education

Bad Boys by Ann Arnette Ferguson was an amazing book. I appreciated the ways that the theory that I have been reading flowed out of it. The book reminded me of the experiences that I have had teaching, in particular the school I taught at last year. Last year I taught at a school which was attended by predominately African American students. Many of the children's experiences that Ferguson described were extremely familiar to me. I thought that she did an excellent job of illustrating the ways that cultural and social reproduction is espoused in schools.
The descriptions of the forms of discipline within schools and the ways in which teachers are expected to regulate discipline were very familiar to me. In fact this book addressed the very reasons that it was hard for me to be a teacher within our current education system. The job description of "normalizer" did not fit my personality. The pressure that I felt from the principal of my school was very much in line with the following quote from page 43.
One of the systemic pressures making for more oppressive, punitive relations for African American children is the fear that white middle-class families will increasingly pull their children out of the public school and send them to private schools. Pressure is felt by the student specialist and "Jail Keeper" to contain, suppress, and conceal damaging behavior that could contribute to the school's reputation as a hostile environment.
This pressure in my school was not limited to the people who had the specific job description of disciplinarian (which there were three of, not including the principal), it was put onto every teacher within the school. From an outside perspective everything had to have the appearance of running smoothly, even if that meant that children were not learning in the most effective manner.
The discussion of student's resistance was interesting and slightly hilarious to me (in an ironic way). Some of the descriptions reminded me of students in my classroom and things that happened both in my classroom and in my school. Ferguson spoke of "the rewards that children might actually gain from getting in trouble" (92) and reputations. In my second grade classroom I had a student named Diandre who was significantly below grade level standards in all academic subjects. In fact he wrote his first and last name backwards. Diandre was like Horace in the book who had a reputation that preceeded him. Students talked about the things he did, as well as teachers. Diandre had learned before he entered my classroom that if he "acted out" he didn't have to do his school work. My goal was to help him. However, other students understood my behavior in a way that I gave Diandre more attention because he was"bad". As a result one student in particular started "acting out". When I sat down to talk to her I came to understand that she was doing what she was doing so that she could get my attention.
Overall I felt that the book was powerful and motivating. I also think that this book is an important piece of work in that it gives these African American male students an outlet to speak about their experience that they would not have had access to. I appreciated what Ferguson said at the end of the book on page 234,
My hesitation to propose solutions comes from a conviction that minor inputs, temporary interventions, individual prescriptions into schools are vastly inadequate to remedy an institution that is fundamentally flawed and whose goal for urban black children seems to be the creation of "a citizenry which will simply obey the rules of society". I stand convinced that a restructuring of the entire educational system is what is urgently required.

This book gives an excellent account of the ways in which our society uses our education system to reproduce our children to fit the molds assigned to them. It specifically speaks of the experience of Afrian American male students and the systemic things that cause this. This book will either reinforce what one knows about this experience or open ones eyes to what is going on in our schools for African American students. I recommend this book to everyone!

This is an excellent book and anyone interested in the future of not only black children but all children in the public school system must read it. Ferguson reintroduces us to a world many of us have long left behind and almost forgotten-elementary school. But more importantly she gives us a new perspective on the plight of young black men. Looking specifically at how the public school system constructs and imagines young black boys as troublemakers, Ferguson reveals how well intentioned educators contribute and reinforce negative and racist stereotypes about black men. Fegerson, however, is at her best when she demonstrates how young black boys through daily resistance (understood by teachers as making trouble) attempt to challenge a system that devalues their ways of knowing and expressing themselves. Read this book and give it to to a teacher, a mother, a father, a grandparent, anyone who is interested it making sure that all children get a quality education.