Shalaby Troublemakers 6/11

 

Argument Summary

Carla Shalaby argues that children labeled as “troublemakers” aren’t broken or bad; they are resisting systems that were never designed with their full humanity in mind. Instead of seeing misbehavior as something to control, she asks us to consider it a form of communication, even protest. These students are giving us clues about what’s not working in school. 

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Three Quotes

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1. “These often idealistic and earnest teachers-to-be are taught that good teachers command control over students, and they are encouraged to learn to use behavioral systems of reward and punishment that are actually more appropriate for training animals than for educating free human beings.”

This quote prompted me to reflect on everything we’ve learned this semester about power and control in schools.  When control is the goal, the teacher becomes a manager, and the students become workers, rather than listeners or learners. This quote also relates to the Atlantic podcast on The Real Origins of Public Education, which explained that schools in the U.S. were designed to shape students into obedient citizens, not necessarily critical thinkers. Shalaby’s critique of reward/punishment systems shows how this mindset is still with us today.

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2. “For the word obedience, where I expected a picture of a dog, perhaps, I instead found a young artist who had drawn a row of pupils at their desks sitting straight, hands clasped, facing forward. It was a haunting image and, also, a deeply resonant one.”

It reminded me of how The Washington Post article on school “factory models” pointed out that while schools weren't literally modeled after factories, they still operate like ones, with bells, lines, scripts, and strict routines.  In most classrooms, the “ideal” student follows the rules quietly, speaks “proper” English, and stays in their seat. Any student who doesn’t fit that mold is labeled as disruptive, even if they’re just being themselves.

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3. “The child who deviates, who refuses to be like everybody else, may be telling us—loudly, visibly, and memorably—that the arrangements of our schools are harmful to human beings... It is dangerous to exclude these children, to silence their warnings.”

This quote is the heart of Shalaby’s argument. “Troublemakers” may actually be the truth-tellers. They’re pointing out what’s toxic in school systems. This reminded me of Christine Sleeter’s article, where she wrote that students of color know when the curriculum ignores them and they can describe it in detail. Shalaby is saying something similar: students know when a system doesn’t serve them and some will act out rather than silently suffer. It also echoes Allan Johnson’s point in Privilege, Power, and Difference that systems are maintained because people with privilege often ignore the harm those systems cause. In this case, schools are set up to reward conformity and punish resistance, especially from marginalized students.

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Questions

• What would it look like to design classrooms around freedom and not control?

• How can we train teachers to read behavior as communication?

• What are students trying to tell us when they refuse to sit still, be quiet, or follow rules that don’t make sense to them?

• How can we make the accommodations for these students while still meeting the needs of the rest of the class?

• What would it look like to actually trust students, especially those labeled as “disruptive," to help redesign the way school works?

• Have you ever felt like you had to “behave” in school just to survive? Not to learn, but to avoid trouble?