If you want to remember that you're a human being capable of intense emotion, read this book. Honestly, I spent a lot of time being angry while reading this book because of the hypocrisy that I saw on all ends.
For one thing, I found the dichotomous standards between black males and other people appalling. In the school itself, the hegemonic culture of the institution conflicted with the life skills that a lot of black male students were learning at home, inflaming the subconscious racism inhibiting student development. The hegemonic culture of the school desired students that completely confirm to middle class white values, clashing with the counter-hegemonic cultures of the poorer black males who were taught to stand up for themselves rather than being submissive. Black male students could not sell candy at school, while other students were ignored while doing the same thing. Black male students in general were "adultized", so their mischeivous acts were percieved with greater condemnation than acts of other students. The author brings up a valid concern that the institution should NOT work against an entire group of its students.
On the other hand, I think the author failed to really acknowledge some of the dichotomies the skew the story slight.Teachers in the school--whether white or black--were condemned for their power plays with students (an unhealthy coping mechanism for dealing with students that test authority), while Mariana Tompkins was portrayed as a victim for the consequence of whipping her seven year old son in the street (I acknowledge that she was worried about him and loves him); Mariana herself kicked her son out at ten years old for a while because she didn't want to deal with his attitude, but she is portrayed more compassionately than teachers who wanted to give up too. All people need to acknowledge weakness; I say all people because racism and prejudice exist everywhere. In my opinion, both teachers and the mother aren't completely wrong or right in this situation, though the author would argue that society and the institution are more to blame than any other factor
This is true to the extent that people form reactions and defenses in response to their environment. Helen, Horace's mother, learned to be "impolite and disruptive" (116) in order to be heard in a society that dismissed her for not having the academic language to express her legitimate needs and concerns. In turn, her son Horace learned to fight back at school because he picked up this. Often, in fundamental attribution error, people believe that bad behavior is a result of innate badness; this is not true! Black male students, especially poor black male students, just come to school with cultural capital for an economy different than the school environment, so to speak, so their behavior is often inappropriate for the school institution as it currently functions. And on the flip side, teachers come to school with preconceived notions about their black male students because of the media and other experiences, and these notions influence their actions which influence their black male students to become the dangerous stereotype that society projects. Because of these pressures, the system fails black male students at an alarming rate.
The chicken or the egg? Which came first? At first, I was trying to understand who was to blame and who was not, but that's too black and white and besides that point; it doesn't matter. We need to all focus on fixing the problem, not just pointing fingers. And despite the fact that I sometimes felt like this point was overlooked, the author does try to acknowledge the complexity of the situation; in the very beginning, she says that she will include the dichotomous information so that we as readers can understand the struggle in reaching a consensus on what is going on and what we should do.
The tendency to demonize people, on either end, prevents us from learning from what this author is trying to teach. All of the stories that seem unbelievable happened with real people; it would be arrogant of me to assume that I'm not capable of these things that aren't right. So thinking about this book from a teacher's point of view, I thought of a few things;
The black male students expressed anger that teachers could have "attitude", but when students responded with attitude, it wasn't ok. One of the students described it this way; “The way they talk to us. Like they yelling up in your face and pointing at you--and you want to do it back and you get in trouble. But they don’t want want that done to them. No! they think they’re it.” (69) This is a trap that if I got really frustrated, I could fall into. So along with respecting my students as human beings, I plan to have a class discussion that establishes rules and consequences as the beginning of the semester--before anyone has acted up--as well as have box where students can submit comments, questions, concerns, and complaints. In one of the videos that we watched in the semester, a Latina student named Amanda was elected as liaison to the school board, and she said that the best thing they did for her was giving her an outlet for her anger. By always giving students a chance to present their view point as well as have a part in class rules, I hope to give them a constructive way to help me teach them better.
Students also turned to trouble-making because they couldn't make a positive reputation within the hegemonic system. They often didn't understand the academic language or receive enough help or attention to learning. So as a teacher, I'm going to try to focus on what exactly my goal to leave the child better than I found him or her. In order to do this, I can't see my students as enemies to be ruled over or controlled with power plays. I need to persuade them to learn rather than use unrighteous dominion. I also need to build on the capital that they do have so that they have the tools to learn my subject.
Because in the end, I have one main conclusion; as a teacher, I need to participate in critical self-reflection so that I can avoid the hypocrisy and unfairness that angers students more than anything else. As long as I'm fair while honoring the student as a person, I shouldn't have to deal with too much true rebellion.
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