Bad Boys

This article was very interesting because it analyzed the pressures that young African American men have to face from their experiences in school. Ann Arnett Ferguson begins her article with her observations as a member of an “at-risk” intervention program. Through some boys that she observed in a classroom she had the opportunity to observe the punishing room which led to her research.
One aspect of her research that interested me was that the only African Americans part of the staff were those who overseen the punishing room. Ferguson categorized the group of students she observed as “troublemakers” and “schoolboys.” She points that “as African American males, the schoolboys were always on the brink of being redefined into the troublemaker category by the school.” “By the school” was the part that hit me. These boys regardless of being “troublemakers” or “schoolboys” were defined as such by school staff without taken into consideration where they lived, their background, community, their family.
Ferguson adopted a very creative approach to look at their good and bad experiences within the school through their voices. She says “I assumed at the start that I would learn about kids; but it was long before I was obliged to question this premise and to learn from children.”
Ferguson’s experiences reminded me of my experiences at Hope High School because as students of color we were constantly categorized, questioned and underestimated. I felt like the “troublemakers” of this story were underestimated by the school staff. As Ferguson explained, “those who were classified as lazy, belligerent, incorrigible at school could be respectful, diligent, and responsible in other contexts.” It also reminded me of the kids from the after school program from my job at Volunteers In Providence Schools (VIPS). They come to our program in the afternoons because they are failing in some classes and are not receiving the attention needed at the school to do better. When we have visited the teachers that the school to find out if they have progressed some of them refer to them as “kids with problems” because they only speak Spanish (and speak in class all the time), they are always behind with the work and don’t participate in class. Yet, what the Ferguson talks about in her article, these kids have only been in the country for less than two years. They have confessed to us that they are mad at the schools, parents and even the world for putting them in this difficult environment that they cannot accustom to. The reason why they are behind with homework and do not participate in class is because they do not understand what they need to do and they talk in class because they ask other kids who know English and Spanish to translate for them what the teacher said.
It is sad and frustrating to know that students are always put into these positions and expected to do so much with so little provided to them.