This book addresses the educational challenges of the 20th century, such as the right to search students' lockers for guns and drugs, by examining the Milwaukee, Wisconsin school system as an example of how these challenges have affected the politics of education, the curriculum, the work of teachers and principals, and the everyday lives of students in Milwaukee. Essays attempt to capture the historical process that shaped the course of public education in Milwaukee, each identifying different patterns of change in the schools and their social or political context, as well as revealing a distinctive dimension of the schools' historical record in these decades. Essays and their authors are as follows: "The Changing Social Context of Urban Education: A National Perspective" (John L. Rury); "A City at Risk: The Changing Social and Economic Context of Public Schooling in Milwaukee" (Marc V. Levine and John F. Zipp); "The Organization and Politics of the Milwaukee Public School System, 1920-1986" (James G. Cibulka and Frederick I. Olson); "The Milwaukee Curriculum" (Rolland Callaway and Steven Baruch); "Teachers and Principals in the Milwaukee Public Schools" (William J. Kritek and Delbert K. Clear); "Student Life in Milwaukee High Schools, 1920-1985" (Paul Haubrich); "The Milwaukee Desegregation Case" (Michael Stolee); and "Are Big City Schools Holding Their Own?" (Paul E. Peterson). Contains an index. (GLR)