Marginalized Teens and the novel Owning It

There are numerous ways a student can be marginalized.  Some may be poor, handicapped, have memory problems, various learning disabilities, or have Tourette’s syndrome.  For those of us who are going to be teachers, there is a great possibility we will have some of these students in our classroom.  The book, Owning It, is a collection of short stories all about teenagers who are marginalized for various reasons.  Through these stories, I gained a sense of what life would be like for them-definitely more difficult and challenging.  All of these stories really impacted me, but there was one that impacted me the most.  The story was about a boy who had Tourette’s Syndrom.  Some classmates made fun of him, and his family was cautious about him being at school with his outbursts of tics. He decides to speak at an assembly in front of all of his classmates.  He informs his classmates what is like when he has a tic, and how he cannot control it.  It was an extremely powerful story, especially because he decided to talk to his school about it.  I thought this was a really brave act, and I could never imagine doing that.  It may not even be Tourette’s Syndrome or ADHD or a behavioral disorder, students like this and in other situations are marginalized in today’s society.   I think it is extremely difficult for them because I believe the majority of students do not understand what it would be like to have whatever their classmate has; therefore, they make fun of him or her.  It makes me sad that students are like this, but hopefully, we can make changes in society, especially for those of us who are going to be teachers.