. In terms of explanation, the research explains the social situation from the point of view of subjects, researcher, and current scientific knowledge. The methodology is not designed to test hypotheses but rather to generate theory that lead to further research in areas that have not been extensively explored. CHAPTER IV PRESENTATION OF THE DATA Introduction The intent of the study is to describe the formal and informal interactions among students in selected groups and the interaction among selected groups of students as well as between some student groups and other facets of the school organization in their daily routines in an urban, innovative high school. In order to do this it is necessary that I describe the total school environment. Therefore, this chapter will look not only at the formal organization and its staffing policies but will focus on the relationship between teachers and students and student activi- ties that occur throughout the school campus, including the class- rooms, corridors, cafeteria and lavatories. In this study the symbolic interactionist view of social reality is followed, in that wherever or whatever interaction and/or non-interaction occurs does so in terms of a praticular environment. To provide thereader with an adequate understanding of the setting in which high school students create their social reality, it is important to give an explanation of the physical and social environ- ment of the school. 66 67 The Community Metropolitan High School is placed on the southern fringe of a small Midwestern industiral city (SMSA 131,546.N It is one of four senior secondary schools in the city and serves those students, primarily, from the western section of the city as a result of changing housing patterns and population shifts within the city. The area surrounding Metropolitan is the most recently developed section within the city. The entire subdivision is less than five years old and students were often overheard saying that where the many rows of public housing projects, the apartments, and the single family homes are located were, only a few years ago, open fields and hunting areas. The newness of the area minimizes any sense of community that charac- terizes older city sections. As one administrator said, one of the problems in developing "community Spirit" at Metropolitan is that the students come from such varied ethnic and socio-economic back- grounds and when the school is less than three years old, it makes it even more difficult. Metropolitan covers a wide area of socio-economic character- istics. There are students attending from those neighborhoods with the less desirable urban characteristics as well as those students from neighborhoods which society labels as favorable. The area is located in the heart of the state and has an excellent network of freeways North, South, East and West, and is 1These figures were obtained from the 1970 census. 68 within 90 minutes of 90% of the State's population. The city is the hub of a bustling industrial complex which spread throughout the major cities in the lower half of the state. The employment picture of the area is dominated by the automobile industry and by state and government agencies. These two major industries produce 2 0f the area's a median annual income of $11,200 per household. total labor force, the great majority are wage and salary workers. :The city's racial makeup shows a minority population, black and/or Chicano, of about 10 percent. Few, if any, of the city's residential sections are integrated. The largest majority of the black population live on the West side -- the area having the reputation of being tough. Other small groups of blacks live among the predominantly white population throughout the city. Metropolitan High, under school district and federal guidelines, as well as the other schools in the district, are officially classified as "inte- grated," although all the schools in the district do not reflect the city's racial percentage. Most of the homes in the area are single family homes and certainly reflect the socio—economic status of the inhabitants. From the modern structures in the newly developed sub- divisions with their neatly kept lawns and motor boats to the run down shacks without any lawn, predominantly in areas on the West side, shows the wide range of socio-economic characteristics from which Metropolitan High draws its student population. 2U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of the Pophlation and Housing: 1970 (Washington, D.C., United States Government Printing Office, 1972). 69 The city's recreational facilities are not particularly exciting if one comes from big town America, but the city certainly represents middle America. There are a number of movie theaters, including four drive-ins, two "Little Theater" groups, and a nearby summer stock theater. A local symphony orchestra and a Metropolitan Area Fine Arts Council are among its repertoire of recreational facilities. The area also has a number of golf courses and country clubs, as well as a local ski club. In addition, there are many parks for activities and boating, fishing, and water skiing may be enjoyed on the river that cuts through the town. Although the school district's educational opportunities, in recent years have expanded considerably and the district lies in close proximity to one of the state's major universities, the 1970 census shows that the success rate among its citizens for high school graduation is much lower among its minority p0pulation, blacks and .Spanish-speaking, than it is for its white population. The School Although Metropolitan was built in the new subdivision of the city, it is an integral part of the school district's formal organization that is headed by a superintendent and a number of assistants that administers the policies and programs of the Board of Education. The district is comprised of 50 elementary schools, five junior high schools, and four senior high schools. The newest is Metropolitan High constructed and opened during the 1971-72 school year as a result of shifting p0pulation in the city. This shift within the population caused formerly integrated schools, by 70 federal guidelines, to become racially identifiable and led to some limited bussing when the new school was opened. Prior to constructing the new school, central office adminis- trators conferred with professional consultants in an effort to determine what the new school should reflect in terms of today's contemporary society. Many innovations were recommended and a flex- ible modular schedule was adopted, which later was changed to a modified five by five during the third year of operation. The school itself is located on approximately six acres of land. It is adjoined on the west and sourth by fairly busy streets and to the east by undeveloped woodland. The area to the west contains homes in the newly developed subdivision while the area to the south contains a few neighborhood stores and service stations. Apparently, the grocery store proprietors have experienced some problems with the students and, as a result, have placed signs in the window which state, "Only Three Students Permitted in the Store at a Time." Also, adjacent to the south end of Metropolitan is an elementary school that covers a small area. The campus of Metro- politan is rather massive with parking facilities of 444 cars, a driver's education range that is used for evening parking and an additional 284 cars, a driver's education building, ten tennis courts, a dual track field, a football field and seven combination softball-baseball diamonds. The building itself is a massive two-story structure that is contemporary in design with a long, flat, windowed facade. In addition to the main building, Metropolitan has three portable 71 buildings in which classes are held. The buildings are fairly well maintained on the outside with the exception of some markings on them by students. The parking lots are in need of daily care as a result of glass breakage by some students. As the map indicates, the interior of Metropolitan has two floors with each consisting of a number of long corridors. From these corridors students have access to the classrooms, administrative 'offices, cafeteria, auditorium, and other special areas. The corri- dors are tile paved and lined with lockers that are color coded in red, yellow and blue. The different colors of the lockers do not have any significant meaning other than an effort, by the school, to liven up the halls with color and get away from the traditional drab gray used by schools. The classrooms are very modern and, in many instances, port- able partitions only separate the classes so that they may be combined if the teachers see a need to do so. In most cases, the desks are of a combination desk-chair type with space underneath for books and can easily be utilized to accomplish different seating arrangements. Many of the rooms are carpeted and sound proofed to attain maximum efficiency. The subject specialty of the individual teacher is rather obvious within each classroom as the science labs are laden with experimental equipment, vocational classes are adorned with the particular equipment, English rooms and bulletin boards are filled with authors and poems, and social studies rooms are lined with picture of famous or controversial persons. 72 LA... .Aoocum cmA: :eHAAoaocumz Lo cope coopu chzocm ucmcu--._.¢ mczmAL O x «00: 5e: .....- -....ng 8...... ...-.-A....A............. .....AwHAH- . AA. .. -_ “Hum uwj L_J 1 -‘-oo- . ”in Io” 73 .umscAucou--._.v mesmAu .00: 028: V ... 74 In addition to the classrooms, there are other special areas that play an important part in the daily lives of the students. The cafeteria and the auditorium are both constructed similar to an amphi- theater. The cafeteria menu is very traditional with the usual diet of highly starched foods. The students may either buy the complete meal for fifty cents or buy a-la-carte. There is also another room adjoining the cafeteria where anyone, students and teachers, may go for lunch and get waitress or waiter service but the cost is higher for the same food. As a result, usually only the teachers eat there. The auditorium had its stage completed this year and the students taking part in the school play, "Bye Bye Birdie," were anxious to try it out for the first time. The gymnasium is a massive area encompassing two basketball courts that are separated by a portable partition, a swimming pool, and an upstairs area that is used for a number of things including field hockey, table tennis, gymnastics, dancing, body building, etc. The lockerroom itself is quite clean and in good condition including the lockers. The lavatories through- out the building are usually kept locked with the exception of the ones down by the central office. I asked the principal what was the reason for all the "johns" being locked except the ones by the central office and his answer was that they used to have them open but the kids wrecked them so and used them to catch quick smokes that a decision was made to open only those by the administrative office. Periodically, however, others ore open. A trip through the “johns" supported his contentions. Generally they were in poor conditon with no towels, soap, or toilet paper and many of the toilets were 75 stopped up or were used and not flushed. In addition, a variety of writings were scrawled on the walls, that somewhat indicated or .described the feelings within the school: "Fucking Honkies," "I hate Niggers," etc. However, custodians were alerted to remove such sayings. The school operated on a daily schedule from 8 a.m. to 2:10 p.m., as the three other city high schools, but the modular schedule, as is being experimented in some other districts within the state, is unique to the city and the school. The modular system operates on a series of mods - in this case nineteen - of twenty minutes duration interspersed with periods of class time and unstructured time. Normally, students had no more than a maximum of 10 mods of classes a day. The rest of the time was to be spent in the library, getting help from a teacher, or in one of the various resource centers located throughout the building. Leisure time was considered a significant part of the students' day at Metropolitan, and the administration built such a fixture into the schedule, allowing each student to set aside two mods a day for relaxing and socializing in the commons area (cafeteria). The question might be asked, "why change the traditional form of education that has been so successful over the years?" The answer is simple. Teaching, just like the students, cannot stay still for very long. Knowledge and the ways needed to impart it constantly change sometime haltingly, sometimes so rapidly that the teaching profession must hurry to catch up. Modular scheduling is designed 76 to provide a more challenging educational environment for both teachers and students and to result in a higher quality of instruc- tion and learning. The individual needs, interests, and talents are taken into consideration and the students are given more responsi- bility for his time at school. However, because modular scheduling was so new across the country, the administration when adopting this program found few guidelines to follow to effectively avoid pitfalls. Unfortunately, Metropolitan, as some other schools within the state and across the country, had problems with the schedule. The students, coming from highly structured junior high schools, found themselves in command of so much of their time that they could not handle it and as a result absenteeism skyrocketed. As the school progressed through the years 1971-72, 1972-73, new changes were instituted and each change brought more structure. By the 1973-74 school year, the school had initiated a system of alternating days of traditional classes with days of modular scheduling. During the days of traditional class scheduling, Metropolitan resembled other high schools in the city. Students went to class five hours during the day with fifty minutes to eat lunch and no unstructured time. During the alternate days, Metropolitan was a school on a module schedule with mods of instruction and mods of unstructured time. By the last of February of the 1973-74 school year, Metro- politan had undergone a total change from the modular schedule to what is called a modified five by five schedule. The modified schedule operates on a five hour day five days a week with an hour and one-half break in the middle of the day for lunch and activities 77 with no other unscheduled time. The students did not like the change as well as some staff members but it achieved the results the adminis- tration had hoped. The failure and absenteeism rate dropped consider- ably and the halls were cleared. (However, Metropolitan retained its initial approach and did not adopt rigid other policies for student control.) There are still no bells in the school or hall passes needed to go to the lavatory or other destinations. Students, if they must, simply get up and go. Administration Metropolitan High has three administrators who operate the school. There is a building principal and his two assistants. There is also a third assistant principal for community services. The responsibility for the operation of the school falls under the leader- ship of Bob Brown, the principal. Brown is an exciting, young, and very articulate administrator. He is a graduate of a major university and holds a Ph.D. in Educational Administration. The superintendent of the school district was on the staff of the university at the time Dr. Brown was in school and served on his doctoral committee. When the job at Metropolitan became available, the superintendent personally recruited Dr. Brown to fill it. He is the only adminis- trator, of the four, at Metropolitan that was recruited from outside the district. Dr. Brown became the school's principal during its second year of operation. The school's first principal and the one most responsible for its design and innovations resigned after the school's 78 initial year because of illness. However, during that first year, the school had total disruption because of racial rioting. In talking with a number of students and staff members as to why the school's first principal resigned, it was a consensus of opinion that he resigned under illness but it was a convenient way of removing him from a situation he could not handle. Dr. Brown had no previous experience with the school's type of modular scheduling, but, as he related to us, his primary respon- sibility at the time was not with scheduling but with what he referred to as "people problems." In this role he was to encourage and bring about understanding between the races. During this particular inter- view Stuart Palonsky and I noticed that Dr. Brown had on his walls three pictures of Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Ceasar Chavez. We asked him if those portraits represented his view of human dignity and understanding and he answered, "You might say that." Dr. Brown relates well with the students and enjoys a good reputation. As one student said during the interviews, "The principal is pretty cool; everybody likes him. I don't know no person in this school that can't get along with him." When asked why he enjoys such a reputation among students, he answered, "Be human and make every effort to understand students." He went on to say, "One should be accessible to students and to let them know you are interested in helping them solve their problems." As we walked around the corridors, Dr. Brown demonstrated that he knew most of the students by first name. However, the title of Dr. in a high school is unusual and most 79 of the students refer to him as Mr. Brown. When asked if that bothered him, he answered, "Not in the least; the important thing is the relationship with the students." Mr. Roberts is the Assistant Principal for Student Services. 0f the building principals, he has the most contact with the students. His major responsibility is to keep the "lid” on the school. In other words, to prevent school disruptions through discipline and suspension. He is a former junior high school science teacher of average height and possesses a loud voice. The nature of his job makes him the least admired among the administrators. He is charged with enforcing the school's rules and regulations and, therefore, must confront students who violate school policy. When and if the school policy is violated, it is his reSponsibility to determine the degree of punishment and in the great majority of instances that is transformed into suspension, of some degree, from school. Thus, as a result of this direct conflict of authority granted him by the Board of Educa- tion and what students see as an infringement on their rights, he is the least admired. Several students summarized their feelings toward Mr. Roberts when asked what they thought of him and his position by stating: "He's an asshole, has a one track mind and I see no reason for his position in this school." Mr. Roberts does not believe that Metropolitan presents any more or greater disciplinary problems than any other school in the city. The two most serious problems, however, are attendance and the use of drugs. As a matter of fact, the attendance problem was the major factor in the school changing from the modular to a modified 80 five by five schedule after two and one-half years of operation. When I questioned Mr. Roberts about Metropolitan's reputation of having serious racial confrontations that resulted in fighting among the black and white students, he responded that during the school's first two years that was the case but it appeared that this year students seem to have gotten themselves together, and the administra- tion as well as the staff expected a good year. The major portion of Mr. Robert's time is spent walking around the building seeking out skippers or talking to student in his office who are there as a result of a referral from the classroom or the attendance office. In terms of the use of drugs, he is very much aware that they are used but does not believe that the students are into the "hard" drugs. The smoking of marijuana is the big problem. He does not condone the use of drugs and believes it affects the user's ability to perform. When we asked him how the school handled student drug use, he admitted that it was a difficult problem because of their age, but the superintendent has established and sent to each building the guidelines principals are to follow when dealing with minors in possession of drugs. Mrs. Rollins is the assistant principal in charge of scheduling and staff services. In her role she is almost shielded from any con- tact with the students and most of them do not know what her functions really are. When I questioned students as to her identity, only a few knew who she was and none knew her function or role. Mrs. Rollins is an academically oriented individual and was a high school English teacher in another school district for ten years before moving to 81 this district and acquiring a Masters degree in curriculum. When asked how she came to Metropolitan, she said she volunteered because of the school's many innovations. Mr. Gartmon, the school's only black administrator, was the assistant principal for student services prior to Mr. Roberts, but it was a role he was totally ineffective in, according to the students, and during the 72-73 school year a change was made whereby Mr. Gartmon became the assistant principal for community servies. Staff MetrOpolitan staff, rumored to be the youngest in the district, numbers about seventy-two teachers and counselors. However, there are approximately twenty or so paraprofessionals who assist in various capacities, therefore, bringing the total number of staff personnel to a little over ninety. Nearly half of the teaching staff is non- tenured and only four of the entire teaching staff is black. Of the four counselors, one is black. The instructional staff is not divided into the traditional departments that characterize most high schools but instead is grouped under three general areas in an effort, according to the administra- tion, to encourage interdisciplinary approaches to learning and teaching. The areas of general groupings are humanities, careers, and exact sciences. Not being accustomed to anything but departments after thirteen years in education, it seemed rather strange to find all course offerings listed under three general headings. Each of these general areas are supervised by a "designated lead teacher." 82 This person works closely with the administration and is charged with the responsibility of supervising all the staff personnel within his area as well as coordinating the curriculum. Because of this added responsibility, this "lead teacher" has a central office and teaches only one course per day. The guidance staff has a structure similar to the teaching staff. Rather than designate the individual in charge of the coun- seling staff as "head counselor," he is also the "lead teacher." In discussing his position with a staff member, it appears he does not have the same hierarchical status as the instructional staff "lead teacher." The school's organizational chart bares out this point as the other “lead teachers" are listed while he is not. The staff for the most part is fairly young and, as was stated earlier, only about half is tenured. During interviews with the administration and some staff members, I discovered that a major portion was recuited in an effort to smoothly implement the innova- tions worked into the design of Metropolitan. As was stated by Dr. Brown, the principal, when I asked him if the young staff was by design: I can't answer your question completely and honestly because I inherited a lot of it but I do think that there was an assumption made that if you are going to have a program such as we have here at Metropolitan and you are going to try to innovate and do some things differently, the assumption is that you try not to get a lot of people with minds set as to how it ought to be. You spend most of the years trying to change set minds rather than implementing the innovations. Therefore, it could very well have been by design. 83 The remaining portion of the staff was given intra-district transfers at the discretion of the central office as a result in the drop of enrollment at the other three senior high schools when Metropolitan opened. In addition to the administrators, teachers, and counselors, there are the secretaries, cafeteria personnel, nurse, custodians, student teachers, aides, and two black hall monitors, or "The John Attendants" as the students refer to them. Both of them, a man and a woman, are black. Harry, the black male, stands about six-feet three inches and weighs about three-hundred pounds while Natalie stands about five-feet three inches and weighs about one-hundred thirty-five pounds. According to the principal, their role is to maintain order in the halls and in the lavatories, but when I questioned the two of'them,they considered themselves counselors without degrees. As big Harry related, "These teachers don't know a damn thing about students. The Student Population Metropolitan High School is an urban integrated school with a population of 1200 students in grades ten, eleven and twelve. Caucasians (whites) make up seventy-seven percent of the student body while blacks at the beginning of the year composed about twenty percent of the student population. Near the end of the year drop- outs and kicked-outs, the black counselor said the actual figure was closer to sixteen percent. The remaining three percent of the 84 student body was made up of two percent Chicano and one percent officially classified as "other." The nejority of the "other" was composed of Chinese. The design of Metropolitan was based on the neighborhood con- cept and with mainly the small population of approximately 243 blacks being the major group of students bussed. The black students occupy primarily the west side of town. The white students either drive, walk, or are driven to school by their parents. llwe circle drive of the student parking lot is crowded by eight o'clock with parents dropping their children off and who pay little attention to the signs that say no stopping or parking in this area. As a result of the many parents' cars in the circle, it is often difficult for the buses or, as the students often refer to them, "the yellow limousines," to get into the circle near the door to let the students off. The dress code of Metropolitan is quite relaxed. Students wore pretty much what they wanted to providing it was not, according to the principal, exhibitionistic or interfered with the normal operation of the school. Students at Metropolitan took the dress code pretty much for granted, although the policy has only been relaxed in the last five years and other school districts within the state and throughout the country are still at issue in the courts over dress and long hair. However, one need only to have looked to tell there was an obvious differencein the dress of black and white kids. The majority of black students were very meticulous about their dress and appearance while most white students dressed 85 along the hippie style wearing blue jeans, work shirts, or army type dungarees. In a project of this nature, it is quite obvious that the researcher cannot research all the students or groups within the school nor within the time limits attempt to identify through some scheme the "average" student, if such a creature exists at all. Therefore, the criteria we used to select students and groups were: (1) our ability to adequately manage those selected within the time limits, (2) our interest within that particular group, and (3) the group's diversity. Student Groups If one could spend a short period of time in Metropolitan High School, either at the beginning of the school day, between classes, or at the end of the day, he would obviously see the racial split within the student body. The split is particularly more noticeable at the beginning of the day and between classes when the black students gather in "their area," white students "truck or cruise" to their area and the small Spanish speaking group covert 3 Of course, there are no such designated areas by the their area. administration but these areas seem to have grown out of the school riots of 1971-72 and 1972-73. The black area was adjacent to the cafeteria and rarely if ever were there white students "hanging" 3Trucking and cruising are terms used almost exclusively by Metropolitan's white student population. The terms have very similar meanings. 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