Discipline Problems: How Students of Color Trouble Whiteness in Schools

Angel, a Black tenth-grader at a New York City public school, is troubled by the history classes that leave out events like the genocide and dispossession of Indigenous people in the Americas. Tadashi Dozono, a professor of education and former high school social studies teacher, reinterprets troublemaking as an intellectual asset and form of reasoning that challenges the disciplining reason of classrooms where whiteness is valued over the histories and knowledge of people of color. Discipline Problems reveals how students of color seek out alternate avenues for understanding their world and imagines a pedagogy that champions the curiosity, intellect, and knowledge of marginalized learners.

Format: Hardback
Length: 200 pages
Publication date: 07 May 2024
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Angel, a Black tenth-grader at a New York City public school, self-identifies as a nerd and enjoys learning. However, she is concerned that her history classes omit significant events such as the genocide and dispossession of Indigenous people in the Americas, presenting a distorted view of the United States that conflicts with her daily experiences. The history she learned in school is simpler, she says, but the world she lives in is much more complex. Angel, like many students interviewed in Discipline Problems, has been identified by teachers as a troublemaker, a student whose behavior disrupts classroom norms and interferes with instruction. However, her critiques of the curriculum she is taught reveal her curiosity and insight, essential foundations for understanding history. Like many students who have been marginalized by systemic racism in American schools, she exposes the shortcomings of her classrooms' academic environments by challenging both the content and methods of her education. Tadashi Dozono, a professor of education and former high school social studies teacher, takes seriously the often-overlooked critiques that students of color who are labeled as troublemakers direct toward their high school history curriculum. He reinterprets troublemaking, usually cast as a behavioral deficit, as an intellectual asset and a form of reasoning that challenges the disciplining reason of classrooms where whiteness is valued over the histories and knowledge of people of color. Dozono shows how what are traditionally framed as discipline problems can be seen through a different lens as responses to educational practices.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781512825268