This collection of stories is based on the author’s experiences as a middle school teacher at an alternative campus in south Texas, in a district whose population was largely comprised of Mexican-American and low-income families. The Eagle School is based on a program that existed in the 1990s to address the special needs of “bubble” students, children who were failing in elementary school because of factors such as poverty, neglect, and violence at home. Students were selected for the program based on recommendations from their counselors, with the hope that the small campus of twelve teachers would provide its 150 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders with a safe haven, allowing them to focusing on their studies. The ultimate goals of the program were to prevent students from dropping out of school and to engage them in interdisciplinary projects that would advance them academically, preparing them to return to their appropriate grade levels in high school. Ms. Russel, a character based on the author, recounts stories of her efforts to help students at the Eagle School, as well as stories of her own friendships, aspirations, and disappointments off campus. Each story represents a distinct moment during the six years that she teaches at the Eagle School, and each focuses on a specific student or group of students whose conflicts complicate her own.

This study explores constructions and representations of boyhood in selected historical and recent boys’ school stories through the discourses they represent, propagate and, at times, subvert. Foucault’s views on discourse form the basis of the theoretical approach adopted in this study. A literature review on the ideas distinguishing Foucault’s perceptions of discourse from those of other theorists is therefore included. Raymond Williams’s differentiation between dominant, emergent and residual discourses is also demonstrated to be helpful in understanding and describing the relationships between discourses. The principles of critical discourse analysis, in particular, facilitated the discussion of dominant and alternative discourses in the context of the fictional school. A comparison of the dominant discourses implicit in historical and recent publications makes it possible to assess ways in which fictional constructions of boyhood have changed or remained the same over time. The acknowledged benchmark of traditional boys’ school stories, Thomas Hughes’s Tom Brown’s Schooldays (1857), and selected school stories by authors such as Talbot Baines Reed, John Finnemore, Rudyard Kipling, Harold Avery and Frank Richards show that the effect of dominant discourses on the representation of the protagonists in historical texts of this kind generally culminate in a replication of an archetypal ideal British schoolboy. This type of boy is constructed as being characterised by his admirable physical and moral courage, outstanding athletic prowess, honesty and strict, though cheerful, adherence to a rigid code of honour that scorns backing down from a fight, discourages the outward display of emotions and rejects any form of snitching. A range of additional related texts confirms this tradition and archetype, albeit often in a more critical portrayal of the British school system of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The contemporary works selected for detailed discussion are texts published after 1990 which arguably fall within the ambit of boys’ school stories. The focus falls on the Harry Potter series (1997-2007) by J.K. Rowling, The War of Jenkins’ Ear (1993) by Michael Morpurgo, and John van de Ruit’s debut novel, Spud: A Wickedly Funny Novel (2005) and its sequel, Spud – The Madness Continues (2007). The findings show that although the recent boys’ school stories by Rowling, Morpurgo and Van de Ruit frequently include motifs and formulaic elements which are typical of traditional boys’ school stories within the texts (notably the motifs of corporal punishment, the fagging system, honesty, courage and the importance of sporting matches), they do not adhere strictly to the underlying discursive framework implicit in their historical counterparts. Thus, the study suggests that the discursive predictability apparent in traditional boys’ school stories is no longer present in contemporary examples of this genre. Instead, the findings of this study indicate that contemporary constructions of boyhood in the context of school are to some extent liberated from the dictates of convention, and that they have become essentially indeterminate and variable. / Thesis (DLitt)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / English / Unrestricted

This dissertation presents a holistic framework for approaching fantastic school stories: that is, narratives which feature the protagonist’s education in magic. This three-part framework attends to the ways in which the fantastic school story subgenre draws upon the characteristics and possibilities of the school story genre, fantastic literature, and representations of education – in which a hidden curriculum is always inherently present – to create unique opportunities for representing and foregrounding issues and structures within educational institutions and the relationship between education and power. Employing this lens allows for a more nuanced and complex consideration of the impact of fantastic elements in these narratives, examining the ways in which such elements exaggerate, embody, or enforce underlying ideologies and norms and offer encouragement to readers to interrogate these aspects of the text and the mundane educational experiences they encounter. This framework is then used to analyse representative texts in the subgenre and explicate the hidden curriculum of each: ideologies of immutable gender and identity in Jane Yolen’s Wizard’s Hall; the use of testing as a gatekeeping measure to reinforce Pureblood supremacy in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series; the prerequisite of economic capital to access education, undermining the myth of post-secondary studies as social mobility, in Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles; the violence of imperial educational institutions in Lev Grossman’s Magicians trilogy; and the vocational habitus of witchcraft, including gendered divisions and expectations of personal sacrifice, on the Discworld in Terry Pratchett’s “Tiffany Aching” quintet. This framework and these illustrative analyses, by explicating the structures underlying the protagonists’ education and the ways in which they are thereby limited, participate in the projects of developing an emancipatory approach to children’s literature and in consciousness-raising regarding hidden curricula in education. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Texts in the fantastic school story subgenre – that is, narratives about a young person learning how to use magic, often at a school – are a valuable opportunity to explore the relationship between power and education. Here, I present a three-part approach for reading these texts which looks at how these narratives combine elements of the school story genre, fantasy literature, and representations of education to create a unique format. This unique format makes it easier for readers to see underlying structures and issues in education by making familiar elements feel unfamiliar through the addition of magic. I then use this three-part approach to analyse fantastic school stories by Lev Grossman, Terry Pratchett, Patrick Rothfuss, J.K. Rowling, and Jane Yolen. Reading the texts through this lens brings forward issues related to education like gate-keeping, socioeconomic status, imperialism, and gendered norms and divisions.

This study explores reasons for Enid Blyton’s vast popularity. Blyton and her life are discussed in terms of the production and reception of her texts in the light of changing dominant discourses in society and varying horizons of expectation. It has been found that selected aspects of reception theory (in particular the horizon of expectation posited by Hans-Georg Gadamer and developed by Hans Jauss) and the theories of Michel Foucault on power and discourse can be used to examine the influence of societal and literary discourses on both Blyton’s writing and on those who read her work, including adults and children. The study includes a discussion of Blyton’s personal life, her role in education and her success in business. Blyton’s horizons of expectation – shaped not only by the dominant discourses that surrounded her, but also her training in the Froebel method of education – are examined. Furthermore, a number of aspects of Blyton’s life and writing subvert dominant discourses and these are discussed in terms of Foucault’s ideas on power relations. Evidence of the influence of her life on her work has been found in her texts. The criticism of Blyton is discussed in terms of both literary criticism and social criticism. Blyton’s popularity as a storyteller is also considered and it has been found that, regardless of criticism by adults, she remained popular with children. Furthermore, Blyton used a number of specific techniques (such as fast-paced plots and simple language and style) and it has been found that her techniques can be linked to both formula writing, the oral tradition, and to her training as a teacher in the Froebel method of education. These techniques are examined in terms of their manifestation in her writing, particularly in her series books – including adventure stories and school stories. In conclusion, the place of Blyton’s writing in contemporary society is deliberated and recommendations for further research are made. / Dissertation (MA (English))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / English / unrestricted

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This dissertation examines literary representations of the intersection between British imperialism and British and British-modeled public schools. I categorize British writers who have addressed this nexus in their literary works into two groups, idealists and realists, based on their views of British public schools, imperialism, and the effectiveness of the former in sustaining the latter. I present two examples of idealists, Henry Newbolt and the contributors to The Boy's Own Paper, followed by two examples of realists, Rudyard Kipling and E. M. Forster, who have often been viewed as opposites. I then provide an example of a South-Asian diasporic realist, Selvaduari, who builds upon the critiques of British realists by revealing the contemporary offspring of the marriage between British public schools and imperialism. By analyzing works by idealist and realist authors, I demonstrate the importance of public schools and school literature in promoting and sustaining as well as critiquing and condemning imperialism. / text