Bad Boys Review

Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity Review

I am always fascinated by how an outsider can collect data like in this book. At one point the writer said she had become part of the family and sometimes just apart of the background. Especially in regards to when she went into the punishment room and when she interviewed the guardians of each student. This is detrimental to the study but it just fascinates me that its able to happen for over three years. I thought the author did a fabulous job depicting real examples and real experiences that are a good base for further study.

Some disturbances that made me feel uncomfortable and angry with was when the students that were excelling weren’t considered black. They were instead considered “schoolboys”. I have often heard this and seen this first hand. It shows that we need to help stop the stereotype that excelling in this life is apart of EVERY culture. I hope that by my example of being a minority in education they can see that vision in themselves.

Another disturbance was the age of the boys. Starting at 10 years old they are told that they have a cell waiting for them.  How at such a young age can these children be labeled as future criminals that are considered “unsalvageable”? This brings to my remembrance the videos seen in class about LGBT students talking about their teachers. Though teachers are humans we need to realize at all times we are shaping the minds of the future. Their futures. If they live in a society that tells them they will end up in jail based on their color it is our responsibility, as this book entails, to tell them otherwise.

This discussion of race and ethnicity a couple months ago came back to mind also. It seemed that these children were pre-destined by the school system to fail or to become “bad boys.”  She refers throughout the book to the groups she’s created to describe the boys, the “schoolboys”, the “troublemakers” and so forth. It becomes culturally accepted to be a troublemaker and even the terminology creates these groups. What the teachers call these boys comparatively to the white counterpart.

The stories in this book opened up the topic of race and ethnicity even further. Allowing me to see how crucial it is for me as an educator to cater to the needs of individuals. Though the book exposes a lot about the school system in creating these bad boys, she does little to provide a solution. I hope to as a future educator to help children see their worth because of their race and cultures. There is power in diversity and in my classroom hopefully deteriorating stereotypes will cease.