Excerpt:
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, high schools were political and cultural battlegrounds. Gael Graham's article uses conflicts over boys' long hair to trace the connections between the desire for personal autonomy and the quest for power and participation among public high school students. Centering her narrative on the legal battles between Chesley Karr, a male high school student in El Paso, Texas, and school officials in that city, Graham sheds light on the high school student rights movement and the public debate about long hair. This installment of "Teaching the JAH " gives students the opportunity to explore the legal issues of the Karr case as well as the broader question of high school student rights.
Annotation:
A new initiative from the Journal of American History, this site provides resources and strategies for teaching with articles published in the journal. The most recent entry consists of materials for teaching about the debate over long hair in American high schools that was eventually considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. Exercises that go along with the article ask students to analysis the role of schools in defining rights, explore the issues at stake in dress code controversies, and to explore how this debate can shed light on transitions in American culture in the 1960's. As of October 2004, seven more installments have been added to correspond with other Journal of American History articles. Each section provides the JAH article, ideas for teaching with the article, supplemental materials, and exercises for students. This site would be interesting for teachers of history and anyone looking for new tools to challenge high school students to think more critically about history by using a wide range of information online.