We hear a lot these days about prison reform: about racial and economic disparities in our justice system; about what prison does to those who are sent there; and what it does to the families and communities left behind.

We don't talk about these issues in relation to education. After all, what do high school and college students have to do with convicted felons? Yet, the use of “exclusionary discipline” has much in common with our penal system. No wonder it's so frequently associated with the “school to prison pipeline,” the demonstrated fact that students who are subjected to harsh penalties in school eventually wind up incarcerated.

Some critics insist that exclusionary discipline is a necessary component of successful educational programs. The truth is that such punishments only reveal limited thinking.

The Consequences Are Just as Life-Changing

What is “exclusionary discipline”? The phrase refers to removing a student from the normal classroom situation. It sometimes refers to in-school suspension (ISS) but more often relates to out-of-school suspension (OSS). Unsurprisingly, this form of discipline has been associated with a whole range of negative outcomes. For example, students who receive just one suspension are twice as likely as their classmates to be involved as adults in the criminal justice system.

Those who defend the practice try to minimize the damage exclusionary discipline can do, suggesting that all school absences are essentially created equal. One recent op-ed asked, “what's the significant difference between a day out of school for bad behavior and a day out of school for pink eye?” What's the difference between being turned down for a job and being denied a job because you're black, or female, or gay? Labels matter. Being “suspended,” labeled a “problem,” or a “troublemaker,” carries a far different weight than missing school because of a cold.

Exclusionary Discipline Represents a Genuine Lack of Imagination Among Educators

Here's the much bigger problem with the exclusionary discipline argument: it shows a genuine lack of imagination among the very people who should have the most creative solutions to disciplinary problems—our teachers.

The writer of that op-ed piece argues that keeping difficult students in the classroom causes harm to all the other students, the ones who are genuinely trying to learn. That's a great line to use on an eighth-grader who's acting up. It's not especially compelling as pedagogy. It attempts to define “education” in one way—as high test scores—and it suggests that we might be better of simply discarding from society anyone who doesn't seem to fit in for one reason or another.

More importantly, that argument ignores the fact that there are serious racial disparities in how exclusionary discipline is used. Studies have shown, for instance, that black children are far more likely to be suspended than white. The disparity is most striking when applied to girls. One study found that black girls were suspended at a rate of 14% compared to 2% for white girls.

It would be nice if we could simply throw up our hands every time we encountered someone we found difficult and make them disappear. That's not the way the world works, though, and it's certainly not the way teaching should work.

If your child has been subjected to exclusionary discipline, find out what you can do to protect them. Contact attorney Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm at 888-555-3686, or use our automated online form.