Troublemakers

 “Troublemakers”… or just kids like me?

When I read the preface of Troublemakers by Carla Shalaby, it didn’t feel like one of those readings you just skim and forget. It actually made me stop and think about my own experience in school.

Shalaby talks about kids who get labeled as “troublemakers,” but instead of treating them like they’re the problem, she tries to understand them. She follows a few elementary school students and shows how they’re constantly getting singled out, disciplined more, and pushed away from everyone else. It’s not just about behavior as much as how everyone reacts to them. And she even connects it to bigger issues, like how early those patterns can start shaping a kid’s future.

Reading that, I kept thinking… yeah, I’ve seen that. I’ve felt that.

Growing up, school was always hard for me. I have ADHD and other learning difficulties, and even though I had an IEP and was in resource classes, it still felt like I was behind no matter what I did. Like everyone else got it and I just… didn’t. It wasn’t that I wasn’t trying either, which made it worse.

High school honestly didn’t make it any easier. I got held back twice, and math was the biggest struggle. I took the same class three times and still couldn’t pass it. After a while, it stops feeling like “this is just a hard class” and starts feeling like something is wrong with you. That’s the part people don’t really talk about the way it messes with your confidence.

That’s why what Shalaby is saying actually matters.

She basically flips the idea that students are the problem. Instead, she’s asking us to look at how schools are set up. Like maybe these kids aren’t “difficult” maybe they just don’t fit into a system that expects everyone to learn and behave the exact same way.

Looking back, I don’t think I was ever a “bad student” or a “problem.” I think I just needed different support than what I was getting. And honestly, I think a lot of kids are in that same position.

One thing that really stuck with me is how she says we can learn the most from the kids who push back the most. And that kind of hit. Because those are usually the kids who are struggling, frustrated, or just not being understood but instead of being helped, they get labeled.

Reading this made me realize my experience wasn’t just me failing. It was also a system that didn’t really know how to support me the way I needed.

And if more teachers actually took the time to understand students instead of just labeling them, I think a lot more kids would feel like they actually belong in school instead of feeling like they’re constantly falling short.

Comments

  1. GavinApril 13, 2026 at 8:18 AM

    Hi Ashley, thanks for sharing your personal experiences of this sort of marginalization in school. I agree that the reading hits hard... it gives a voice to those students who may otherwise be voiceless. By reframing our fixation on classroom management, Shalaby asks teachers to allow the frustrations of students for whom the experience of school is not working, and instead of asking "what's wrong with them?" asking ourselves "what's wrong with this system that is failing to meet their needs?" I think its critical that we do more than exclude these students, and your story speaks to that as well -- we have to consider the assets that these students can potentially bring and how to cultivate their best selves for the benefit of whole communities who will gain from a diversity of perspectives being recognized.

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