Tara C.

Morgan

Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity



In her book “Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity”, Ann Arnett
Ferguson highlights the ways that social structures within public schooling environments impact
students. 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 effects 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
innocent and devious (AAF, p.80). Within this paradox, teachers’ hold the responsibility of
interpreting 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 dangerous. Black youth are “adultified” and their transgressions “made to take
on a sinister, intentional, 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 criminality. 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 order to succeed (AAF, p.88).


Ferguson illustrates the concept of labeling in relation to Donel and Gary, two Black male
students 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 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 program” (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 punishing 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
centered 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
discipline 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
separating 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 considered an unacceptable form of communication in schools (AAF, p.206). By
labeling Black English 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
experience 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
defiant. My teacher immediately became my enemy rather than my ally. This experience helped
me to begin to understand why labels such as “at risk” or “bad” serve to shape their identity and
relationship with the world. Because of my social privilege, I was later able to dismiss my
teachers’ 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.