Case studies and what we already know

This chapter presents three case studies from the perspective of other more traditional, and usually quantitative, studies of school, alienation and transition. The three studies provide abundant case material on the student-teacher relationship which is one of dominance and submission, even in instances where teachers are predisposed to treat students as responsible individual young adults. The case studies demonstrate more than any quantitative study could do, the magnitude of the problems which face educational planners as they attempt to design secondary schools for majority participation to age sixteen, seventeen or eighteen.