Blog Post 5

 This week for FNED 246 we had to read the preface and introduction to Shalaby's book. I really enjoyed reading this. As a future teacher, one of the things that I do not want to become is a brainless zombie who forces students to think inside of the box and to be perfect in society. What I do want is to encourage students to learn and to be free thinkers and not to lose themselves in the way the world is set up now. This reading actually reminded me of Pink Floyd’s album The Wall, specifically the song Another Brick In the Wall, Pt.2. This song is a protest song against the way schools punish and abuse kids. Which I think connects to the reading. One of the quotes that stuck out to me was “Our schools are designed to prepare children to take their assumed place in the social order rather than to question and challenge that order”. This is exactly what I do not want to happen. Being a teacher you have such an important role in shaping the rest of students' lives. You do not want to waste that time and turn students into something they're not or make them suffer or feel different just because they don’t meet all the expectations. The reading also talks about how children are forced to see adults' mistakes. These are horrors of shootings, wars, segregation, police brutality, and so many more horrors effect children. The author said something very powerful about what they are learning from these traumas. “Our children are learning that only some lives matter, that only some deaths are tragic, that only a precious few deserve relief from suffering.” This is so powerful because it is not okay. We need to teach our children that this is not true. We need to teach them that they have the power to change the way the world is. Another point the author talks about is that children who are seen as “troubled” are very influential and we need to listen to them and learn from them. She says how they are able to see what is wrong with the way schools are set up. They will scream out for attention, but no one will listen. Shalaby strongly thinks that we have to listen to them to know what to fix, and how the students are not in the wrong, but the system is. I agree with her. When I am a teacher, I want to remember these lessons. I want to allow all students to learn and to take the time to make sure they all do. I also want to listen to them to know when I need to make changes.