Making a Mass Institution

Indianapolis and the American High School

By Kyle P. Steele

SERIES: New Directions in the History of Education

Rutgers University Press

Making a Mass Institution describes how Indianapolis, Indiana created a divided and unjust system of high schools over the course of the twentieth century, one that effectively sorted students geographically, economically, and racially. Like most U.S. cities, Indianapolis began its secondary system with a singular, decidedly academic high school, but ended the 1960s with multiple high schools with numerous paths to graduation. Some of the schools were academic, others vocational, and others still for what was eventually called “life adjustment.” This system mirrored the multiple forces of mass society that surrounded it, as it became more bureaucratic, more focused on identifying and organizing students based on perceived abilities, and more anxious about teaching conformity to middle-class values. By highlighting the experiences of the students themselves and the formation of a distinct, school-centered youth culture, Kyle P. Steele argues that high school, as it evolved into a mass institution, was never fully the domain of policy elites, school boards and administrators, or students, but a complicated and ever-changing contested meeting place of all three.

The details in this valuable case study bring to life the story of discrimination on the basis of race and social class. Robert L. Hampel, author of Fast and Curious: A History of Shortcuts in American Education

Well-written and meticulously researched, Making a Mass Institution impressively examines education in middle America and compels us to revisit the very raison d'être of the American high school. Jon N. Hale, author of The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement

Steele, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy, writes about how the city of Indianapolis created a divided and unjust system of high schools over the course of the 20th century, and one that effectively sorted students geographically, economically and racially.' UW Oshkosh Today

A critical addition to a growing body of scholarship that examines the ways that educational institutions interact with class, race, and space to intensify inequality over time. History of Education Quarterly

The details in this valuable case study bring to life the story of discrimination on the basis of race and social class. Robert L. Hampel, author of Fast and Curious: A History of Shortcuts in American Education

Well-written and meticulously researched, Making a Mass Institution impressively examines education in middle America and compels us to revisit the very raison d'être of the American high school. Jon N. Hale, author of The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement

Steele, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy, writes about how the city of Indianapolis created a divided and unjust system of high schools over the course of the 20th century, and one that effectively sorted students geographically, economically and racially.' UW Oshkosh Today

A critical addition to a growing body of scholarship that examines the ways that educational institutions interact with class, race, and space to intensify inequality over time. History of Education Quarterly

KYLE P. STEELE is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.

Contents
Introduction
1          Shortridge, then Manual, then Arsenal: Indianapolis Defines and Develops a High School System, 1890-1919
2          Forced Segregation and the Creation of Crispus Attucks High School, 1919-1929
3          The High School Moves to the Center of the American Adolescent Experience, 1929-1941
4          An End to De Jure School Segregation, Crispus Attucks Basketball Success, and the Limits of Racial Equality, 1941-1955
5          “Life Adjustment” Education, Suburbanization, Unigov, and an Unjust System by a New Name, 1955-1971
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index

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