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The Cutting Edge of Fun: Making Work Play at the New American School by Christopher Otter Sims A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Management and Systems in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Professor Paul Duguid, Co-Chair Professor Jenna Burrell, Co-Chair Professor AnnaLee Saxenian Professor Barrie Thorne Fall 2012 The Cutting Edge of Fun: Making Work Play at the New American School ! 2012, All Rights Reserved Christopher Otter Sims Abstract The Cutting Edge of Fun: Making Work Play at the New American School by Christopher Otter Sims Doctor of Philosophy in Information Management and Systems University of California, Berkeley Professor Paul Duguid, co-Chair Professor Jenna Burrell, co-Chair This dissertation presents an ethnographic account of the launch of “The Downtown School for Design, Media, and Technology,” one of the most prominent American school reform projects in recent years. Drawing on popular accounts about children and young people’s pervasive affinity for digital media, and especially video games, the Downtown School’s progressive founders hoped to create a new model of schooling for the twenty-first century. By attempting to make the entire curriculum “game-like,” and by braiding digital media through pedagogic practices, the Downtown School’s founders hoped to make a model of schooling that was more “student-centered,” equitable, creative, engaging, fun, and technologically sophisticated than canonical models. In this dissertation I draw on my ethnographic documentation of the Downtown School’s first class – a group of 75 sixth graders coming of age in New York City – to show that despite the best intentions of its founders, the Downtown School’s techno-centric model mostly overlooked, rather than overcame, schooling’s contributions to the making and remaking of privilege. I argue that the school’s enthusiasm for digital media and games led educators to underestimate the power that students, the state, and privileged families would exert on the school to thwart the founders’ aims, as well as to play down the school’s embeddedness in a system that legitimated biased social selection. As a result, the school paradoxically helped remake many of the inequities its planners had hoped to ameliorate. 1 Contents Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ ii 1 Introduction: Playful Grooming for the New Millennium ............................................. 1 2 Studying and Theorizing the Production of Privilege...................................................... 19 3 “You have to beat the crowd”: Accessing Enclaves for Children and Youth ................... 43 4 “Kids these days”: A Twenty-First Century Crisis in Education ..................................... 67 5 Useless Fun ....................................................................................................................... 85 6 “There’s smart and nerdy and then there’s the cool”: Negotiating Identity Across the School/World Divide..................................................................................................109 7 Being Involved: Parents Crossing the School/World Divide...........................................132 8 Conclusion: Making Privilege in the new Millennium....................................................151 References ..........................................................................................................................158 i Acknowledgements If attributions of authorship conceal collaborative work, then the byline attached to this dissertation is especially deceptive. First and foremost I would like to thank my research participants, for without their generosity and openness this project would not have happened. The founders of the Downtown School provided me with nearly unfettered access as they were attempting to launch an ambitious and visible new school. Attempting a new model of schooling is a messy process and doing so in the public eye takes extra courage. I feel tremendously grateful that the school’s founders let an ethnographer join them on their uncertain voyage and that they were even willing to let me witness the more unflattering aspects of the process. While I have mostly taken a critical point of view in this dissertation, I hope the school’s founders know that I have deep respect for what they were trying to accomplish, and that I am amazed and inspired by the amount of work they put into the project. I feel similar appreciation for the Downtown School’s teachers. The school’s teachers were far more generous and open than they needed to be, and the work is much better for it. Not only did teachers let me into their classrooms and put up with my annoying avoidance of taking on a “normal” (e.g. helpful) adult role, but they frequently made time to chat between periods and after school, and generally treated me in a warm and friendly manner. I feel lingering, and likely irreconcilable, guilt that I left the field whereas they continued their work “on the ground,” putting in long hours in an attempt to improve other people’s lives. While I may disagree with educators about the some of consequences of schooling, I have no doubt about the honorable intentions and dedication of the teachers in my study. This study also benefitted enormously from the generosity of the parents and guardians that agreed to participate. Many invited me into their homes, several fed me, and few continue to invite me over. All made several hours for an interview and many were candid to the point that they were willing to share both the glories and the less saintly sides of being a parent and a human being. I have yet to have children of my own but if and when I do I will keep these families fondly in mind as I navigate these dilemmas for myself. I also want to offer a heartfelt thanks to the students. While it’s a cliché to say so, they really are the best part of doing this sort of fieldwork. Being a sixth grader is often a confusing, awkward, and painful experience, even for the so-called “popular” kids. Students learn to judge and be judged, they learn that just about everything they say or do means more than they thought, seemingly solid friendships suddenly evaporate, bodies no longer look or feel the way they used to, everyone is changing and it’s not at all clear if and how you should change as well. At the same time, sixth grade can be exhilarating. There are new people, new places, new outfits, new music, new routines, new things to try out. Despite all the “drama,” there is a fragile and subtle solidarity of commiseration amongst the students. Teachers are meaner and stricter than they used to be. Classes are more serious and boring. There is less downtime, less fun, less play. Against these new afflictions, bonds develop. Students share jokes at the teachers’ expense, they spread “stupid” sayings that get repeated until everyone is “annoyed,” sideshows become epic dramas. I feel very luck that many students allowed me into this awkward and bewildering world, that they were ii willing to share their excitements and agonies, their pride and their embarrassments. Beyond the field, I have been supported by such a wide and generous collection of people that I cannot do justice to all of their contributions. Paul Duguid deserves special praise since he has done more than any other person to help me develop as a scholar. If it were not for Paul, I would not be where I am and there is a good chance I would not have made it through graduate school. Paul is one of those rare scholars who puts far more effort into advising than the profession demands or rewards. When I talk with graduate students at Berkeley and elsewhere it’s clear that Paul’s advising is as uncommon as it is exceptional. He is also phenomenally well-read, analytically sharp, warm natured, and reliably funny. I feel deeply grateful for his contributions and I hope I can live up to his example when I advise graduate students myself. Paul’s extraordinary efforts do not diminish the gratitude I feel for the contributions by many others. At Berkeley, I was fortunate to study with Jean Lave early in my career. As this dissertation attests, Jean’s ideas have pushed and shaped my thinking extensively. In addition to being a masterful scholar, she is a kind person. Like Paul, she offers a model for how to do serious work while remaining a generous and kind human being. I have also been fortunate to have an especially supportive, dedicated, and thoughtful committee. Anno Saxenian has bravely supported heterogeneous theoretical and empirical approaches at the School of Information, including long- term ethnographic projects that attempt to address big and difficult questions. She has placed a premium on quality over quantity, a refreshing sensibility in this era of efficiency. Jenna Burrell and Barrie Thorne have guided me in the art of doing ethnography. Jenna kindly adopted me in her first year as a faculty member and in many ways I feel like we have come of age together, Jenna as a faculty member and me as a graduate student. It has been exciting to watch our careers grow and I look forward to seeing them continue to blossom. Barrie has become an important friend as well as an advisor. I first met Barrie through her late husband, Peter Lyman, who gave me my start as a researcher by letting me join the Digital Youth Project as a masters’ student. Without Peter, I probably wouldn’t have gone for a doctorate, let alone discover my affinity for ethnography. Peter tragically died of a brain tumor midway through the Digital Youth Project and Barrie stepped up to help many of his grad students, myself included. In addition to helping me develop as an ethnographer, Barrie has counseled me on working with children and young people, provided invaluable pointers to quality research, and offered immeasurable moral support. The Digital Youth Project was one of the most influential experiences of my career thus far as I continue to be shaped by my involvement between 2005 and 2008.

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