Blog #9

  TroubleMakers by  Shalaby.

Reflection:

    I really liked this article because I strongly identified with words like "problematic," "behavioral," and "challenging," among others. But there's one word in particular that made me wonder: What is good here?     I'm really drawn to the metaphor Shalaby is using here about "the canaries in the mine." Now that I look back at what she wrote, I realize that the school system tends to move quickly to label a student instead of trying to get to know them. In this canary metaphor, the author's most precise meaning was that a "problematic" student's behavior is rooted in something wrong with the school environment. But what's really bad? The answer is to jump to conclusions without trying to understand the most crucial equation: their life outside of school.     I remember a time when I was in 11th grade and I heard the words "misbehavior and attention deficit disorder" for the first time. I've always been a hard-working person with straight A's and was at the top of my class, but two years after finishing high school, my mother decided to transfer me from a private school to a public school, and everything fell apart. While attending the private school, I received more attention from the teachers, had less homework, and participated in a greater number of activities. The classes were smaller, and more resources were available, including a photocopier, a library, and playground equipment. At the public school, it was the complete opposite. The teachers were harsher, the assignments were endless, and it seemed like they only cared about completing the tasks instead of truly understanding the context. There were no copy machines; I had to go in at 7 a.m. and often leave until 5 p.m., and I barely felt like I had time for my social life. So my academic life began to crumble, and with it, my desire to study. I had numerous meetings with the school psychologist about my poor grades and indifferent behavior, and it seemed I was to blame for all of it. My mother was disappointed by my lack of interest, and everyone in my class saw me as the one who never wanted to participate or was always behind on assignments or projects. Behind all of this was a 16-year-old girl trying to deal with family issues, financial struggles because my new school didn't have enough resources to prepare my books on time or print my assignments, and, finally, a problem of adapting. It was tough for me to get out of that hole until I decided to take a music class, as an education and civics teacher was concerned about me and advised me to try something different. With that came band competitions, as well as my interest in musical notes. In less than a year, I had learned to play three instruments, and with that, my motivation returned. That teacher became almost like a mother to me. She believed in me and taught me the phrase, "It doesn't matter if you're doing it right or wrong. The important thing is that you're doing it, and that counts a lot." This reflection by Shalaby, about the children Zora, Lucas, Sean, Marcus, and, of course, Anthony, is totally illuminating in light of what happened to me years ago in the Dominican Republic. By categorizing some children as "problematic" and demanding they learn to obey without question, the school system is creating "robot children" of the system instead of creative ones. Ultimately, this author aims to help teachers understand and appreciate that students who challenge the rules enable us to teach with love, freedom, and justice. I hope some of me will do the same.     I'm unsure of the direction I'll take regarding the problems that occur in schools, where some children are pigeonholed as "problematic," but I hope to be fair and look beyond. I would like to listen and really understand what all this behavior is about.

I asked Gemini to create a TroubleMakers design for me, and this is what came out. I love it.

Question to Share:

Do you think problem children are categorized by their race?