Date of Award

Spring 2022

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

First Advisor

Rhonda Jeffries

Abstract

The specific problem of practice on which this study was focused is the tension experienced between the rural (National Center for Education Statistics, 2016), workingclass (Draut, 2018) masculine (Connell, 1995) student and the formal educative structure. The purpose of this investigative action research study was to identify and clarify in my context the unique tension experienced between the rural, working-class masculine student and the formal educative structure. This tension I refer to as tention, as tention is a variant of tension (Oxford English Dictionary, 1994, p. 789), and the rural, workingclass masculine student is, at his unique nexus of intersectionality, a variant of counterschool culture. This unique tension is assembled from of a series tensions between the rural, working-class masculine student and the formal educative structure: between masculine expressions, between work, between knowledge, and between success. As the problem of practice on which this study is focused is the unique tension experienced between the rural, working-class masculine student and the formal educative structure, critical theory is utilized as the study’s theoretical framework, as the critical orientation is one of conscious opposition and critique, not merely of comprehension. Because there is great overlap between the aim of action research and the aim of critical theory, as both aim to improve practice and learning and society respectively, an action research design was utilized during this study.

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