Article Response

Article Response: “Student’s Resistance in the Classroom”

“So what do you say? Do we all gather together, and go kick some Casanova butt? Or do I eat this sandwich?” – The Shoveller

            One of the most interesting things that I learned from the article “Student’s Resistance in the Classroom” is that there is a distinction between “misbehavior” and “resistance,” and that it is a much deeper distinction than I would have anticipated. As Alpert describes it, resistance is a feeling that schools are not designed to help equalize student’s knowledge bases or help students advance in life, but rather that schools are designed to reinforce and perpetuate the philosophies of the majority group in any given environment. Alpert argues that students who are outside of that majority group and feel oppressed by the majority group are not only at risk of engaging in resistance behaviors, but also that they are likely to suffer on the academic level because of that behavior. Sometimes, the endangerment of grades is used as a way to reaffirm their resistance behaviors because students are able to suggest that the teacher has looked down on them because of their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or anything else that separates them from the majority of students. Misbehavior is classified by Alpert as a means of garnering attention willingly from the teacher and is typically only caused by a few unruly students.

            The thesis of this article falls well in line with the new TPA standards which encourages teachers to think at all times about how to deal with every type of student in the room be it some sort of minority, special education student, or just a kid who may struggle to stay focused. This was also a very interesting article because I grew up in a predominately white middle class area, so outliers to the grouping were not only very noticeable, but also very limited. One of the arguments that Alpert makes is that resistance behaviors insinuate a very value based existence. By suggesting that teachers worry about certain things that make them the minority they are saying a lot about the values they hold as a person.

            Alpert also suggests that the culture the public school system has created is one of academic merit, which creates a feeling of supremacy among the students who achieve the most academically. Alpert says that the best way to remove the resistance behaviors from the classroom is to allow students to incorporate their social knowledge into the classroom. This is perhaps the best point Alpert makes, because it is far too often that the social relevancy of anything is allowed to be brought into the classroom by the students. Many high school students, especially as they approach college, are finally becoming aware of the world around them and will try to attach lessons to a similar instance or event that they see happening around them. This became obvious to me today when a student in one of my classes suggested a similarity between the holocaust and active legislation today that rules out certain rights for some minority individuals.