Bad Boys; Don't Believe the Hype by Ann Arnett Ferguson

Some Things I Understand:
Ms. Ferguson began this her book "Bad Boys; Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity" because she noticed during her fieldwork at Rosa Parks Elementary School that black males tended to be the vast majority of youngsters getting into trouble. Most of the kids in the so-called "Punishing Room" and were even labeled as "having a jail cell with [his] name on it were black males. Using observation and interviewing, Ferguson discovers a lot of new things about individual "salvageable" students and the environment they live in. Her thesis is probably that schools have the power of institutions to create identities. In the case of young men, these identities are either "criminal" or endangered" causing these black boys to be treated and conform to an "salvageable" bad boy.
One interesting things that she observed was that "salvageable" boys, such as her main subject, Hector, were kind and intelligent when taken out of the classroom. Because she tried not to have such a strong adult/child power structure, Hector learned to be comfortable with Ferguson. She noticed that black boys were subconsciously treated differently by the staff of mostly white women. Although they did not mean to be racism, many felt intimidated why the black boys and treated them either an dangerous or as an "endangered species." Because of these images, teachers punished and treated black boys differently. Outside of school, many of the boys observe crime and stereotyping in the media about black men. Therefore, black boys feel that their identity and path to black manhood goes along with being "bad."


Some Things I don't understand:
* I did not realize that places such as Montana allow corporal punishment
*I did not understand why the "delinquent" students were rarely absent from school.
* I felt that by the end she was rambling on with her same message of the power of institutions of schools to shape identity. I did enjoy the reading and wished I could have read more.

Connections to Other Course Themes:
I can relate Ferguson to Tricia Rose in her essay A Style No One Can Deal With because they both discuss that one must listen to hip-hop in order to understand the Afro-diasporic culture. Rose states that hip-hop emerged as a new identity and status for youth and Ferguson agrees when she states that rap is "some key sources that the boys used for self-fashioning" (Ferguson 17). They also agree that hip-hop is an expression of the "tragic realities of urban poverty, as well as the dangers, pleasure and privileges of being male (Ferguson 17)."
I can also relate Ferguson to Linda Christensen's essay Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us because both discuss how the media has a deep effect on children. While Christensen states that cartoons that have sexist and misogynistic messages, such as Popeye or Beauty and the Beast, have a negative impact on kids, Ferguson argues that when boys see black men constantly portrayed on the media as criminals, they internalize those lessons of what it means to be a black man.
Thomas Hine's essay The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager also relates to Ferguson because they both discuss how certain groups are treated as "criminals" or "endangered species" (Ferguson 20). Hine states that teenagers are seen as half-finished adults, completely different than adults, bound to be rude and have failures. Ferguson argues the same for black males, that they are seen to be the "other" and they are expected to be criminal.

Points to Bring Up:
I felt that the article was a little one-sided when discussing teachers. At times, the high stress of being in a overcrowded, low-paying and under-supplied school can effect the teacher's job performance. For example, if s/he has a class of thirty, s/he will probably have to spend most of the time disciplining rather than getting to know the students.