| Throughout the twentieth century, a process of teacher reform substituted for the discussion and implementation of larger social and cultural reform, both in schools and outside of them. Public school teachers were continually asked as individuals to perform different kinds of systematic social change for the nation. Because this task was impossible by definition, teachers frequently were charged with failure by their administrators and by the public. Consequently, with each new generation of social and political challenges came a remaking of the ideal teacher image and of the guidelines designed to make real that image.; This dissertation studies New York City high school teachers from 1919 to 1969 as evidence for this process. In analyzing the writing of such teachers in their own professional journal, The Bulletin of High Points, this study reveals the ways in which teachers both were shaped by and resisted bureaucratic, administrative, and cultural pressures to remake themselves and their profession. This study focuses on four historical periods---World War I, the interwar period, World War II, and the 1950s and 60s---to illuminate the ways in which teachers were required to mold their appearances, their political beliefs, and their actions in and outside of the classroom to reflect the dominant political positions of each era.; In serving as emblems of democracy, however, teachers were rarely accorded democratic power in the schools or even in their own classrooms. Moreover, the very efforts to reform them often hindered the development of a teacher-community that may have well-modeled important markers of democratic life, including popular representation, the ability to negotiate, and the public exchange of ideas. The Bulletin of High Points served as a forum through which New York City high school teachers could build such a community until its cancellation in 1969. In analyzing what teachers wrote for the journal during its run, contemporary readers can see the unique, historic manifestations of a continued struggle for teachers to lay claim to the work they do, both in their schools and in their contributions to forming a national, public culture. |
