Negotiating Social Differences

Many have described the opposition youths from stigmatized social groups may develop toward school. This study focuses alternatively on interactional, pedagogical, and curricular actions that stigmatized high school students perceive as affecting their willingness to adapt to varied classrooms. Interview, observation, and record data from 49 students illustrate that stigmatized youths prefer teachers who give personal attention to students, who convey respect for and confidence in students who are socially different from themselves, and who support and elicit student voice and input. Youths also express strong distaste for lecturing and seat-work and prefer personally relevant curriculum.