Photograph: Milford Middle School by Lisa Williams | CC2.0, Flickr; Barbed Wire Fence by Max Pixel, CC0.
Introduction
Underresourced communities and racial minority children are often disciplined and punished more severely than their wealthy, white counterparts. Facilities and opportunities are more limited as well. This contributes to higher dropout rates, involvement of law enforcement, etc.
Messages and Resources
A series of blog posts where we explore how Christian (mostly Protestant) heresies started and continue to influence our modern political and racial challenges. This includes the very notion of race itself, and how our modern economics, housing, schooling, and policing systems have been shaped. Christians must take responsibility for these heresies in the framework of repentance. We have designed a study guide to accompany the blog posts. Please consider using it for personal reflection or discussion in your family, church, organization, etc. See especially:
The Myth of Meritocracy in Schooling, Part 1. A 10 minute read. This post highlights the impact of resource inequality on educational outcomes and student experience.
The Myth of Meritocracy in Schooling, Part 2. A 10 minute read. This post highlights the impact of resource inequality and racial-cultural dynamics on disciplinary outcomes and student experience.
Welcoming the New Kid: A Christian Study and Action Guide to the Opportunity Gap in Public Education
A small group discussion guide to a few major issues in public schooling, and how church communities can partner with local schools. Topics include: school financing; residential segregation; whether charter schools should be able to fire students; the school-to-prison pipeline; and the honoring of teachers.
Slides to a presentation summarizing the remarkable dignity that Christians perceived in children, who had no inherent dignity or status in pagan Greco-Roman cultures. This impacted views on infanticide, abortion, social welfare, and education. Based on outstanding research by O.M. Bakke, When Children Became People: The Birth of Childhood in Early Christianity.
Christian Restorative Justice: Beyond Charity - God's Restorative Justice for Children and Families
Slides to a presentation glancing at how Christians have historically supported children and their livelihood and development, such as for literacy and against child labor abuse.
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Children's Defense Fund, America's Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline Report. Children's Defense Fund, Oct 10, 2007.
Tony Fabelo, Michael D. Thompson, Martha Plotkin, Dottie Carmichael, Miner P. Marchbanks III, Eric A. Booth, Breaking Schools' Rules: A Statewide Study of How School Discipline Relates to Students’ Success and Juvenile Justice Involvement. Justice Center and Public Policy Research Institute, Jul 2011.
Aneeta Rattan, Cynthia S. Levine, Carol S. Dweck, Jennifer L. Eberhardt, Race and the Fragility of the Legal Distinction between Juveniles and Adults. PLOS One Journal, May 23, 2012. note that black juvenile offenders are much more likely to be viewed as adults in juvenile detention proceedings than their white counterparts
Daniel J. Losen and Jonathan Gillespie, Opportunities Suspended: The Disparate Impact of Disciplinary Exclusion from School. Civil Rights Project / Proyecto Derechos Civiles, Aug 2012.
Christian Science Monitor, Racial Bias Feeds the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Christian Science Monitor, Apr 1, 2013.
Phillip Atiba Goff and Matthew Christian Jackson (UCLA), Brooke Allison Lewis Di Leone (National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Boston, Massachusetts), Carmen Marie Culotta (Pennsylvania State University) Natalie Ann DiTomasso, The Essence of Innocence: Consequences of Dehumanizing Black Children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Feb 24, 2014. note that black children are 18 times more likely to be sentenced as adults than white children, and make up nearly 60 percent of children in prisons. See also Phillip Atiba Goff and Matthew Christian Jackson, The Black Boys Viewed as Older, Less Innocent Than Whites, Research Finds. American Psychological Association, Mar 6, 2014.
Code Switch: Race and Identity Remixed, Black Preschoolers Far More Likely to Be Suspended. NPR, Mar 21, 2014. citing U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection, Data Snapshot: School Discipline, Issue Brief No.1, March 2014
Sonali Kolhatkar, Studies Confirm the Dehumanization of Black Children and the ‘Preschool-to-Prison Pipeline’. Common Dreams, Apr 4, 2014.
AJ+, The School to Prison Pipeline. AJ+, May 18, 2015.
Katherine Reynolds Lewis, Why Schools Over-Discipline Children With Disabilities. The Atlantic, Jul 24, 2015. "Despite the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act 25 years ago, students with disabilities are still punished at disproportionate rates" including when race is factored in
Edward Graham, School Suspensions and the Racial Discipline Gap. JSTOR Daily, Sep 2, 2015. “The racial discipline gap in school suspensions has lasting educational and social effects.”
Sarah E. Redfield & Jason P. Nance, School to Prison Pipeline. American Bar Association, Feb 2016. an excellent report
Frontline, School-to-Prison Pipeline. PBS Learning Media. a good collection of articles
Amanda Ripley, How America Outlawed Adolescence. The Atlantic, Nov 2016. 22 states make disturbing school a crime
Ted Wachtel, Defining Restorative. International Institute for Restorative Practices, Nov 2016.
Monique Judge, New Missouri Statute Ensures Children Are Fed Into the School-to-Prison Pipeline. The Root, Dec 21, 2016.
Tom Loveless, Racial Disparities in School Suspensions. Brookings Institute, Mar 24, 2017.
Demetria Irwin, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta Judges Unite to Bust Up the Prison Pipeline. The Grio, Jan 18, 2018. members of the Divine Nine band together for a good cause
German Lopez, Black Kids Are Way More Likely to Be Punished in School Than White Kids, Study Shows. Vox, Apr 5, 2018.
Moriah Balingit, Racial Disparities in School Discipline Are Growing, Federal Data Show. Washington Post, Apr 24, 2018.
New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture Education and Human Development, Teachers View Immigrant and Minority Parents as Less Involved in Their Children’s Education. NYU, Jun 25, 2018.
Rebecca Klein, The Department Of Education Underreports Allegations Of Racial Discrimination In Schools. Huffington Post, Aug 22, 2018.
Kristine Phillips, Florida Sixth-Grader Arrested After Dispute with Teacher Over Pledge of Allegiance. Washington Post, Feb 18, 2019.
The Damage Report, Congresswoman Calls Our Betsy DeVos' Racism. The Damage Report, Apr 1, 2019. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) challenged DeVos when she appeared to defend Trump's budget cuts to education and decision to rescind Obama era guidance to try to prevent unfair discipline of black students
Jodi S. Cohen, A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile Detention. ProPublica, Jul 14, 2020. “A 15-year-old in Michigan was incarcerated during the coronavirus pandemic after a judge ruled that not completing her schoolwork violated her probation. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” said the girl’s mother.”
Dialynn Dwyer, Black Girls in Massachusetts Are Almost 4 Times as Likely to be Disciplined in School Than White Girls, Report Finds. Boston.com, Sep 8, 2020. “data collected by the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection in 2015 pertaining to in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, referrals to law enforcement, and school-related arrests. Taking into account the five areas of discipline, the disparity in Massachusetts was slightly higher than that found in Alabama — where Black girls are roughly 3.7 times more likely to be disciplined — and lower than Kansas, where Black girls are roughly 6.2 times more likely more likely to be punished, according to the report, “Protecting Girls of Color from the School-to-Prison Pipeline.””
Adriana Cardona-Maguidad, How One Chicago Public School Is Changing Its Culture Now That the Police Are Gone. WBEZ Chicago, Nov 24, 2021. “Curie’s elected Local School Council voted to remove police in the summer of 2020 with support from students and parents. Curie is among about 50 Chicago public high schools that voted to remove one or both police officers stationed in their schools in the last year and a half, arguing a punitive approach to student discipline does not create a safe learning environment… Since then, Curie officials have been putting more weight on social-emotional support and improving relationships between students and staff.”
John Oliver, School Police. Last Week Tonight, Jun 6, 2022.
Jessica Grose, What the Trump Era Looks Like for Disabled Students in K-12. New York Times, Feb 12, 2025. Important because of right-wing appeals to tough discipline, even physical punishment, as a way to control students with learning disabilities and behavioral challenges.
“This kind of sentiment is not just coming from the tech bro wing of the MAGAverse. Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, while questioning Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said, “We have an attention deficit problem in this country. You know, attention deficit when you and I were growing up, our parents didn’t use a drug, they used a belt and whipped our butt, you know, and told us to sit down.” We can certainly have a debate about the best way to treat attention deficit issues, but suggesting in the year 2025 that beating children should be part of the repertoire is sick. Behind both Tuberville’s and Andreessen’s statements I’m hearing a similar argument: Learning differences are exaggerated, and by providing support to students who have received what critics consider nonsense diagnoses, we’re coddling America’s children and bilking taxpayers.”
Race and Schooling: Topics:
Christian Restorative Justice and Education: Topics:
Critique of the Right: Domestic Policy Topics:
Critique of the Right: Philosophical Influences
