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Call number: LD2668 .T4 1929 L33

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

In August, 1968, after a series of confrontations in the city parks between young dissidents and the police, the Mayor of Portland called upon the Metropolitan Youth Commission to form a special study committee to explore the areas of conflict and to recommend ways in which municipal government might constructively respond to the young people in the community. The independent research project on the alienation of youth, the results of which are reported here, was an outgrowth of the interest generated by the request from the Office of the Mayor. Under the auspices of the Metropolitan Youth Commission (MYC), a special office within the executive branch of city government concerned with the needs of youth, a questionnaire was constructed measuring both the attitudes of young people toward established social institutions and measuring the degree of personal alienation of the respondent. A research consultant from the Department of Psychiatry of University of Oregon Medical School, Dr. John Marks, directed the development of the questionnaire. The items measuring personal alienation have been drawn from the “alienation cluster” on a scale constructed and refined by Chain and Associates in their research on juvenile heroin .research in New York City. In addition, items were included which would provide substantial information on personal background of the individual, e.g. family cohesiveness, social class, delinquent history, and drug use. In spring, 1969, data was collected in four high schools in the metropolitan area (pop. 380,000). The student members of the MYC arranged for students in each school to distribute the questionnaires in classrooms and to interpret the nature and purpose of the research project to those in the sample populations. Student rather than teacher-administration of the questionnaire was considered an important factor in assuring those participating of the confidentiality of individual responses. However, since the students were free to select the specific classes to be sampled, the population was not carefully randomized. The questionnaire was also completed by a small number of persons who were contacted at the Charix Coffee House, a popular meeting place for young people identified with the city’s hippie community. The Charix sample permits a comparison of the attitudes of those still attending school with a slightly older group of peers who have "dropped out" of the mainstream of community life. In the fall of 1969, when the present writers became involved in the project, the research sample was extended to include a fifth public high school and a special ungraded secondary school, Vocational Village, whose enrollment includes high school drop-outs and youth referred by school or juvenile court officials. The respondents from the fifth high school were a random sample of the total school population which, in turn, is a cross-section of the middle and lower income groups in this community. The composition of this school and unique features of its program will be more fully described in a later section of this paper. The sample drawn from Vocational Village is also considered unbiased because the questionnaire was administered in English classes, a required subject for all enrollees. The data collected during the two time periods, spring 1969 and fall 1969, has been analyzed separately. Since the four schools of the original sample differ in terms of the ethnic and socio-economic status of their enrollments, a comparison of responses by schools to ascertain relationships between social status and alienation has been a major focus of the data analysis. Factual information about the socio-economic characteristics of the individual schools has been drawn tram city census reports and research conducted by Portland's School District #1.

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While studies in the social sciences have looked at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, few have focused on how they experience school. Sexual orientation is still a taboo subject or only treated cursorily in educational institutions and teacher-training programmes. Research that does look at schools is mitigated by subjects who are at different degrees of being out in their schools, or are treated as a monolith with other LGBT youth, or have been recruited through psychosocial agencies, and by data gathered retrospectively and/or at arms-length through surveys. / This dissertation describes the experience of being gay and out at school for seven male students aged sixteen to eighteen. Data was collected through multiple semistructured interviews with participants recruited through the various urban, suburban, and alternative high schools they attended at the time of this study. / Data was analyzed using a modification of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method of analyzing phenomenological data (Moustakas, 1994). The theoretical framework undergirding this study is phenomenological research, arts-based research, and queer theory in education. Findings are represented as a literary novel in order to better preserve participants' voices. / Data analysis indicates that the experience of being out in high school is characterized by: (a) managing "the secret" of being gay before and during coming out; (b) seeing being gay as just being yourself; (c) perceiving the school as privately supportive, but publicly indifferent to gay students; (d) emotionally reflecting the school environment; (e) valuing relationships as a positive; (f) seeing harassment, gossip, and gender differences as negatives; (g) ascribing to perpetrators of homophobia and harassment character flaws and anachronistic beliefs; (h) being left on your own to deal with homophobia and harassment as others abdicate their responsibilities; (i) employing escapist, self-protection, and resistance strategies to deal with homophobia and harassment; (j) searching for connectivity to other gays and the LGBT community; (k) facing the silence of information and resources in schools on LGBT issues and people; and (l) advising others to be true to themselves. / This research has implications for teachers, administrators, policy-makers, and those involved in teacher education programmes who are interested in addressing the needs of gay students.

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M.A. / none / Dr. W. Roestenburg