"Let there be Flourescent Light..." Myths of Origin in Schools

"Our school began about eight years ago with a group of 'founding mothers,'" Antony tells me as we walk down the short hallway.  "None of them were satisfied with the education their own kids had received or were receiving, and they were all convinced that they could do much better."  These last two words he extends and inflects upward, giving me the impression that he has rehearsed this story before and, having lost a beat, he is trying to recall his next line.  That first year, we spent a lot of time - adults and kids together - just talking about what we wanted: what kind of school we wanted, what sort of learning we wanted in classes, what respect looked like.  We had a lot of meetings, and we really practiced listening to each other...."
At first, I was slightly turned off by Antony's narrative.  It felt a little stale, and I felt that he was just telling me the same thing that he told everyone.  But after time, and after overhearing him repeat the story to dozens of other visitors, it dawned on me that his story about the origins of his school had more meaning than just to give him a trip down memory lane.  Antony was the person who initiated newcomers to the strange new world of the Capella School, and his narrative set the stage for neophytes to assume a role and join in on the project.  At the same time, it also drew lines so as to prevent certain individuals from enrolling.
Where other researchers are inclined to disregard or even ridicule myths as childish, irrelevant, outdated stories, anthropologists take special care to identify and collect myths.  The value of myth is something that fewer and fewer people appreciate in our technocratic culture. (Some even believe that we have weeded out myth and enthroned reason in its place - how wrong they are!)  Regardless of how close to or removed from reality, the telling of myths gives shape and order to the universe, explains where things came from, and connect mundane individuals into a world of symbols and ideals.

Izanagi & Izanami - Shinto myth of creation

Of particular interest in my work is the creation myth.  People often turn to myths of creation or origin in order to legitimize the current order of things, reasoning that if some sacred ancestor or supernatural being practiced X, then no further justification was needed for it to be practiced in the present (Eliade, 1963).
An easy to see example of this is the Judeo-Christian practice of Sabbath observance, which believers are mandated to emulate in the opening passages of Genesis.  
These days, one of my side projects at the school I currently work at is to collect from members of our little society stories accounting for how things got to be the way they are.  Some preliminary observations:

• The general theme of the stories told is how in recent years the school has gone from chaos to order.
• Individuals with long term ties to the school (over a decade) are quick to point out and tie the shift in racial and ethnic demographics to the problems.
• I have come across some narratives from youth of different groups that reject or contest the narrative shared among adults.  These especially interest me.

More to come on some of these myths of origin, and how I believe they relate to the culture and activity of Mead High School.


Eliade, Mircea (1963) Myth and Reality. Trans. Willard Trask. New York: Harper & Row.