Tara C Morgan

In her book “Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity”, Ann Arnett Fergu-
son highlights the ways that social structures within public schooling environments impact stu-
dents. More specifically, she examines the effects that gender and social stereotyping in schools
have on the formation of Black male identity. Through a three year study encompassing the ef-
fects of a ‘hidden curriculum’ which serves to marginalize and isolate Black male youth while
“brand (ing) them as criminally inclined” (AAF, p.2), Ferguson makes connections between the
treatment of these students’ and their social identity construction, behavior and propensity for
success in school. Included in her analysis of the ways Black students’ are marginalized within
school systems are the “adultification” of Black male behavior, the labeling of “at risk” students’
and the “normalizing” of students’ through a denial of culture and language.

In her book, Ferguson references the idea of social constructionism in relation to the concept of
childhood and explains the ways society has shaped an understanding of children as both inno-
cent and devious (AAF, p.80). Within this paradox, teachers’ hold the responsibility of interpret-
ing students’ behavior, having the authority to label misconduct as either ‘youthful innocence’ or
‘youthful disobedience’. Because teachers and administrators label students within a framework
of existing social hierarchies, Black boys’ defiant behaviors are systematically filtered through
cultural representations of Black males which depict them as being both endangered and danger-
ous. Black youth are “adultified” and their transgressions “made to take on a sinister, inten-
tional, fully conscious tone that is stripped of any element of childish naiveté” (AAF, p. 83). In
effect, misbehavior on the part of Black males’ is construed as being predictive of future crimi-
nality. Where many schoolchildren are given second chances, young Black males’ are met with
zero-tolerance policies in which demonstrations of masculinity are interpreted as insubordination
any oppositional gesture or language a threat (AAF, p.86). Students like Lamar learn that they
are in no position to challenge authority and that they must avoid confrontations and obey in or-
der to succeed (AAF, p.88).

Ferguson illustrates the concept of labeling in relation to Donel and Gary, two Black male stu-
dents who have been deemed “at risk”. While one teacher at the school describes her ideal male
pupil as being a “Good Bad Boy”, offering an description of him as spirited, independent and
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mischievous, these were precisely the qualities that contributed to Donel’s “troublemaker” label.
This is similar for Gary, a second grader who is slotted for a space in a “special after school pro-
gram” (AAF, p.93). In one story, Gary is called out publicly by his teacher for shouting out an
answer. Although this is a behavior that is overlooked in other students, Gary’s teacher makes a
spectacle of him by asking other students’ to come up with a punishment. In this way, she
demonstrates the power of institutions to stigmatize students’ who are labeled “at-risk” by pun-
ishing them through example and exclusion and shaming them (AAF, p.95). Children like Donel
and Gary are simultaneously vilified and exalted, resulting in the formation of an identity cen-
tered on the image of the “Bad Boy” and the notoriety it brings.

Michael Foucalt, in his theory of disciplinary power, examines the ways in which schools disci-
pline and regulate students’ in relation to an image of the ‘proper’ student, one who is obedient,
intelligent and teachable. For Black students, becoming this student means adopting “cultural
values and expressive norms” of the white middle-class or “acting white”, and thus, denying
their own racial and cultural identity (AAF, p.202). They must “de-race” themselves by separat-
ing from both social constructions of blackness and social behaviors which serve to label them as
‘other’, especially the use of Black English. While it is a popular form of communication in
Black communities, Black English is often described as “ghetto talk” by teachers and is consid-
ered an unacceptable form of communication in schools (AAF, p.206). By labeling Black Eng-
lish as ‘deviant, teachers not only deny Black students’ an important part of their identity, but
construct an image of Black culture as being inferior. In order to ‘fit in’ and succeed, Black
males must reject their own cultural identity.

As a white female student brought up in a white, working-class neighborhood, my schooling ex-

perience was devoid of much of the discrimination faced by Black students’ in Ferguson’s study.
Yet, I found pieces of my own experience mirrored in this book. For example, Ferguson states
that many Black youth enter school with a desire to learn, eager to enter the classroom and that
this excitement dwindles around fourth grade (AAF, p.204). In the fifth grade, I had a teacher
who regularly shamed and punished students’ for innocent transgressions, calling them out in
front of other students. The first time this was done to me, I recall feeling embarrassed yet defi-
ant. My teacher immediately became my enemy rather than my ally. This experience helped me
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to begin to understand why labels such as “at risk” or “bad” serve to shape their identity and re-
lationship with the world. Because of my social privilege, I was later able to dismiss my teach-
ers’ behavior, understanding that it was her, not me, who had a problem. Yet, for many Black
students’ this is not the case. Racial discrimination is so ingrained into our culture that the labels
these students’ are given in school are reflected by the world around them. They are always the
“Bad boys” in society’s eyes, feared yet exalted, and shaped by others’ judgements.
Tara C Morgan