41 pages • 1 hour read
Among School Children
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Symbols & Motifs
Graffiti
Graffiti features throughout the book because of its prominence at the school and around Holyoke. Graffiti signals that the area is not necessarily safe or that it is rundown. The author describes how the graffiti changes to show the mood in the book, describing the graffiti getting particularly bad during the colder months when the students are also most restless, and everyone feels slightly depressed. Mention of the graffiti has a humorous tone in the Spring, as everyone becomes more optimistic and embraces new possibilities. It is still graffiti on the school, and it is largely seen as making the school look shabby. However, the graffiti is part of the town and a living and changing depiction of the mood of the book. Whether the graffiti is positive or not, the author describes it in a way to set the tone and remind everyone that this school is in an old, declining industrial town.
Churches
Religious life is a central element of Holyoke, with most students and teachers attending church regularly. The churches are a symbol of the different groups in the town, with what church someone attends indicating their social group. The Puerto Ricans have their own churches, mostly because they couldn’t find any that held services in Spanish when they first arrived, and the Irish families have their own set of churches. For the most part, these worlds do not intersect. Judith teaches Sunday school at her father’s church, where the only families she interacts with are Puerto Rican.
A few churches, including Mrs. Zajac’s church, hold services in English and Spanish, the goal being to integrate the groups and create more cohesion and community. However, the different services mostly remain segregated. The two communities worship very differently, with Spanish churchgoers tending to be louder and crowding together for the service, and White church-goers tending to be quieter and more spread out around the church. These differences make for very different worship experiences, and it is clear that it will take more than offering the services in both languages to help the groups understand each other. The churches, therefore, are both a potential source of hope for Holyoke to reduce racism. They are a central part of life in the town and are making strides to integrate the two groups. However, the churches are also a way to perpetuate the divisions because so many church options are available, there is no need for the groups to learn to worship together.
Isolation
Mrs. Zajac and other teachers use isolation to punish students and compel desired behavior. Students also use isolation to punish peers who they don’t liked. In the Alpha class, teachers implement isolation at each desk to discourage distraction and cheating. Isolation is thought to work in educational settings because children, regardless of their behavior, ultimately want attention and to be liked. Isolation can be effective, but it can also have unintended consequences or backfire if used to frequently. Clarence becomes so accustomed to isolation in the hall, that he manages to disturb the class anyway, peaking his head in or making faces at the window. Isolation can confirm a child’s view that the world would rather they not be around or that what they do doesn’t matter, and for many students like Clarence, it is unclear if isolation accomplishes anything. However, isolation is almost a tradition in education, and there don’t seem to be many alternative strategies attempted. Teachers move disruptive children’s desks away from other students, send them to the hallway or to the principal, and call out students who misbehave to get their peers to ostracize them.
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