Ryan+Tozier+Problem+Behavior

Watch and comment on [|Sociological Cinema: Addressing 'Problem Behaviour' in Early Years] The video //Becoming a 'Problem': How Children Develop a Reputation as 'Naughty' in the Earliest Years at School// forces viewers to rethink what it means to call a child problematic. The video was not what I was expecting; the director used specific powerful examples of children, whose behavior is considered problematic coupled with powerful questions and quotations. This video forced me to examine what I was watching much more closely. In addition, it allows the viewer time to think about what they have seen before moving in. Because this is a mostly silent film, the view is less influenced the filmmakers’ point of view, even though they are able to convey their message. It is a style that allows for many different interpretation and responses.
 * This might be my favorite video - very interesting style **

The message that the filmmaker wanted to get across is that labels like “problem child” and “normal” are meaningless because there is no such thing as a normal child. The movie had five major themes:What counts as problem behavior; what is a normal child; difficult bodies; parents; and observing and monitoring. In the first theme, they examine students who are labeled as problem children and an example of them “causing problems”. In the cases, we are shown one student is clearly autistic and I question whether politically correct to call them problem children. In the other examples, we are shown students fidgeting or being loud. I would not count such students as being problematic because there should not really be a problem with students having energy. It is more a problem with our system that does not allow for teaching in a way that allows them to move freely.

What is a normal child? They lead off with a quote calling the word normal an abstraction. To emphasize their point they show larger than life sized puppet student. Their goal is to show that normal students do not exists and is what happens when kids try to meet adult expectations. Tend to agree that there are no normal children. Some kids are labeled as problem children because they have “difficult bodies”. The question this portion tries to raise is, why does society think it is necessary to discipline children bodies so that they don’t fidget. On a similar note, some children have problems controlling their movements and they should not be stigmatized for that. The final theme that I want to talk about is the theme of parents. In this section the filmmakers show “problem behavior” with quotes from teachers who blame the behavior on the students. In one case the teacher does not like the students mother and admits that she may be projecting her dislike onto the student. I fundamentally don’t like the idea of placing blame, and in this portion of the video teachers are repeatedly placing blame on the parents. I believe that instead of placing blame someone should accept responsibility, which is a very different situation. Overall it is clear that teachers project feeling onto the children that they might not deserve.