J.E.B. Stuart High School moved into the minicourse elective program five years ago from an anthology-survey oriented English curriculum. The students are grouped into two levels, one offering minicourses for eleventh and twelfth graders and the other offering minicourses for ninth and tenth grade students, with some courses open to all of the…

Public schools in America are often at the center of controversy over conflicting values and interests. This paper explores three areas of conflict that surfaced in a Virginia community as it shifted from an appointed to an elected school board. The first section explores the three areas of conflict: (1) conflict over what is taught in school; (2)…