Corridor Cultures: Mapping Student Resistance at an Urban School

2 “In a way it protects us and in a way . . . it keeps us back”: Scanning, School Space, and Student Identity

2 ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ “In a way it protects us and in a way . . . it keeps us back” Scanning, School Space, and Student Identity Before the first day of school, Renaissance, like most high schools, runs a freshman orientation day where new students and their parents are invited to learn about the school, procedures, what to expect the first day, and opportunities at the school. One year I was asked to attend with some of my debaters. The event was to begin with an introductory session in the cafeteria (where students enter school everyday), after which students would be brought on tours of Renaissance and then would break into groups and go into several rooms, each with a presentation on some aspect of student life. I was to be in a room on extracurricular activities. About 100 people, new students and their families, sat at lunch tables and were introduced to the principal, guidance counselors, and some teachers. The principal defined the mission of the school and expressed her hopes for students. The guidance counselor went over graduation requirements with the audience and handed out advising sheets that showed the number and required distribution of credits as well as the required state exams. Then, two school safety officers (SSOs) introduced the students to the scanning ritual they would be subject to once school began. Standing next to a full-body metal detector and x-ray machine, one officer explained the procedures to students and clarified the long list of banned items—nothing with a blade, 50 ❙ Scanning, School Space, and Student Identity including scissors, razors, and box-cutters, as well as markers, highlighters and Wite-Out. “Leave ’em all home!” the SSO urged and explained further that girls went in one line and were scanned by women; boys in another line were scanned by men. She then asked a volunteer to demonstrate the process, coaching her along the way as she emptied her pockets of metal objects, placed her bag on the x-ray machine, walked through the metal detector , and then placed her hands out to be scanned by a hand-held scanner before collecting her things to go on her way. “See, it’s easy,” the SSO encouraged as she invited the rest to come up and try it themselves. On that orientation day, these students eagerly played the scanning game, though most would come to resent the practice. The importance of socializing new students into the scanning process as part of their introduction to Renaissance suggests the centrality of this ritual. As students lined up to practice the new way they would enter school, their parents and families observed quietly, no one questioning the practice or raising reservations about the policy. Apparently, the need to scan Renaissance students as they entered the building was self-evident and required no extensive comment. However, though scanning appeared natural and inevitable that late August day, the practice is far from benign as it shapes student/school relationships, informs student identities, and culturally constructs school space. Scanning and the Construction of School Space As noted by the alumni quoted in the previous chapter, the entry ritual of walking through the school’s grand front entrance that moved students from the streets into the school was central to the Old School experience. The numerous references to the experience of walking from the ordinary street, through the arch, and into a “school of lasting renown” signified by the collegiate campus nestled within ornate stone walls prove this point. For many of its alumni, the entry ritual defined the identity of the school and its students. It aligned the curriculum with Western traditions and addressed students as scholars, while it also imposed narrow constructions of American identity and marginalized their ethnic cultures. The arches were designed to mark the threshold between street and school and in so doing, constructed both spaces. The dramatic entry created a clear visual and visceral break with streets and homes from where Scanning, School Space, and Student Identity ❙ 51 students had come. The massive building not only literally blocked out the streets, but the architecture also created the sensation in students of having been transported somewhere else. Thus, the inner sanctum of the school was constructed as sacred while the streets beyond the campus, from where students had come, were profane (Eliade 1961). The ideology promoted by the school was made compelling through the celebration of Western culture carved into...