Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine a high school significantly involved in school restructuring to determine if and to what extent restructuring serves particular values and interests and silences others. The conceptual framework for the study was a combination of critical and poststructural theories which examine how power is exercised and the potential for change via the interactions and contradictions among subjectivity, power, language, and unquestioned, underlying assumptions. The design of this study was based on qualitative inquiry, and procedures included interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis within one small rural high school. Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect of this restructuring was the lack of consideration given to social power issues and student identity (subjectivity), both in terms of “structural power'— students, parents, and community—and “social power”—such as social class, gender, race, and other areas of difference. The basic elements of the school's restructuring work—outcomes, success, all students—were embraced without discussion concerning power issues and their obligation to students for their participation in a democratic society. This aspect of restructuring represented the largest gap between the school's socialization of their students into American culture via such routines as the morning pledge to the flag, their motto of “success for all,” and their actual practices.
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