Quotes in Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School by Carla Shalaby

Link to buy the book: Troublemakers | Blog Post by Hannah Kennedy | FNED546

1. "Unquestioning deference to authority is the requirement and the expectation of schoolwhere adult directives replace children's own desires."
   
• This quote highlights the idea that schools tend to prioritize obedience over children's creativity, autonomy, and curiosity. This is something we have talked about multiple times in class. This quote emphasizes the point that schools focus more on compliance within its students rather than teaching and encouraging independence, self-direction, and creativity. It is so evident that the educational system focuses on the wrong things, and it is so important that we change this. This seems to align with the main idea of the books theme, based on what I have read so far, that the educational system tends to marginalize the children that do not align with these rigid expectations. It also emphasizes the fact that children who do not follow these expectations are typically labeled as troublemakers and disobedient, which leads to more behavioral problems within the classroom.
2.  "The child who deviates, who refuses to be-power like everybody else, may be telling us-loudly, visibly, and memorably-that the arrangements of our schools are harmful to human beings."
• This quote follows up on the idea from the last quote that kids who do not follow the status quo of the educational system are typically labeled as troublemakers. This quote talks about how society should take the "troublemakers" as a sign that the current education system is harmful. Basically, when there is a "behavior student", I as an educator should look at the behavior and reflect on what deeper issues could be causing the behavior within the system. The education system is not "one size fits all", as every child is different and has different needs and aspirations. This quote is super important because it challenges the current practices within the education system, and challenges educators to think about how the system can be harmful to human beings (our students). Sometimes, children are not just disobedient, they are a sign of systemic harm.
3. "Thus, the withholding of education is a political tool used to maintain and ensure an economic and social underclass."
• This quote is super important to what we have been learning in class. This quote emphasizes the idea that schools and educational systems give disproportionate discipline to marginalized communities and students of color. This eventually leads to long-term disadvantages both economically and socially. This can be extremely harmful to the educational system and communities everywhere and it is super important that this practice is recognized and changed. Basically, this quote is saying that education purposely does this as an educational tool to ensure that economic and social underclasses continue to exist. Overall, schools play a crucial role in racial and economic oppression, and there needs to be a change. The educational system should not be used as a political tool in any way.

Good read if you want to read further: https://sur.conectas.org/en/right-education-human-rights-education/