Promises and limitations of youth activism in the 1960s: The case of the national teacher corps
Rogers B.L.
2008
Sixties
1
10.1080/17541320802457145
The National Teacher Corps (NTC) was created in 1965 to improve the education of “disadvantaged” students by upgrading the quality of their teachers. Specifically, the initiative sought to deploy bright, young liberal arts graduates as teaching “interns” in public schools attended by low?income students of color. This essay explores the attempts of some participants to carry out a mission of social reform through this government?sponsored program that operated within local public schools across the country. In situating the NTC on a historical map of social activism, the article expands the field’s understandings of youth?driven, anti?poverty activities in the 1960s, illuminating both the promise and limitations that shaped possibilities for social change at the time. © 2008, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
Education; Great Society; National Teacher Corps; Sixties anti?poverty efforts; Sixties youth; Social activism; Social change
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