 Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinityreviewed by Sandra Stein - 2002  Title: Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black MasculinityAuthor(s): Ann Arnett Ferguson Publisher: University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor ISBN: 0472111035, Pages: 236 , Year: 2000 Search for book at Amazon.com Most educators and scholars agree that in order for meaningful teaching and learning to occur, schools need to be safe and orderly environments. However, in a society where the constructs of race, gender, age and class shape interpretations of behavior, the maintenance of an orderly school environment can interfere with the educational possibilities of certain groups of students. Bad Boys, Ann Arnett Ferguson’s provocative study of a west-coast elementary school, uncovers how daily school routines and practices construct Black masculinity as an oppositional social identity in need of discipline, punishment, and control. Such a construction impedes the educational opportunities made available to African American males. Through participant observation, interviews and conversations, Ferguson exposes the daily routines of schooling that contribute to the disproportionate number of Black boys who are labeled as "troublemakers" and sent to sanctioned school spaces for punishment. Peppered with incisive rap lyrics, one mother’s powerful testimony, and the author’s own personal reflections, the book looks at both the structures and individual meanings of punishment in school.... (preview truncated at 150 words.) To view the full-text for this article you must be signed-in with the appropriate membership. Please review your options below:
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