For one year, beginning in April of 1974, the Kanawha County, West Virginia school system was involved in a bitter controversy over the content of the adopted language arts textbook series. The series generating the conflict tncluded over 325 individual book titles published by a cross-section of the major textbook companies in the United States. No one visualized the intensity of emotions, the violence and the disruption that would grip Kanawha County during 1974-75. Before the protest diminished, schools were temporarily closed; the superintendent and the president of the Board of Education resigned; people were shot or beat, cars firebombed and school buildings dynamited. The controversial language arts books were withdrawn from all the schools for a period of time and later returned after review by an appointed citizens' committee and action by the Board of Education.
This study is a history of the Kanawha County textbook protest. A major portion of the research for this dissertation involved interviews and a search of documents. There is a description of West Virginia, Appalachian values and Kanawha County. Several factors, occurring prior to 1974 are examined as possible precipitating factors in the controversy.
From April 1974 to April 1975 the major actions, reactions and occurrences in Kanawha County are reported using various sources to document positions taken by individuals, groups and organizations during this period. Organized chronologically, the study traces the evolution of the textbook protest and continues through the abatement of most protest activities by April of 1975. Five factors, mostly outside the control of the educational establishment that contributed to and sustained the conflict are analyzed. These include the state law regarding the seating of school board members, the role of organized labor, the lack of adequate law enforcement, the intervention of outside groups and the role of the media.
The following conclusions and implications emerge from the Study. Students, teachers and administrators in Kanawha County were most deeply affected by the textbook controversy with general agreement that the effects of the protest will be felt for years to come. In the future, public schools, involving everyone directly or indirectly, will not escape as arenas of conflict and controversy. As a resuit of the social activism movement of the 1960's and 1970's and public concern over the performance and operation of the schools, educational systems across the country can expect increasing assaults on their legitimacy. although controversy may be inevitable, there are positive actions which may be taken by school boards and educational administrators to reduce or avoid the disruptiveness of a protest such as the one in Kanawha County. By establishing a broad base of commun ity support and involvement, educators may be able to avoid conflict rather than having to react to it. / Ed. D.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/37202 |
| Date | 13 January 2010 |
| Creators | Candor, Catherine Ann |
| Contributors | Educational Administration, Weber, Larry J., Alexander, M. David, Fleming, Daniel B., Hunt, Thomas C., Johnston, A. Pearre |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation, Text |
| Format | x, 243 leaves, BTD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | OCLC# 40182536, LD5655.V856_1976.C35.pdf |
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