ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the pupils in the school who have been categorised as being different. 'Nutters, 'tragedies' and 'dead horses' reveal 'problems' more for the teacher than for the pupil: when a teacher states that a pupil 'has a problem', she is also implying that, as a result, so does she. The chapter deals with the ideological differences which obtained among the staff at Rockfield School and to suggest some of the influences upon their construction. Among these influences were the individual biographies of teachers, the bureaucratic power of the head teacher and the nature of the school's catchment area as personified in the pupils themselves. Rockfield School contained a number of pupils who, for different reasons, rendered problematic the teacher's ability to discharge her duties. As pupils, the 'tragedies' were not always unmanageable, and nor were they bereft of intelligence and a 'normal' disposition. They seemed unwanted by their parents.
