What are we talking about when we speak of “youth cultures in high school”?

Abstract

This work attempts to question the propositions of this dossier, that is, youth cultures in high schools, in order to allow the visualization of their underlying tensions. Firstly, youth cultures/adult culture tension is analyzed, considering youth culture origins and current developments; the consumer market/youth rebelliousness tension; the new/old tension; the Authority/authorities tension. All this within the National State crisis context and the loss of meaning of the school institution, particularly at the secondary level. Finally, the knowledge/ acknowledgement of youth cultures is deemed mandatory, as part of the process by which we teachers assume responsibility for the world we represent in order to build our authority, while acknowledging the authority of the young. The proposition includes learning from teachers working in rural and marginal areas in conditions of socio-economical diversity and multiple cultures, since these conditions currently appear in most schools as a result of changes in the second half of the twentieth century.