Voices from the Margins: The Stories of Vocational High School Students

141 Pages·2001·0.642 MB·English

by  Jane P. Nagle

Voices from the Margins
AC Adolescent
Cultures,
School
SS
& Society
Joseph L. DeVitis & Linda Irwin-DeVitis
General Editors
Vol. 19
PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt am Main (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Jane P. Nagle
Voices from the Margins
The Stories of Vocational
High School Students
PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt am Main (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nagle, Jane P.
Voices from the margins: the stories of vocational
high school students / Jane P. Nagle.
p. cm. — (Adolescent cultures, school, and society; vol. 19)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
1. Vocational school students—United States—Social conditions—
Interviews. 2. Vocational education—Social aspects—United States.
I. Title. II. Adolescent cultures, school, & society; vol. 19.
LC1045 .N23 373.01’13—dc21 00-056399
ISBN 0-8204-5032-4
ISSN 1091-1464
Die Deutsche Bibliothek-CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Nagle, Jane P.:
Voices from the margins: the stories of vocational
high school students / Jane P. Nagle.
−New York; Washington, D.C./Baltimore; Bern;
Frankfurt am Main; Berlin; Brussels; Vienna; Oxford: Lang.
(Adolescent cultures, school, and society; Vol. 19)
ISBN 0-8204-5032-4
Cover design by Joni Holst
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council of Library Resources.
© 2001 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
Printed in the United States of America
Dedication
To
Judith Solsken
&
Irving Seidman
Thank you for helping me to find my voice

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi
1 Learning from Stories 1
Grounding the Stories in Theory 1
Understanding the Concept of Power 1
Exploring Critical Theory 2
The History of Vocational Education 6
Identifying the Voices 8
Working-Class Status 8
Marginalization 9
Voice 10
Access to School Literacy Practices 11
Collecting the Stories 13
In-depth Interviewing 14
The First Interview 14
The Second Interview 15
The Third Interview 15
Locating the Voices 16
Establishing Participants’ Rights to Protection 16
Gaining Access 17
Establishing Contact with Participants 17
Identifying the Participants 18
The Issue of Gender in Selecting Participants 19
The Issue of Race in Selecting Participants 19
The Issue of Social Class in Selecting Participants 20
The Settings 20
McGrath Vocational High School 20
Walters Technical High School 21
VIII Table of Contents

Four Rural Schools 21
Identifying Patterns 22
Audiotaping and Transcription 22
Noting Themes 22
Creating Profiles 23
Using the Data in Thematic Chapters 24
2 Making the Connection between Marginalization and
Home Experiences 25
Profile of Stella 26
The Effect of Working-Class Status 32
The Intergenerational Transference of Marginalization 38
Parental Stories of Marginalization 38
Parental Stories without References to Marginalization 40
Summary 44
Alcoholism within the Family Structure 45
Vocational Education as a Means of Escape 48
Decisions Made Despite Discouragement from Adults 49
Decisions Made with Encouragement from Adults 51
Summary Statement 55
Summary of the Findings on Marginalization 56
3 Being Voiceless in the Classroom 59
Profile of Heather 60
Profile of Jim 65
Administration of Special Services 70
Arbitrary Administration of Discipline 75
Interactions with Peers 82
Summary of the Findings about Voice 88
4 Accessing School Literacy Practices 89
Profile of Walter 91
The Connections and Ruptures between Home and School
Literacy Practices 97
Meeting Standards for School Literacy 102
Literacy and Social Identity and Status 105
Summary of the Findings on Accessing School Literacy 109
5 Making Meaning 111
Marginalization 111
Table of Contents IX

Voice 113
Access to School Literacy Practices 115
Reflections of a Teacher Researcher 117
Implications for Teaching 119
Implications for Research 122
Closing Comments 123
References 125
Index 133

Acknowledgments
I want to thank the twenty participants whose courage and candor in
telling their stories renewed my faith in the strength of the human heart.
I want to also express my respect to the teachers at Smith Vocational
High School with whom I shared many years of my professional life. I
particularly want to express my gratitude to Anne Russell, who shared my
journey through the participants’ stories with insight and compassion
and to Joan Finn, who was always willing to listen to my stories.
My colleagues at the University of Massachusetts, Manhattan College,
and Westfield State College, in particular Patrick Sullivan, Gloria Wolpert,
and Joan Rasool, have shown me that a commitment to excellence and
equity in teaching is attainable and does change the lives of students.
My life has been enriched by the friendship of Marie L’Heureux. Marie,
who fought a fifteen-year battle against cancer, brought a sense of fun and
beauty to my world. My life-long friend, Denise Goggins, and her daugh-
ters, Bridget, Erin, and Molly, have always been there when I have needed
them.
My family has been the most valued part of all my stories. My mother,
Dot Nagle, is my model of quiet strength. Kelsy, Kerry, Keily, and Kasey
Nagle; Matt and Kevin Hogan; and Chris Nagle offer me hope about the
future. Shannon Greenwood and Mark Shaughnessy and their families
help me to celebrate life. My son-in-law, Peter Scoble, is someone who
found his academic voice and soared with it. My grandsons, Zachary and
William Scoble, are the loves of my life. My daughter, Sarah Bisaillon-
Scoble, has been a continuing source of joy and love to me. My husband,
Ed Shaughnessy, who spent more than thirty years as a teacher, coach
and administrator in vocational education, is one of my heroes in education.
Finally I would like to express my thanks to the Peter Lang Publishing
editors, Seth Ditchik, Joseph DeVitis and Linda Irwin-DeVitis and Lisa
Dillon, production manager for their careful attention to the details that
have enriched the stories being told.
Chapter One

Learning from Stories
This is a book about stories—stories told by school participants whose
voices are rarely if ever heard in examinations of the relations between
class, socialization, and institutional segregation in schools. The voices
belong to students who have selected vocational education as their choice
for secondary schooling. Their voices are situated in their own contexts.
They provide the insider accounts of linkages and ruptures between ex-
pectation and authority within their school experiences. Their voices are
fluent and rich in their expression of how their lives have been shaped by
differential standards and values with regard to criteria, performance, and
behavior. They are often able to pinpoint the very ruptures within the
family socialization and schooling that educators, social workers, and ad-
ministrators are either unable or unwilling to acknowledge.
Grounding the Stories in Theory
Understanding the Concept of Power
In order to understand the participants’ stories about the places they
occupied within school and the connections between those places and
marginalization, voice, and accessing school literacy as components of
empowerment, it is necessary to have an understanding of the concept of
power within society, in general, and within schools, specifically. Becom-
ing a person is a social, cultural, and psychological production. Who one
is, how one’s identity is formed as a classed, gendered, and raced person,
happens in specific economic, political, and cultural circumstances. Schools
play a major role in the process of identity formation (Apple, 1995).
Being able to conceptionalize power allows for a frame of reference in
the exploration of the distribution of power. It would be impossible to give
serious attention to those who are powerless, if power and the people