ABSTRACT
According to Metz (1978), authority in schools is a relationship between teachers and students that “exists for the service of a moral order to which both owe allegiance” (p. 26). Presumably, this order comprises shared understandings and practices that hold school actors together and essentially guides the proper or right way to realize institutional goals (Metz, 1978; Selznick, 1992). Although there may be common public expectations about what ought to constitute the moral order of high schools, the particular ones that prevail in particular sites vary (Hemmings & Metz, 1990; McNeil, 1983, 1986; Metz, 1993; Pace, 2003a, 2003b; Page, 1991). Rather than being clearly articulated and staunchly enforced in a manner that fosters the allegiance of school actors, moral orders are highly negotiable and subject to varying degrees and kinds of commitment. The forms they take have implications not only for individual teachers and students but also for society at large. Ideally, a school’s moral order empowers school actors and ensures equitable educational opportunities. In actuality, however, there may be countervailing aspects that are educationally debilitating and implicated in the perpetuation of social inequalities. In the cases of the high schools in this study, moral orders were rife with paradoxes that had positive and negative consequences for individuals and society.
