The practice of Jeffersonian democratic ideals in selected contemporary American high schools : a naturalistic inquiry

Abstract

The role of the school as an agent of socialization for democratization, recognized as vital to the preservation of democracy in the early history of this nation by Thomas Jefferson and other of the Founding Fathers, is still considered important in America today. If a nation is to remain unified, the citizens of that nation must share common values, goals, and ideals. That the school should serve as an agent of dissemination of those common values has been a recurring theme of reform movements throughout the past century. The multiple values demanded of the school system by numerous interest groups has forced administrators to ask which of those roles is most important. Lacking national consensus, administrators look to local constituents for guidance. This research examined three high schools in the United States to determine the ways in which socialization for democratization takes place. The examples included a rural high school in the Texas hill country, a suburban high school in a suburb of Seattle, Washington, and an urban high school in Charlottesville, Virginia. This sample represents diverse geographic areas as well as diverse populations. Based on the naturalistic method of inquiry, the study reveals the similarities and differences among the three schools in their socialization practices. It also reveals that administrators, faculty, and students consider it important that the school fulfill its role of providing students the opportunity to become a well-educated informed citizenry in order to preserve the democratic system of government in this nation. Though they use different methods and emphasize different democratic principles, the three schools examined do fulfill their role of socialization for democratization.