Significant racial differences in the prevalence of disciplinary actions against students have been reported for many years. Black children make up only 16% of the student body, but they are responsible for 40% of all school suspensions and expulsions in the United States (Gage et al., 2021). This study presents an overview of peer-reviewed articles about disproportionate school discipline. Culturally responsive instruction, interpersonal and social-emotional training strategies, and unconscious bias learning for school authorities are a few of the numerous preventative techniques and less severe approaches to harsh discipline that academic institutions can adopt.
According to Gage et al. (2021), Latinx students make up America’s most significant proportion of ethnically diverse learners. Latinx pupils are disproportionately affected by disciplinary measures at school. Researchers studied Latinx students with and without impairments to see how they were treated regarding disciplinary exclusion practices. The researchers used information from over 94,000 schools compiled in 2015 and 2016 as part of the Department of Education statistics (Gage et al., 2021). All public schools in the United States must issue their records to the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). Latinx kids, including those with and without impairments, have a high likelihood of being subjected to harsh punishment than White learners but less probable than Black learners.
There is a correlation between zero-tolerance rules and a disproportionate number of school suspensions and expulsions of children of color. Using their experience dealing with black parents whose children are exposed to harsh discipline, Wilson et al. (2020) report on a pivotal sociology of Rivertown, a learning institution structure with urban qualities. They contend, under the context of Critical Race Theories in the classroom, that many entangled obstacles hamper progress toward racial justice. These include the maintenance of a zero-lenience paradigm despite the installation of a rehabilitative pilot, contested descriptions of the problem, and a civilization of colorblindness and white vulnerability that silences national conversation.
Intricate obstacles, such as the maintenance of a zero-tolerance approach, impede the advancement of racial justice. Latino children, encompassing those with and without disabilities, were more likely to receive harsh punishment than White learners but less likely than Black students. Academic institutions can adopt various preventative techniques and less severe strategies to harsh discipline, including culturally sensitive instruction, interpersonal and social-emotional training methods, and learning about discriminatory practices for school administrators.
References
Gage, N. A., Katsiyannis, A., Carrero, K. M., Miller, R., & Pico, D. (2021). Exploring disproportionate discipline for Latinx students with and without disabilities: A national analysis. Behavioral Disorders, 47(1), 3-13. Web.
Wilson, M. A. F., Yull, D. G., & Massey, S. G. (2020). Race and the politics of educational exclusion: Explaining the persistence of disproportionate disciplinary practices in an urban school district. Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(1), 134-157. Web.