Trouble Makers by Carla Shalaby (Reflection)

    Coming back from Spring break at RIC. The preface and introduction of the book "Troublemakers" by Carla Shalaby made me remember many times at my previous job as a Youth Care Counselor. The book's main idea behind it is that troubled/disobedient kids are trying to communicate to us that the environment they are receiving an education in is toxic to them. The book is also trying to point out that the behavior maybe a result of the system failing not because of the kids themselves. 

    This was giving me almost PTSD flashbacks to the past 4 years of my life. As a fresh assistant counselor attempting to make the lives of kids in the custody of the state better. I was tasked to enforce the rules that the facility wanted to promote/impose on the kids. The standards that this facility wanted were seen by both the kids in the unit and adults as very simple rules to follow and there seemed to be no issues with them at first. However, as time went on and I continued to work there. I began to notice the exact talking points that Shalaby was making. After long 8-hour, sometimes 16-hour shifts with these "difficult" kids. I often had this question in my head as try to fall asleep. Were the rules and expectations that were put in place too difficult for them to handle, or if the rules were fine and the youth was just being disobedient? To this day I never really figured out the answer to that question after four years of my life working there. Because there were kids who were able to succeed and follow expectations at this group placement who had equally bad track records coming in. I also attempted to have conversations with these kids to try and figure out what rules were not working for them. The kids even stated that they wanted to follow the rules, they just couldn't explain why they struggled to follow them. 

    This excerpt from this book really did bring up some tough memories for me personally. Though the content of this book definitely made a lot of good points about the type of environment that kids are brought up in. They unfortunately are forced into a one-size-fits-all standard behavior-wise, and if they deviate from said standard they are cast out. That can be either being put into a time-out corner. or as severe as expulsion. It truly is a one-size-fits-all method standard that I wish had an easy solution. 

https://teach4theheart.com/30-logical-classroom-consequence-ideas/