GUERRA, ARMAS Y MUJERES

All of the participants believed that most of the office referrals are given unfairly due to one of the following reasons: 1) teachers sometimes make assumptions about students’ behavior, 2) teachers can make a situation worse by “saying negative stuff” or yelling, and 3) teachers’ expectations can be unclear and lead to misunderstandings.

Teachers’ assumptions. Tavion thought a classmate received an office referral unfairly

when he had his backpack on his lap and was looking for a pencil:

I think he was looking for a pencil in his backpack, but he had his backpack like this [on his lap] and digging through it. But the teacher couldn’t see his hands. And then he was looking for a pencil, and then the teacher thought he was on his phone [texting], but he wasn’t. His phone was in his pocket, and he got a referral. (Interview Two)

Several students believed that teachers became upset because they thought students were distracted and not completing their work just because they were talking. Da’wan explained, “When we talk to our neighbor they tell us to be quiet, but they don’t know we’re talking about the work. They think we’re just talking. Let kids talk, but see what they’re talking about first” (Interview Two).

Michael’s teacher told him he was being disrespectful when he was trying to sharpen his pencil. He honestly did not think he had done anything wrong, and it certainly was not his intent to be disrespectful:

I was like really mad ‘cuz I didn’t really do nothing. She [the teacher] saw me and said I was being disrespectful, but I really wasn’t. I’ll get out of my seat to sharpen my pencil, and she’ll ask, “What are you doing?” And I’ll say, “I’m sharpening my pencil.” And then she’ll be like, “Go back to your seat,” but I’m just trying to sharpen my pencil, and I’m not being disrespectful. I was just trying to sharpen my pencil. (Interview One) Vance did not understand why he was punished when somebody else pushed him. He believes that his teacher probably thought that he was playing around:

He [the teacher] was standing at the door letting us in, and a kid came from behind and pushed me, and he [the teacher] got mad at me! And I’m like I don’t know who did it, none of that. He still getting mad at me. I don’t see that. It’s not like I pushed him [the other student] and took off running and let him push me. I don’t know why he’s trying to get mad at me for that. (Interview Two)

Yelling and saying “negative stuff.” Many of the participants spoke about teachers who

yell, or “get an attitude.” They perceived some teachers as applying a double standard and believed that was unfair. Students reported getting in trouble for yelling or being disrespectful, but sometimes those same students felt provoked by teachers who yelled at them, called them names, or otherwise disrespected them.

Jason and Jamal both said that teachers could sometimes have “an attitude.” Jason said that teachers show that by rolling their eyes, and Jamal felt that teachers who “just yell at me telling me to get out the classroom” (Interview One) do so because they are in a bad mood about something else and project their feelings onto him.

During the focus group, Rashan told us that he felt disrespected and angry when his music teacher had called him by the wrong name and then said, “I don’t care what your name is.” The following conversation took place:

Rashan: I think if you want me to be respectful to you, you gotta be respectful to me too.

Tavion: Amen. That’s what my mom say. (Other students clapped)

Interviewer: And do you think teachers are just picking on you, or does Mr. Murphy say things like that to all kids?

Interviewer: What kind of people does he do that to?

Devante: Anybody. Everybody. The class I was in last year, he did it to everybody. Interviewer: And is he joking?

Devante: I don’t really know. But he did it to him [Mathias] the most though. Interviewer: What did he do to you, Mathias?

Mathias: I don’t know. He used to call me stupid and a pinhead. Devante: He’d tell us to shut up.

Vance did not go into details, but he did admit to being disrespectful to a teacher because that teacher had made him mad. “It’s all coming out of anger. I know a couple of times I kinda wanted to get the teacher mad ‘cuz he got me mad” (Interview Two).

Fairness was extremely important to all participants. They were able to acknowledge when they had misbehaved and took responsibility for their wrongdoings. However, many became visibly upset when they described situations in which they believed a teacher treated them unfairly.

Teachers’ expectations are unclear. Many rules change from classroom to classroom,

which was often confusing to the students. They were permitted to eat in one room, but another teacher would throw their food away if they tried to eat it during class. Sayon drew cheers of “Yeah!” “Right!” and “Exactly!” when he said that some teachers “tell us not to eat in class, but they eat right in front of us.” The participants felt especially frustrated when teachers did not follow their own rules.

Sometimes the expectations were not clear about what to do on an assignment. Rashan stated, “I don’t like it when teachers tell you, just don’t give you no directions, just sit there, but

then when you try to ask for help, they get mad at you.” Devante stated that trying to understand what a teacher wants can be complicated:

The teachers say, “Do this,” but then again they’ll say, “Do that.” You wouldn’t know what to do because they said the same thing twice. Well, they didn’t say the same thing twice. They said different things at the same time so you didn’t know which way to go so you do it your own way. (Interview One)

He added that he has been reprimanded for asking for clarification and also for doing an assignment his own way. He was resigned when he said, “That’s just how it is.” When asked what he usually did in that situation, Devante answered, “Shut up and go back to my seat.” When asked how that made him feel, he answered, “Just, it’s whatever, but you gotta not think about it” (Interview Two).