In November of 1956, the Los Angeles City Board of Education held a regular evening meeting devoted entirely to the topic of school discipline. The session began with brief comments from the district superintendent, Ellis Jarvis, who urged those in attendance not to take the issue too seriously Discipline was “an inherent part of education,” he reminded them, and thus was always “a problem of all schools; all schools in this city, in every city, in every community.” Moreover, he joked, “Denunciation of the young is a necessary part of the hygiene of older people, and greatly assists in the circulation of their blood.” The rest of the meeting's speakers, however, almost all of whom were Los Angeles teachers, did not share Jarvis’ lighthearted perspective. Representing several local teacher organizations, clubs, and associations, as well as two Board-appointed committees charged with investigating discipline in the city's schools, they portrayed a district in crisis, overrun by misbehaving youth, and urged the Board to take action to address the problem.
Local Teacher-Based Curriculum Development
