Haynes 1

The Influence of Race on Administering Discipline

in High Schools in America

Brittney Haynes

AP Literature

Mr.Janosch

November 28, 2017

In America, “African American students, especially boys, are disciplined more often and

receive more out-of-school suspensions and expulsions than White students” (Lewin). Often
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statements like this categorize black students as being “bad”, although some can’t help the

environments they’re in. The harsh punishments they face don’t make them feel they are better

than that, instead it more pushes them to feel that they are bad, which supports this norm that

society and the Department of Education has created. Humans have natural feelings to be

naughty at times and that goes for all races, but that doesn’t mean any students should be more

privileged than others against discipline because of statistics. Because high schools in America

are biased with their disciplinary actions against students , the department of education needs to

stop making race be a privilege. Many approaches can be made to help students feel that they can

improve their behavior instead of making them feel they are “bad”. During school where they

should be learning, it’s essential to lift students up and make them feel confident.

Racism exists in various schools in America. There is a high number of predominantly

black students being expelled from schools for minor infractions not just behavior. For example

in 2014 a black boy named Rashaad Ison was featured in Teen Vogue, after his school in

Louisiana forced him to leave school as a ninth grader because, “he had crossed train tracks to

save time and not be late for school”(Bigard). In some cases discipline is necessary but in this

case it isn’t. Schools encourage students to have good attendance but situations like Ison’s as a

result of trying to get an education they take away as a punishment. This racial disproportionality

in school is known as implicit bias, according to (Neal),”Implicit bias is defined as the mental

process that causes people to have negative feelings and attitudes about others based on

characteristics like race, ethnicity, age and appearance”. High school is supposed to be a center

for learning and issues like racism distracts it’s main objective of being a learning environment

to being a complex environment. Issues like this also alter the main purpose of high school

which is to prepare students for college, but instead statistics show that racial disciplinary acts

take a tole on positive outcomes, where suspension rates are too close to graduation rates for

black students.
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“A 2009-2010 survey of 72,000 schools shows that while Black students made up only 18

percent of those enrolled in the schools sampled, they accounted for 35 percent of those

suspended once, 46 percent of those suspended more than once and 39 percent of all expulsions.

Black students were more likely to be suspended or expelled than their White peers (Lewin).”

Also according to calculations with research from the “National Center of Educational

Statistics”, given the graduation rate for black students from each state and calculating it as a

whole for the U.S about 58.4% of black students graduated between the year of 2009-2010.

Comparing the number of suspensions and the graduation rate, the numbers are too close and

staff at schools need to take a different measure to discipline so it won’t take a toll on students

academically.

Another factor of this biased situation is the fact that the teachers are white. “The

curriculum is imposed by white experts on black children, without input from black families or

community members.” (Bigard) Knowing the history of racism and the fact that it exist in

learning communities, high schools should have diverse teachers or not involve people with

racist mindsets. The white educator who is discipling the black student may go overboard

because of the feelings they have with students of color.

Most schools aren’t helpful in the ways they administer discipline. Research suggests that

“Black students are routinely suspended and expelled from schools for minor infractions like

talking back to teachers or writing on their desks” (Rudd). They make students feel as if because

of their behavior they are in jail or have a chance of actually going. It’s understandable that

teachers should be respected in class but behavior shouldn’t be a cause of such harsh

punishment.

These harsh punishments are the result of the Zero Tolerance Policy which exists in

various states in the America. It all started as a solution to administering discipline on students

who bring drugs or weapons to school but ended up morphing into a system where students with
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small misbehaviors are referred to police or kicked out of school. When someone is with the

police they most likely committed a crime. Misbehaving is not a crime, it’s a choice. Not all

students are the same. When some students are told to stop doing something they listen because

they’re easier to deal with or have parents that step in. Others have personal problems within

themselves that need special attention to help them be less of a hassle and feeling like an inmate

only encourages that more.

Kicking students out of school influences them to be dropouts or causes them to have less

time to learn in school. Therefore when the grades are separated by race and whites students have

higher numbers, they forget that they pushed the black students to be out of school more because

of “behavior”. This Zero Tolerance Policy has existed since 1998 and in present day students still

have behavioral issues, therefore workers in schools should realize the measures they take with

administering discipline needs to be changed.

There are many types of discipline otherwise than the ones that get students “in trouble”.

One of those many are metal detectors. Metal detectors enforce safety in school and avoids

students from bringing illegal or harmful objects to school. High schools are biased when it

comes to the schools they decide to put metal detectors in because of race. Race doesn’t define

what a person will do, it’s their mind. The news may report that a black student in a school with

metal detectors attempted or snuck a weapon to school, but doesn’t mean a white student can’t

do the same. That causes white students without metal detectors in their school to feel

“privileged” or “superior” to this form of discipline.

In a scenario from students in Alfred E. Smith High School in which has predominantly

hispanic and black students, students did a reverse to experience how the other half goes to

school as a step in their campaign to remove metal detectors from their school. The school they

attended is called Grace Church School. Both schools are in the Bronx, New York. Grace is a

private school with a tuition of $41,750 a year. “The student population at Grace’s high school is
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62% white and the remaining 36% percent are african-american, caribbean-american,

latino/hispanic, bi/multi-racial, asian, or asian-american”. (Singer) The students at Alfred were

disappointed with the fact that they didn’t have metal detectors because of their race. Grace is

also located in an area where the nearest train station had seven subway slashes in the first six

weeks of 2016. That shows that the neighborhood had nothing to do with metal detectors in this

case, the dominant race in the school did. As one Grace student said, “If they tried to put in metal

detectors in our school, our parents would be in an uproar,” (Singer) although when students in

Alfred fought for metal detectors being removed in the present day they still exist.

"We cannot wish racism away. We must acknowledge and respond to it."(Black). Metal

detectors are great for safety in high schools but shouldn’t be biased upon race. Discipline is

necessary in schools but shouldn’t be harsh or also biased upon race. Schools need to take

restorative measures to fix discipline in schools. When it comes to behavior students don't learn

their lesson with punishments such as suspensions, detentions, etc, because this issue still exist.

Students with behavioral issues need to be supported properly and not feel their in an

environment where they are being judged especially by race. When a behavioral issue is so

consistent, school teachers should dig deeper into the situation and find out what’s going on in

his or her life and build a connection with the student first, as a restorative way to solve the

problem. Everyone deserves a chance regardless of their skin color.

In a recent interview with Melissa Marrero a dean from Origins High School she is aware

of the correlation for behavioral issues by race. In the interview she states, “Students with

behavioral issues in the school are predominantly black, as the percentage of African American

students in the school is 38%, 96% African American students are the cause of negative behavior

referrals.” Although she mentions the school is not biased with how they handle situations like

this, instead they improved that percentage through various activities. She shares in the interview

that she created a “S.W.A.G team” with the other dean in the school which was a program for
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students with behavioral issues. When they get positive referrals from teachers and consistent

good behavior is classes they gain “swag points” and with those points they redeem them for

prizes such as food, trips, and gifts. As it has been an image that boys have more behavioral

issues than girls, they created all boy advisories where they can be amongst their own kind, bond

in positive ways and create a connection with each other. Females were not left out, as she

created Queen Geniuses for girls to do similar as the boys do in advisories. As a dean Marrero

hasn’t made students feel left out or separated, she brought them together. Not only has she seen

an improvement in behavior but also in grades. As for metal detectors which the school also

consists of, as she mentioned the the school has 39% African American and the rest consist of

various different races so there is no bias going on there. The Zero Tolerance Policy as

mentioned earlier exists in this school not for behavior, but for students who actually bring guns

or weapons to the school so the metal detectors help prevent this issue or keep school staff

aware.

Discipline in schools is necessary when a student does something that can harm others,

not for behavioral issues. What makes this situation worse is that there is a privilege that exists

with white people in high schools in America where their discipline is adjusted, from the metal

detectors to not being punished the same as black kids because of implicit bias. Not only has this

issue affected students of color mentally but also academically because of the outcomes of

grades and graduation rates. Because high schools in America are biased with their disciplinary

actions against students , the department of education needs to stop making race be a privilege.
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Work Cited

Bigard, Ashana. Monuments Fall, but Racism Stands Tall in New Orleans Schools . 2017,

p. 43. Aug.- Sept. <go.galegroup.com>

Black, Kevin. Race to the bottom: how Ontario schools can fight racism in the

classroom--and win. 2005. This Magazine, May-June 2005, p. 11. <go.galegroup.com>

Lewin, T. Black students face more discipline, data suggest. 2012. Newyorktimes.com 6 March

2012 <http://www.nytimes.com>

National Center For Educational Statistics. Public School Graduates and Dropouts from

the Common Core of Data: School Year 2009–10 2013. Nces.ed.gov 22 January 2013

<https://nces.ed.gov>

Neal, L. V. I., McCray, A. D., Webb-Johnson, G., & Bridgest, S. T. The effects of African

American movement styles on teachers’ perceptions and reactions. The Journal of Special

Education, 2003. 37(1), 49-57. <http://coedpages.uncc.edu>

Rudd, T. Racial Disproportionality in School Discipline: Implicit Bias Is Heavily Implicated

2017. Racism.org <http://www.racism.org>

Singer, A. How the Other Half Goes to School 2016. Huffingtonpost.com. 3 March 2016

<https://www.huffingtonpost.com>

Zalaznick, Matt. Closing the school-to-prison pipeline: districts innovate around behavior

as zero-tolerance discipline falls into disfavor. District Administration, Oct. 2014, p. 34+.

<http://go.galegroup.com>