Ideological work - Health education at Hillside High

Through an ethnographic account of life in an Australian middle-class subur ban high school, this article contributes to the understanding of how schoo ling can work to enculturate young people into a capitalistic way of life. The fulcrum of action is the school's health education program. In juxtapos ition to this case, a vignette of the author's own experience as a health e ducation teacher in a working-class country town a decade earlier is presen ted. Together, the two snapshots of school life not only draw attention to the durability of the routines of ideological practice but also to how resi stance and opposition are constant possibilities. It is suggested that the starting point for teachers working toward a collectively healthier and mor e socially just society lies in an understanding of the social, historical, and ideological contexts of their work.