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The Case Studies
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In Chapter 1, Gaston
Alonso tackles the role of social
scientists as “cultural brokers” who shape the ideological
climate in which the public policies are made, examining how the
current “common sense” about the urban education has been shaped by
academic theories regarding the culture of young people of color. The
chapter argues that despite the much-heralded post-1960s “structural
turn” in the social sciences, much of the contemporary scholarship on
the subject remains trapped in the culturalist assumptions of the
"culture of failure" thesis. In Chapter 2, Jeanne Theoharis challenges the recent consensus that young Blacks and Latinos lack the motivation and values necessary to succeed academically. She foregrounds the perspectives of Black and Latino high school students at Fremont High School in South Los Angeles on the value and nature of their own education. The basis of the research is a collection of journal writings taken from four U.S. History classes Jeanne co-taught during the school year 2003-2004. Chapter 3, by Noel Anderson, is based on an ethnographic case study of Black and Latino young men attending public schools and a selective after-school program in New York City. The findings reveal the lucid and often critical stance such young men take on the physical condition of their schools, use of testing in classrooms and instructional strategies of teachers. In addition, they provide insight into how young men try to make sense of substandard schooling and the job and consumer discrimination they face in their communities. In Chapter 4, Celina Su presents a case study of Sistas and Brothas United (SBU), a community-organizing group comprised of high school students in the South Bronx working towards better schools. The study is based on Celina’s research during a fifteen-month period between May 2003 and July 2004. The chapter chronicles the efforts of these young people as they worked towards education policy reform, focusing on the ways in which meaningful and empowering campaigns can allow students to reveal and assert how they value a good education. |
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