Bowen Paulle
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226066387
- eISBN:
- 9780226066554
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226066554.001.0001
- Subject:
- Education, Secondary Education
Based on nearly six years of fieldwork in and around high poverty secondary schools on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, this book uses the tools of the teacher-ethnographer to take on questions ...
More
Based on nearly six years of fieldwork in and around high poverty secondary schools on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, this book uses the tools of the teacher-ethnographer to take on questions touching us all: Even if they “know better,” why do so many adolescents frequently get caught up in the situated destruction of non-selective big city schools? Although putatively of the same race as many of the other students wrecking their educational environments, how do some male students self-identifying as black avoid the seductions of “street” ways of being and, in extremely rare cases, develop capacities for emotional self-control and concentration great enough to allow them to use their “failing ghetto schools” as launching pads into elite colleges? Inside their classrooms, why is it so difficult if not impossible for most teachers to consistently reproduce the triumphs of a handful of their colleagues rather than contribute, more or less forcefully, to their own “burn outs”? As the vignettes and biographical case studies woven into the empirical chapters reveal, adequate answers to these questions require that we move away from romanticized notions about resistance, disembodied fantasies about explicit cultural interpretations preceding real time actions, and essentialist assumptions about (the perpetual salience of) blackness and other seemingly discrete ethno-racial categories. Developing a fundamentally new way of thinking about everday dealing and self-destruction in fiercely segregated, physically unsafe, and emotionally toxic schools can help us avoid more pseudo-interventions and finally get serious about reforming the educational experiences of the poorly born.Less
Based on nearly six years of fieldwork in and around high poverty secondary schools on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, this book uses the tools of the teacher-ethnographer to take on questions touching us all: Even if they “know better,” why do so many adolescents frequently get caught up in the situated destruction of non-selective big city schools? Although putatively of the same race as many of the other students wrecking their educational environments, how do some male students self-identifying as black avoid the seductions of “street” ways of being and, in extremely rare cases, develop capacities for emotional self-control and concentration great enough to allow them to use their “failing ghetto schools” as launching pads into elite colleges? Inside their classrooms, why is it so difficult if not impossible for most teachers to consistently reproduce the triumphs of a handful of their colleagues rather than contribute, more or less forcefully, to their own “burn outs”? As the vignettes and biographical case studies woven into the empirical chapters reveal, adequate answers to these questions require that we move away from romanticized notions about resistance, disembodied fantasies about explicit cultural interpretations preceding real time actions, and essentialist assumptions about (the perpetual salience of) blackness and other seemingly discrete ethno-racial categories. Developing a fundamentally new way of thinking about everday dealing and self-destruction in fiercely segregated, physically unsafe, and emotionally toxic schools can help us avoid more pseudo-interventions and finally get serious about reforming the educational experiences of the poorly born.
Bowen Paulle
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226066387
- eISBN:
- 9780226066554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226066554.003.0005
- Subject:
- Education, Secondary Education
Chapter Five begins with how once promising students get knocked off successful trajectories and propelled towards tragic outcomes. The chapter then details how two male students self-identifying as ...
More
Chapter Five begins with how once promising students get knocked off successful trajectories and propelled towards tragic outcomes. The chapter then details how two male students self-identifying as black not only overcame setbacks (such as being evicted or homeless) but avoided invitations to continue self-destructing and, in one case, used a “failing school” as a springboard into the Ivy League. This chapter shows how habitus formation processes rooted in the past undergirded here and now in-school coping processes shaped by orientations to likely futures. Along with revealing the keys to successful trajectories through overwhelmed schools, this chapter shows why so few of the students ever acquire them. The core finding is that (early) socialization based most fundamentally on socio-emotional networks and body-based learning can contribute not just to comparatively high levels of cultural capital but, even more importantly, to extremely stable, self-disciplined, and coherent second natures.Less
Chapter Five begins with how once promising students get knocked off successful trajectories and propelled towards tragic outcomes. The chapter then details how two male students self-identifying as black not only overcame setbacks (such as being evicted or homeless) but avoided invitations to continue self-destructing and, in one case, used a “failing school” as a springboard into the Ivy League. This chapter shows how habitus formation processes rooted in the past undergirded here and now in-school coping processes shaped by orientations to likely futures. Along with revealing the keys to successful trajectories through overwhelmed schools, this chapter shows why so few of the students ever acquire them. The core finding is that (early) socialization based most fundamentally on socio-emotional networks and body-based learning can contribute not just to comparatively high levels of cultural capital but, even more importantly, to extremely stable, self-disciplined, and coherent second natures.
Bowen Paulle
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226066387
- eISBN:
- 9780226066554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226066554.003.0007
- Subject:
- Education, Secondary Education
The Conclusion attempts to change the basic terms of the trans-Atlantic discussion about “failing ghetto schools.” While recalling several of the book’s core empirical findings, the main goal here is ...
More
The Conclusion attempts to change the basic terms of the trans-Atlantic discussion about “failing ghetto schools.” While recalling several of the book’s core empirical findings, the main goal here is to demonstrate how we can confidently and collectively move beyond debate defining assumptions about unambiguously racialized, highly explicit, and somehow oppositional interpretations. Fleshing out further his Elias, Bourdieu, Katz, and Collins-inspired framework, Paulle argues that situationally embedded and primordially felt responses to toxic stress fuel the devastation of high poverty schools and threaten the health of our cities. If we finally stop dodging and mischaracterizing what we are up against—if we arrive at nothing less than a new way of thinking and speaking about the ongoing suffering and occasional victories in the worst of our worst schools—we can reduce the risk of more pseudo-solutions and deal more wisely and compassionately with the educational experiences of the poorly born.Less
The Conclusion attempts to change the basic terms of the trans-Atlantic discussion about “failing ghetto schools.” While recalling several of the book’s core empirical findings, the main goal here is to demonstrate how we can confidently and collectively move beyond debate defining assumptions about unambiguously racialized, highly explicit, and somehow oppositional interpretations. Fleshing out further his Elias, Bourdieu, Katz, and Collins-inspired framework, Paulle argues that situationally embedded and primordially felt responses to toxic stress fuel the devastation of high poverty schools and threaten the health of our cities. If we finally stop dodging and mischaracterizing what we are up against—if we arrive at nothing less than a new way of thinking and speaking about the ongoing suffering and occasional victories in the worst of our worst schools—we can reduce the risk of more pseudo-solutions and deal more wisely and compassionately with the educational experiences of the poorly born.
