Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity,by Ann Arnett Ferguson• “Rosa Parks School” in “Arcadia” on the West Coast: intermediate

school (grades 4-6)• Student population: half black, a third white, 10% Asian-American, 3%

Hispanic, 8% Other. Achieved by busing plan (1968).• Half the students sent to the Punishing Room for major and minor

misdeeds were African-American boys. • Punishment resulted in suspension 20% of the time. Three-quarters of

those suspended were boys; four-fifths of those boys were African-American.

U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Office (March 2014)

• Black students represent 16% of student population, but 32-42% of students expelled or suspended• White students represent 51%

of student population, and 32-42% of students expelled or suspended• 20% of black boys were

suspended; 12% of black girls; much higher than their peers

What is Arnett Ferguson’s argument for why this is happening?

Judith Butler’s theory of gender as performance, pp. 170-171

• Identification of sex difference happens with identification of genitalia at birth• Gender identification happens through routine, ongoing gender

performance drawing on well-used scripts and scenarios• How do we signal our gender identity to others? How do we know

others’ gender identity?• “The enactment of sex difference. . . is a compulsory requirement of

social life” (Arnett Ferguson 2001, p. 171). Do you agree or disagree?• Coercion/freedom not so different? Perhaps we are coerced into gender

identification but also find it as a site of freedom and self-making

“The Fire on the 57 Bus in Oakland,” New York Times, January 29, 2015• Sasha Fleischman, age 18,

identifies as agender, neither male nor female• On way home from school,

wearing a skirt, and fell asleep

What is the role of school in the boys’ performance of masculinity?

What are the long-term consequences of being a Troublemaker?

What recommendations might you make to schools to change this?