The official school drop-out figure in the US in recent years has been 25 per cent of the cohort. Estimates from large cities are often double these rates, and in some areas 60 per cent or worse. This text focuses on this problem in US schools, but from an unusual perspective. It is a study gained from in-depth interviews of 100 "stop-outs" - that is, those who dropped out but then decided to return to school. Four basic questions are posed by this text: who drops out?; why did they drop out?; what caused them to return?; and what intervention policies can be formulated to prevent students...

This collection of essays tries to salvage and analyze the narratives of public employees who worked in one of the nation's largest and most vital social institutions. Their 20th century teaching careers are reconstructed, emphasizing the parts played by crucial social, economic, and political events and issues, the school organization, and people-students, parents, and others - in shaping the subjects' evolving definitions, or perceptions, of their role as a teacher in a particular community. It is multi-dimensional in scope, stressing qualitative research approaches, oral histories,...