Blog Post #9

Troublemakers by Carla Shalaby

*I feel like I should warn that this blog post is mostly about mental illness and my experience with it.

Reflection:

Overall, I agree with what was said in this piece. The canary analogy is apt, as I have seen firsthand how excluded students highlight deficits in our school system. A student I worked with in the spring comes to mind. He was one of the most insightful children I have ever met, and wise beyond his years. Every time I visited that classroom, though, he was yelled at for speaking out of turn. I always felt awful for him and tried my best to validate what he had to say. Generally, in cases like his, I fully agree with what Shalaby says.

However, there is one subtle thread throughout her writing that I take issue with: her approach to mental health. It is not the main point, but she references the intersection of deviancy and mental illness a few times. She says that students who are the canaries are "routinely pathologized" and "too often [medicated] into docility." While I cannot universally say that what she alludes to never happens, I take offense to the implication that this is widespread. What she says reminds me of the stances of Thomas Szasz, a psychiatrist who claimed mental illness did not exist, and instead was a stigma applied to those who could not or would not conform to societal standards. In some regards, these stances are correct, in that those with mental illnesses are heavily stigmatized for their differences. However, to deny they exist or suggest that they are merely classifications used to justify how people are treated is simply incorrect. While I was not a "troublemaker" student, I have suffered from mental illness in my educational journey. To say that my inability to participate in "normal" class structure was just my inability or unwillingness rather than clinical depression is frankly insulting. 

Szasz's book detailing his stances on mental illness.

Further, I find the reference to being "medicated into docility" particularly problematic. In our current culture, medication for mental illness is widely demonized and discouraged. After all, just recently, federal leaders (leaders who are part of the administration of a president she saw as a culmination of our society's violence) have claimed that antidepressants cause school shootings. The reference in this text furthers a common myth that is damaging for those who need medication. I know I was hesitant to medicate because of descriptions like Shalaby's. Once I started medication, though, I was able to return to being myself, and I have never regretted it. Of course, there are cases where medication is used to control behavior. In most cases, though, medication for mental illness is a good thing, and I find it horrible to suggest anything else.

Comments to Share:

I find this piece and my reaction to it interesting, as while I actually agree with the majority of what was said, my opposition to part of it somewhat soured my view of the whole. I would like to explore her ideas more, though, as I really do think that "different" students are who we learn the most from, even if they may challenge the traditional status quo.