Content Warning: This section contains discussions of racism.

A central theme in Troublemakers is the way that mainstream school culture demands strict conformity and obedience from students. Dress codes, speech rules, restrictive movement regulations, and narrow social interaction norms all serve this end, enforcing an idea of discipline and uniformity that transcends any particular rule. Students who fail or refuse to comply with schools’ stringent demands face punishments ranging from public scolding to outright removal from the classroom community. Shalaby asserts that such exclusion is “a way to cement the identity of a child as a troublemaker” (152); by locating the problem in the individual, schools assert the cohesion of the remainder of the classroom. At the same time, schools in effect engender “trouble” by establishing these rigid, limiting expectations for conduct and decorum, as all nonconformity becomes a problem. Shalaby suggests that creative, questioning students like Zora, Lucas, Sean, and Marcus are the collateral damage of this vicious cycle.

Shalaby’s imagery of songbirds in captivity suggests that there is something inherently cruel and deadening about “caging” children’s spirits with strict codes of conduct. Sean bluntly encapsulates school’s hidden curriculum: “You’re supposed to just do everything” (110).