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Punishment in Education

-- By SarahShaikh - 22 Feb 2024

After our discussion on the first day of class on theories of punishment and if punishment in the United States truly serves its supposed deterring function, I find myself still confused. On one hand, I agree that punishment will never deter absolutely everyone. Does that mean it has to in order for it to be effective? Is it enough that it deters to a point? On the other hand, in a world with no punishment, I empathize with a victim who perhaps sees her abuser free in the world. I think these are all fair questions, but our discussion in class turned my attention to punishment in another setting, one every one of us was familiar with. The classroom.

Childhood Education and Barriers to Higher Education

Childhood Education

A child’s education does not begin when they step foot in a kindergarten classroom or even possibly a preschool classroom, it starts with their family. It starts with their economic status, their race - a whole slew of factors they have no control over - that decide where they go to school in the first place. I think this preliminary choice that is taken out of the hands of almost every child is certainly crucial to understanding how injustice perpetuates itself. However, this paper will attempt to ignore that and instead focus on how punishment in classrooms can perpetuate the system of inequality.

One would not think it, but punishment starts in the very first year of a child’s education, in their preschool or kindergarten classroom. Students that display “disruptive behavior” in these early years are disciplined, perhaps more subtle than we perceive discipline to be, but discipline nevertheless through out of school suspensions or expulsions. Unsurprisingly, teachers tend to perceive this so-called disruptive behavior more in minority students than White students. As a result, Black elementary students are more likely to be disciplined. I think it is fair to say that this form of discipline has lasting effects and ingrains itself onto students, displayed in high school.

High School and the School to Prison Pipeline

Punishment does not stop there, if anything, it is likely much more developed and detrimental to students in high school. Again, minority students tend to receive these punishments more. Numerous studies finding that people tend to perceive Black girls as less innocent or police shootings of young Black children, confusing a toy for a weapon are similarly reflected in a classroom. The result of this is not simply being able to attend school for a few days. Not being present in the classroom means not being there when a teacher begins a new unit or being in a setting meant to develop your brain. This may at first simply result in poorer performance in school. The longer effects might be lower grades, SAT performance, all of which means less likelihood of attending college. Putting aside the academic consequences, the persistent force of punishment in schools leads to something much worse, incarceration.The school to prison pipeline is not a new phenomenon. Schools forcing children out of classrooms inevitably leads to actions that might at first land them in juvenile detention, but eventually this culminates in a prison sentence. Our class discussion on the incarceration system and prisons in America must again be highlighted here to shed some light on just how gross and impactful discipline in education can become.

How Law is used to perpetuate these barriers

Subsection A

As law school students, much of our discussion in classrooms ignores topics like this one. Criminal Law does not highlight the racial proportions of incarcerated people. We do not learn a substantial form of property in recent history, slavery, in Property. Yet, it is abundantly clear that law does not simply reflect the inequalities in our culture, it furthers them. So, as a law student, I think it is important that consider how policies are used to further punishment in schools.

One of these policies is “zero tolerance”. Similar to the three-strike law, this means strict enforcement of school rules. Similar to the discussion on theories of why we punish, zero tolerance policies leave almost no room for addressing the root of the problem or substantial change. In contrast to the criminal justice system, it is even more unclear on what the reasons are here. Is it because a child’s behavior must be punished or is it meant to deter? If the former, it is extremely abnormal to believe that children understand enough to make the connection between their supposedly disruptive behavior and the school’s disciplinary measures. The same reasoning can be used to understand why punishment in schools does not deter either.

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