David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

disobedient. Their view of the book was
completely blocked by the little girl
standing in front of Stella. They had no
way of following along. We often think
of authority as a response to
disobedience: a child acts up, so a
teacher cracks down. Stella’s
classroom, however, suggests something
quite different: disobedience can also be
a response to authority. If the teacher
doesn’t do her job properly, then the
child will become disobedient.
“With classrooms like this one,
people will call what is happening a
behavioral issue,” Hamre said. We were
watching one of Stella’s kids wiggling
and squirming and contorting her face