Preventing and Producing Violence:A Critical Analysis ofResponses toSchool Violence

PEDRO A. NOGUERAUniversity of Calijbrnia at Berkeley

Do thestrategiesthat schoolsadopt in responseto “disciplinary problems,“ incindaigviolence, octuall’t perpetnotevjolence?In i/i/s tlioaghtjnl article, Pedro.Noguerati-acesi/ic /astniy oJ institutional disciplinary measures,showing that theunderlyingphilo—so/i/i/cal orientation toward social control exactsa heavytoll on stadents, teachers,ond i/ic entire schoolcoinni uniti by producingprison-likesc/iools that reraain nnsnje.Aognera incantains that a “get—tough” approach fails to create o safe environwentbecausethe useof coercivestrategiesinterrupts learning and ultimateLyproducesanenvironmentof mistrust andresistance,He offercalternativestrategiesJbr hunionizingschoolenvirounments, cnconragfnga senseof commnnnilyand collectivc responsihilits.

The problem of violence in schools,which is part of the overall problem ofviolence in society, hasbecomeone of the most pressingeducational issuesin

the United States.In manyschool districts, concernsabout violence haveevensurpassedacademicachievement— traditionally the most persistenttheme onthe nation’s education.agendts— as the highest priority for reform arid inter-vendon) Public clamorings over the need to do something aboutviolence inschools hasbrought the issue to a critical juncture; if schools fail to responrlderisively to this problem, popular support for public educationmay be en.dan-gerecl. The e,scalacionof violent incidents and the apparentinadequacyof tra—dition.al methodsto curtail them hasled to a searchfor new strategiesto ensurethe safety andsecurityof children an.d teachersin schools.2

Accepting the fact that it may not be realistic to expectthat schoolscan everbe completely hnmnne from the violence that plagries our society, this article.seeksto understandwhy schoolsmaybe espectallyvulnerableto its occurrence.

Current efforts aimed at combating violence may, in. fact, have the opposite

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effect, particularly given the weakeningof the moral authority schools onceer~joyed.Following a brief critique of popular strategiesused to curtail schoolviolence, my analysisbegins by examining how the early preoccupationwithsocialcontrol influenced the designandoperation of schoolsat the turn of thecentury. From thereI considerthe practicalandsymbolic effects of the ways inwhich discipline is typically exercisedin school,and analyzethe raceand classdynamicsamongthepopulation that is mostfrequentlytargetedfor punishment.Finally, I discussalternativeapproachesto addressingthe problem of violenceand strategiesthat havebeenshown to be effective alternativeroutesto schoolsafety.

The searchfor solutions to the problemof violence in schoolshasgenerated

a packageof remediesthat closely resemblesthoseusedto combatthe threat ofviolenceandcrime in U. S.society.5Someof the morepopularmeasuresinclude:the installation of metaldetectorsat school entrancesto preventstudentsfrombringing weaponsonto schoolgrounds;4 the enactmentof “zero tolerance”poli-ciesthat guaranteethe automatic removal of students(through either suspen-sion, expulsion, or transfer) who perpetrateacts of violence;5 and the useofpolice officers andsecurityguardsto patrol andmonitor studentbehaviorwhile

school is in session,Accompanyingsuch measureshasbeen an increasedten-dencyof school officials to treat violent incidents (and sometimesnonviolentincidents) involving studentsascriminal offensesto be handledby law enforce-ment officials and the courts, rather than by school personnel. In their desire

to demonstratetoughnessand reassure the public that they are in control,schoolofficials havebecomeincreasinglyrigid and inflexible when meting outpunishmentupon studentswho violate school rules, evenwhen the infractions

are not of a violent nature.6

Other, less punitive approacheshave been introduced to reducethe inci-denceof violence in schools.Conflict resolution programshavebeenpromotedas a wayof teachingchildren to settledisputesnonviolently. Mentoring programsthat pair studentswith adult role models havealso becomepopular in schooldistricts across-the country, serving to reduceviolence by providing studentsperceivedto be at risk with the attention, support,andcounselingof anadult.7

Teachershave beenencouragedto designcurricula that teachchildren how toavoid violent situationsand to explore in their classroomsthe ethicalandmoralissuesrelatedto violent behavior.6Finally, a varietyof counselingprogramshavebeenimplementedby establishingpartnershipsbetweenschoolsandsocialserv-ice agenciesto provide direct servicesto students.5

Though some of these less coercive strategiesfor reducing violence haveproven relatively successfulin particular schools, the overall mom.entum ofschoolpolicy hasbeenbiasedin favor of the “get-tough” approach.In responseto the pervasivefear of violence among parentsand students,politicians andschoolofficials havepledged to quell the tide of violence by converting schoolsinto prison-like, “lock-down” facilities, andby increasingthe penaltiesincurredfor committing violent acts.Yet despite thetough talk, the trdck recordof thesemethodsprovides little reasonfor optimism. For example, in California, law

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enforcement officials have attempted to reduce gang activity by increasing pen-alties againstjuvenile felons who are alleged to be gang members. While suchmeasureshave contributed to a sharp increase in the prison population, therehas been no reduction in gang activity in targeted communities. Additionally,gang activity has becomesuch a major problem in the state’s prisons that gangaffiliation must now be considered when convicts are being assignedto correc-tional facilities. ‘°

Relatively speaking, young people may in fact be far safer in school than they

are in their neighborhoods or, for that matter, at the park, the roller rink, oreven in their homes.” For many parents and students, the fact that schoolsare“relatively safe” provides little solace, given the expectation that schoolsshouldbe absolutely safeand therefore should not hejudged by the samestandard that

we use to gauge security in other public, or even private, places. Schools arecontrolled institutions, public spaceswhere individuals sacrifice a measure of

individual liberty in exchangefor the opportunity to learn. In such a setting, thethreat of violence constitutes more than just a threat to personal safety. It rep-resentsa fundamental violation of the social contract between school and com-munity, an abrogation that could easily hasten the collapse of popular support

for public education.’2

To address the problem of violence in schoolseffectively, I believe we must

begin by asking ourselveswhy schoolsare vulnerable to the occurrence of vio-lence.What is there about the structureand culture of schoolsthat has, in recenttimes, increased the likelihood that acts of violence will be perpetrated within

them? In the following pagesI will demonstrate why I believe that many of thepopular strategies for disciplining students and curtailing -violencein-schools areineffective. I will focus on urban schools,where violence tends to occur morefrequently, becauseI believe that social and economic conditions in urban areasaddconsiderably to the extent and degreeof the problem.’3 I believe that it isin the context of fulfilling goals that have traditionally prioritized maintainingorder and control over students, as opposedto creating humaneenvironmentsfor learning, that schoolshave become increasingly susceptible to violence. Asan alternative approach, 1 will argue that schoolsmust seekways to create morehumane learning environments, both to counter escalating violence and totransform social relationships within schools,so that thosewho spend their timethere feel less alienated, threatened, and repressed.As I argue for this alterna-tive, I will also consider the ways in which issuesrelated to the symbolic repre-sentation of violence, and the fight against it, influence interaction betweenadults and children within school, paying particular attention to the ways inwhich raceand class inscribe these images.

This article draws heavily from my y-earsof worl~ingdirectly with schools inthe San Francisco Bay Area in avariety of capacities: as a classroomteacher, aschool board member, a university-basedresearcher, and a consultant. My expe-rience leads me to avoid offering specific remediesor to claim that I know whatshould be done to addressa problem that is so complexand multidimensional.Still, it is my hope that suggestingnew ways of approachingthe question“What

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is to be done about violence in schools?” will enable educators to open the doorto new strategies,based on a different conceptual framework, for dealing withthe issue of violence in schools throughout this country.

Waging the Fight against Violence

The phrase “fighting violence” might seemto be an oxymoron. For thosecon-cernedwith finding ways to prevent or reduce the occurrenceof violence, “fight-ing” it might seemto be the wrong way to describe or to engagein the effort toaddressthe problem. The choiceof terms, hos-yever, is not accidental, The pre-vailing wisdom among policymakers and school officials is that you must counterviolence ss’ith force;’

4 that schools can be made safe by converdngthem intoprison-like facilities;’5 and that the best svay to curtaik violence is to identify,

apprehend,andexcludestudentswho have the potential for committing actsofviolence from the restof the populadon.’5Therefore, it is important to examine

the ideological stanceheld tos-vard violence when cdtiquing the methodsusedto fight it, for without doing so it is not possibleto understandwhy failed strate-gies remainpopular.’7

In thecampaignagainstschoolviolence, schoolofficials often point to stads-tics on the number of weapons confiscated, and to the number of studentssuspended,expelled, or arrestedfor violent reasonsasevidencethatsomethingis beingdone aboutthe problem. The numberof reportedviolent incidents isalso used to demonstratethat while valiant efforts are being made to reduceviolence, the problem persists,and therefore the fight against violence mustcondnue.’5Theco.mpilation of suchdataplaysan important role in radonalizingthe expenditureof resourceson security-relatedservices— resourceallocadonsthatoften result in the elimination of othereducationalprogramsand services.Such data is also instrumental in framing the public discourseaboutviolence,for as long as it can he shown that quantifiable resultsare obtained asa resultof the fight againstviolence,.combatantsin the war canbe assuredof condnued

financial backing.’5

For parentsand studentswho live with the reality of violence and who mustcontend with the threat of physical harm on a daily basis,data on hosv manys©ndentshave been arrested,expelled, or suspendeddoes little to allay theirfears, When engagingin once ordinary acdvities such as walking to school orplaying in a park evokessuch extremeanxietyso as to no longer seemfeasible,news thatarrestsor suspensionshaveincreasedprovides little reassurance.

In my capacityasa consultantto alocal school district, I recendvattendedameetingwith school officials from an urban schooldistrict on the West Coast,at which we were discussingthe problem of violence andwhat could be doneabout it. While reviewingdatafrom the pastyear on the incidenceof violence,I remarkedsardonically, “Here’s somegood news;homicidesaredown 100 per-centfrom last year.”To my amazement,an administratorreplied, “Yes, the newsisn’©all bad. Someof our efforts are beginning to pay off” What surprisedme

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aboutthe commentwashis apparentbelief that since therehad beenno mur-ders at any of the schools in the district at the midpoint of the school year,comparedto the two thatoccurredthe previousacademicyear,therewasreasonfor hope and optimism. I found it hard to believe that district administrators,who generallyhavelittle contactwith schoolsites on aregularbasis,could accepta statistical analysisas - cidencethat the schoolshadin fact becomesafer.Andeven if data on crime shows that homicidesare down, stadsticsdon’t tell uswhetheror not teachersor studentsfeelanysafer.

Within the context of the fight againstviolence,symbolssuchascrime statis-dcstakeon greatsignificance, although they havelitde bearingupon how peo-ple actually feel aboutthe occurrenceof violence.20Pressedto demonstratetothe public that the efforts to reduceviolence areeffective, school districts oftenpursueoneof two strategies:either theypresentstatisdcsquandfyingthe resultsof their efforts, or they go to greatlengths to suppressinformadon altogether,hoping that the community will perceive no newsas good news.21 Metal detec-tors, barbedwire fences,armedguardsandpolicemen, and principalswieldingbaseballbatsas they patrol the halls are all symbols of tough acdon.And whilemost studentsthat I have spoken to during my visits to schools realize that a

studentwho wants to bring a weaponto schoolcanget it into a building withoutbeing discoveredby- a metal detector, or that it is highly unlikely that any prin-cipal will hit a studentwith abaseballbat, the symbolspersist,maskingthe truththat thoseresponsiblefor school safetyreally don’t havea clue aboutwhat todo to stem the dde of violence. Rather than looking to solve this problemthrough increasedsecurityor improved technology,schooladministratorsmust

begin to askmore fundamentalquestionsas to why theseinstitutions havebe-come so vulnerable to violence. I believe that this is a question that must beansweredin the context of the purposeand social function that schools havehistorically performed.

The School asan Agent of Control

To understandwhy violencehasbecomerampantandhow a climate of fear andindmidadon graduallycameto be the norm in so manyschools,we must exam-ine the influences that guided the creation of public schoolsand considerthesocial role that they wereexpectedto perforns.When public schoolswere beingdevelopedin northeasterncitiesdudngthe latterpartof the nineteenthcentury,their architecture,organizadon,and operation was profoundly influenced bythe prevailing concepdonof the asylum.22Whetherdesignedto housethe indi-gent, the insane, the sick, or the criminally inclined, the asylum servedas themodel for humanservice institutions,While the client baseof the early prisons,almshouses,andmental hospitals differed, thosewho developedand adminis-teredthe institutions sharedacommonpreoccupationwith the needto controlthoseheld in custody. The custodial function of the institution should not beconfusedwith rehabilitating or reforming, for in post-colonialAmerica, crime,

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immorality, hunger, and poverty were seen as inherent to society. David Roth-man writes:

Although eighteenthcenturyAmericanswereapprehensiveaboutdeviantbehaviorand adopted elaborateprocedures to control it, they did not interpret its presenceas symptomatic of a basic flaw in community structure,nor did they expect toeliminate it.

23

The role of the asylum was to regiment, control, and discipline the socialoutcasts who were housedthere. These goalswere accomplishedthrough theroutinization of every aspectof life within the asylum,and through the imposi-

tion of a setof rulesand regulations that were rigidly enforced.24A military tonecharacterized life in the asylum, as did a focus upon sanitation, orderliness,punctuality, and discipline. Since the goal of these institutions was not to pre-

pare the inmate for readmission to societybut to eliminate the threat they posedto the safety and security of others, the managers of the institutions believedthat this could best be done by enforcing rigid discipline and by removing un-desirables indefinitely from the community.

Although schoolswere designedwith a different purpose in mind, Rothmansuggeststhat it was logical for the architectsof the first large urban schools toturn to the asylum as the blueprint for thesenew public institutions.2~Thoughschoolswere neverenvisioned as asylums for the young, the needfor them toserveasa vehicle for controlling the minds andbodies of youth helped to con-

vince manyof thosewho questionedthe merits of public educationthat it wasan enterpriseworth supporting.26Educationalhistorian LawrenceCremin iden-tifies threedominant and distinct agendasamongthe many influencesshapingpublic educationat the turn of the century that s-verepursuedin relation to thepublic schools: 1) the need to provide a custodial function for children andthereby serve as an agent of social control; 2) the need to acculturate and“Americanize” large numbersof children born of Europeanimmigrants; 3) theneed to prepare future workers for U.S. industry. At times overlappingand atother times conflicting, thesegoals influenced the content of school curriculum,the training of teachers,and most importantly for the purposesof this analysis,the way in which the schoolswere to be administered.

Though the goalsof education tended to be framed in humanitarian terms,the need to regiment and control the behavior of students dominated the cdii-cational mission.27Motivated by a combination of benevolencerelated to childwelfare, and fear related to the perceived threat of crime and delinquency,schools were called upon to assumegreater responsibility for the rearing ofurban children. Defining the problemin moral terms, reformersfelt that “raisedamid intemperance, indulgence,andneglect, the lower classurban child beganlife predisposed to criminality and unprepared for honest work.”26 Educators

such as C. StanleyHall called for the creation ofpedocentricschools,which wereto be designedso that the school’s central mission was to treat the socialandpsychological needsof children,at~Though child-rearing was seenprimarily as aresponsibility of the family, social reformers feared that many poor and immi-

grant parents were unfit to raisetheir children properly.2°For this reason,public

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schoolswere seenas thevehicle throughwhich poor children could be “saved.”Regardingthis point, Cremin writes:

It wasto theschool that progressivesturnedas the institution that would at leastcomplementfamilial educationand in manyinstancescorrectit andcompensatefor its shortcomings.The school would rear thechildren of ordinan’ families, itwould provide refugefor the children of exploitativefamilies, andit would accul-turatethechildren of immigrantfamilies The schoolwould deliver whateverserviceschildren neededto developinto healthy,happyandwell-instructedcitizens— it would provide mealsfor thepoorly fed, medicaltreatmentfor theunhealthy,andguidancefor theemotionallydisturbed. . . . Thoughprogressivesassertedtheprimacy of familial education,they advancedthepre-eminenceof schooling.3’

To carry out thesesocial goals, reformerspromotedefficiency in the organi-zation andoperationof schools.Thesereformersborrowedfrom the writings ofFrederickTaylor, an engineerwho championedthe ideathat industrial produc-tion could be made more efficient through the application of scientific tech-niques.His ideaswere later applied to the operationof schools,where the needfor order and efficiency were perceivedas essentialto effective management.32

Supportedenthusiasticallyby many of the businessmenwho served on localschoolboards,efficiency androutinization of schoolactivities were emphasizedasways to bring order to city schools.The combination of rising enrollments—

due to the steadyinflux of immigrant and rural children into easterncities —

and inadequatefacilities had gradually transformedurban schools into littlemore than warehousesfor children. Cremin’s descriptionsof schoolsduring thisperiod is helpful in understandingwhy a focus on order might have seemedwarranted:

Whatever the high-mindedphilosophiesthat justified them, the schoolsof the1890’s wereadepressingstudy in contrasts In thecities, problemsof skyrock-eting enrollmentswerecompoundedby ahost of otherissues., . schoolbuildingswere badly lighted, poorly heated,unsanitary,and burstingat the seams;youngimmigrantsfrom a dozendifferentcountriessss’elledthetide of newlyarris’ingfarmchildren. Superintendentsspoke hopefully of reducing class size to sixty perteacher,but thehopewasmostoften a pious one. Little wonderthat a desireforefficiency reignedsupreme.33

Acting under mandatesissuedby authorities who were almost alwaysfar re-moved from the direct managementof schools,superintendentsandprincipals

employed a variety of strategiesto control the studentsand teachersin theircharge. In manyschooldistricts, teachersand studentswere testedon aregularbasis “to see if the program was being follos-ved.”34 Specific instructions weregiven to teachersthat addressednot only curriculum andmethods,but ways todiscipline and controf the bodies of their students as well.’5 Describing thispreoccupationwith disciplining the body, one observerwrote that students

were required to comply with the following set of instructions when askedtorecite memorized text: “Stand on the line, perfectly motionless,bodies erect,

kneesamid feet together, the tips of shoestouching the edgeof a board in thefloor.”26

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To ensurethatstudentswere trainedappropriatelyfor the kinds of work theywould perform aftergraduation,specializedhigh schoolswere createdin severalcities. Vocational high schools were set up to cater to lower-class immigrantyouth, andacademichigh schoolswere establishedto preparemiddle-classstu-dentsfor higher educationand professionalcareers.At the vocational schools,the curriculum wasdesignedto provide the skills andtraining neededto obtain

industrial employmentupon graduation.In this respect,DavidTyack’s commentthat “urban educationin the nineteenth century did more to industrialize hu-

manity than to humanizeindustry” is helpful in understandinghow the relation-ship betweeneducationandthe economyinfluencedthe characterof schools,37

Though manyof the newly createdurban secondaryschoolssought to provide

vocational training, what the expandingindustrial sectorprimarily requiredwasan amplesupplyof low-skilled, cheaplabor. Schoolshelpedto meetthis demandby emphasizingcitizenshiptraining for the children of newlyarrived immigrants,

andoffering acurriculum that placedgreaterweight on punctuality andobedi-encethan on the acquisitionof technical skills.38

While studentswere sortedand educateddifferendy to satisfy the needsofindustry, educatorsstill wantedthem to undergoacommonsocializationprocessto prevent fragmentation and to insure that “American” valueswould remaindominant andundiluted. Fearingthat the arrival of this “illiterate, docile mass”

would “dilute tremendouslyour national stock, andcorrupt our civic life,” edu-catorswere called upon “to assimilateand amalgamatethesepeople aspart ofour American race, and implant in their children, so far ascan be done, theAnglo-Saxonconception of righteousness,law and order, and popular govern-ment.”39 An important part of the assimilation processincluded conforming toan assortmentof rulesgoverning studentbehaviorand to valuespromoting thevirtues of hardwork, punctuality, and obedience.4°

While there is someevidencethat schools were challengedin their attemptsto fulfill their role as the keepersof children, in most casesit seemsthey suc-ceededin producing “docile bodies”; studentsrvho could be “subjected, used,transformed,andimproved.”4~

Discipline as an Exerciseof Power

With concernsaboutorder, efficiency, andcontrol dominating the thinking thatguided the early developmentof schoolsin the United States,we nsustaskour-selveshow this legacyhasinfluenced the current characterof public schools.Asthe demographicsof cities began to change in the 1950s and 1960swith thearrival of new immigrants (e.g.,WestIndians,,PuertoRicans,andotherLatinos)and themigration of Blacks from the South,42andassocial andeconomiccon-ditions within urban areasbegan to detedorate,43the characterand condidonof schoolsalso beganto change.Howeverthis shift did not produceimmediatechanges,for while the studentpopulation changed,in manycasesthe teachersremainedthe same,with mostsdll relying on methodsof control thathadprovensuccessful in the past.

44Writing about the condidonsof schoolsin what he de-

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scribed as “slum areas,”JamesConant spoke of the needto impose a harsherstandardof discipline to insurethat discipline andorder prevailed:

Manyeducatorswould doubtlessheshockedby thepracticeof on-the-spotdemotionof onefull academicy-ear, with no questionsasked,for all participantsin fights. Inonejunior high school I know of, a very able principal found so intolerable asituation thathe establishedthatveryrule, As aconsequence,therearefewerfightsin his school among hors, many of whom at one time or another have been introuble with thepolice. The schoolmustattempt to bring somekind of order totheir chaoticlives This formal atmosphereappearsto work. Schoolspirit hasdeveloped.. . , Children must stay in schooltill they aresixteenor till graduadonto preventunensployed,ont-ofischoolyouth from roan4ingthestreets.45

By the mid 1960s,however, the situation had changed.Students’ insubordi-nation andaggressiontoward teacherswasbecomingincreasinglycommon,andviolence within schools, especially among students, was widely seen as thenorn3.~Some educatorsmade the connection between the difficulty schoolswere having in maintaining control over students,to the political turmoil thataccompaniedthe civil rights movement,and the riots that took place in manycities across the country.17 Describing the political dimension of this problemandadvising teachersabouthow to respondto it, Allan Ornstein wrote:

Some Negro children have newly gainedconfidence,as expressedin the socialrevolution sweepingacrossthe country. Some seethemselvesas leaders,and nothelpless, inferior youngsters.This new pride is evidencedby- their tendencytochallengeauthority.Theteachershouldexpect,encourageandchannelthis energytos-vardconstructivegoals.48

With control and compliance increasingly difficult to obtain, many urbanschoolslowered their expectationsx-vith respectto studentbehavior.49The pre-occupationwith enforcingrules wasgraduallyreplacedwith a desireto maintainaveragedaily attendance,since th-is wasthe key- funding formula for schools.Asteachershave come to realize that they cannot elicit obediencethrough the“terror of degradation,”5°concernsaboutsafetyhaveled more of theni to think

nvice about how to reprimand a student, lest their attempt at chastisementbetaken as a challenge for a physical confrontation, for which m-ost are unpre-pared.5’

SdIl, schoolshavenot given up entirely on the goal of exercisingcontrol overstudents:though thetask maybe far more difficult nos-vthan it everwas, schoolsarestill expectedto maintain someform of order. Beyondbeing athreat to thepersonal safety of studentsand teachers,violence in schools challenges theauthority andpowerof schoolofficials. In carrying out their dudesascaretakersof youth, schoolofficials serveasboth legal andsymbolic representativesof stateauthority. With the power vestedin their position, theyare expectedto control

the behavior of thosein their charge. When violence occurs with impunity, a -

loss of a’--uthorit~:’is exposed.Therefore, the issue of violence is seldomdiscussedin isolation from other control issues.More often, violence is equatedwith in-subordination,student misconduct, and the general prohlenì of maintaining

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order in school. Thewaythe issuesbecomemeldedtogetheris indicative of howschoolsperceivetheir role in relation to the socialcontrol function that schoolshave historically performed in the United States.

TheDisciplining Event

The exerciseof discipline in schoolstakeson greatimportancebecatiseit servesas the primary meansthrough which symbols of power and authority are per-petuated.In analyzingthesymbolic issuesassociatedwith discipline andviolencein schools, it is helpful to consider the work of Michel Foucault.Writing aboutthe role of punishmentmetedout upon criminal offendersin Franceduring thenineteenthcentury, Foucaultdescribeswhathe callsthe ‘~juridico-political”func-tion of the act:

The ceremonyof punishmentis an act of terror The practiceof torturewasnot an economyof example ... but a policy of terror: to makeeveryoneaware,through the body of the criminal, of the unrestrainedpresenceof thesovereign.The public execution did not re-establishjustice; it reactivatedpowe Itsruthlessness, its spectacle, its physical violence, its unbalanced play of forces, itsmeticulous ceremonial, its entire apparatuswere inscribedin thepolitical function-ing of thepenalsystem.52

While the kindsof public executionsandtorturescarriedout in Franceduringthe nineteenthcenturymay seemfar removed from the forms of discipline car-ried out in schoolstoday, Foucault’sfocus on the relationship betweenthe dis-ciplining act and the “reactivation” of power is relevant to understandingthesymbolic role of discipline. The disciplining event,whether it occurs in publicor private, servesas one of the primary meansthrough which school officials“send a message”to perpetratorsof violence, and to the community generally,that the authority vestedin them by the state is still secure.Particularlywithinthe currentpolitical climate createdby the fight againstviolence,the disciplin-ing eventprovidesan opportunity for schoolauthoritiesto usethoseaccusedofcommitting actsof violence asan example to others.

From a symbolic standpoint,within the context of the school, the studentexpulsion hearingis perhapsthe most important spectacleat which the metingout of punishmentupon thoseaccusedof violencecan be usedfor larger politi-cal purposes.As aquasi-judicialceremony,the formality of an expulsion hearingoften containsall of the dramaand suspenseassociatedwith a courtroom trial.Though the event itself is closedto the public, news of the decision renderedby the school board or hearingofficers often travels quickly, particularly whenthe student is chargedwith committing an act of violence.

I had the opportunity to attend an expulsion hearing at an urban schooldistrict for which I wasworking as a consultant. I describewhat happenedbe-causeI think it helpsto illuminate important dynamicsof powerandknowledgeembeddedwithin the disciplining event.The accusedin this casewaschargedwith bringing a loadedgun to school.The educationcodein this particularstatecalled for automatic expulsion hearingswheneverstudentswere apprehended

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for bringing weaponsto school. When askedto explain why he hadbroughttheweaponto school, thestudent informed the board membersthat his father andmother hadrecentlyseparated,andthat his father,who wasdistraught overthe

separation,mentionedthathe wasthinking of killing himself. He instructedhisson to remos’e his 9-mm handgun from the house so that he wouldn’t harmhimself or anyoneelse,

The boy informed the board that during the summer, his grandmotherhadattemptedto commit suicide by slashingher wrists, and that he and his fatherhadto apply pressureto her bloodied armsin order to preventher from bleed-ing to deathwhile they waited for an ambulance.With vivid memoriesof thattraumaticeventin his head,andfearing thathis father might follow through on

his threat to takehis own life, the boy placedthegun in his backpackandtookit with him to school.He explainedthat he latershowedit to a friend at school

becausehe wantedto talk to someoneaboutwhatwasgoing on, but that he hadnot shown the weaponto anyoneelse, nor had he brought the gun back toschool after that day.

In questioning the student abouthis actions,one board membernoted that

the studentpossessedanexemplaryacademicrecord,andthat all of his teachersspokehighly of him, referring to him as “respectful, honest,hardworking, etc.”He was then askedwhetherin retrospecthe would havehandled the situation

differently. The studentexplainedthat he still wasn’tsurewhat he should havedone,but thought that maybehe couldhavehidden thegun in the bushesnearhis houseinsteadof bringing it with him to school. Upon hearing this, one ofthe board membersproceededto lecture the student and his father who hadaccompaniedhim to the hearingaboutthe dangerof guns. One boardmembercommentedthat the student didn’t seemto has’e learned a lesson from thisseriouserror injudgement. Exasperatedby their doubts, the studentclaimed hehad learneda lessonandpromised to nes’erbring a weaponto schoolagain. Aboardmemberthenaskedwhatpunishment theschoolprincipal recommended,and wastold that the principal wanted to see the studentexpelledso that “wesend a clear messagethat guns on campuswill not be tolerated.” After deliber-ating for several minutes, the board respondedwith a unanimousvote for ex-pulsion.

As an observerof this event, I wasstruck by severalaspectsof what took place.First, all five board membersjudging this sttident, aswell as the principal whopresentedthe evidenceagainst him, were White and middle class,while thestudentwasBlackandfrom alow-incomefamily.53From the questionsthey askedand the lecturesthat they directed at the student and his father, it seemedevident that they were unableto identify with the studentandthe situation thathe wasin. While I felt uncomfortablehearingthe studentand his father divulgethe problems they svere having in their personal lives, there was no apparentconsternationamong board membersos-’er the imbalanceof the situation, andno attemptswere niade to communicate that they could empathizewith theanguishand pressurethat either the studentor his fathermust havebeenexpe-riencing. After hearing one board member ask the student if he would have

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handled the situation differently in retrospect,I wanted to ask how shewouldhavehandled it, or if sheor any of the others hadever experiencedanythingsimilar. The gulf in experiencebetween the hoard membersand the studentseemedto be compoundedby the obvious differencesof race, class,andage.However, I sensedno indication that the board regardedthis asa problem, nor

did I senseany effort on their part to understandthe student’sactionsfrom hispoint of view.

Second,despiteevidence that this incident representedan aberration fromthis student’s “normal” behavior in school,and despite the fact that no one atthe school wasactually threatenedby the presenceof the gun, the board mem-bersandprincipal seemedprimarily concernedwith using the caseto commu-nicate a messageaboutguns in school.No effort was madeto try to figure outan appropriateway of respondingto this student’sparticular situation. In thisrespect,the hearing provided an occasion through which the district’s powercould be communicated.By ignoring the circumstancesof the offense,and fo-cusing exclusively on the issue of the gun, the board could demonstrateits

toughnessandintolerancefor thosewho threatenedthe securityof others.Whiletherewasno evidencethat the punishmentof this individual studentwould haveany influence on the behavior of others, his expulsion reinforced the institu-

tional authority of the district leadershipby serving asan example of their pre-rogative and power to punish. In a settingwhere mostperpetratorsof violenceare not apprehended,and where most efforts to ensurethe safetyof studentsandteachersare ineffective, the act of punishmentbecomesan important exer-cisefor showingwho hascontrol.

Finally, the disciplining momentalso revealsthe wayin which the adult pro-fessionals,and to a lesserextent the studentandhis father,were constrainedbythe “discipline” embeddedin the roleseachpartyoccupieswithin the institution.To the extentthat theboardmembersandtheprincipal havepoweror authority,it is derivedfrom their relation to an institutional structure— a structurewhosehistory is rooted in nineteenth-centurypreoccupationswith social control, Intheir roles asprosecutorandjudge, their senseof how to discipline this young-ster is profoundly influenced by a body of knowledge or “discipline” that isrooted in the power relations that exist betweenthe stateand the schoolas asocial institution. This power/knowledgelimits the ability of the boardandad-ministrators to identify with the student on a human level, for to do so ivouldopen up the possibility that there might be other ways to understandhis ac-tions.~4To recognizethat theremight be anotherway of viewing this behaviorthat goesbeyond a focus on crime, violence, and misconductmight lead to adifferent type of intervention, However, schoolboard membersandadministra-tors typically see their job as protecting the institution and the staff, students,and teachersin their charge.The stateprovides explicit guidelineson how thisis to be done, but therearealso implicit guidelinespertaining to notionsof how

schools aresupposedto operateandfunction, andhow studentsare supposedto behave,To explore alternativeways of respondingto violent, or potentiallyviolent, behaviorwould necessarilyrequire a fundamental changein how the

PreventingandP-roducing ViolencePEDRO A. NOGUERA

institution and the provision of educational serviceswere conceptualizedbythosein authority, a prospect that at the disciplining momentoften seemsun-imaginable. -

Thougha less sympatheticcasecould havebeenselectedfor analysis, I chosethis onebecauseI feel it demonstrateshow- the actof violation is in manywaysirrelevant to the form of discipline that is employed. Beyond their real-life ef-fects, violence and discipline takeon a symbolic life of their own, symbols thatplay heavily on interactionswithin schools and that ultimately influence howschoolsandviolence are perceivedby others. In the pagesahead,I will pursuefurther how a preoccupationwith control limits the ability of administrators torespondcreatively to the crisis createdby the increasein violence in schools.

Race,Class,and the Politics of Discipline

In manyschool districts acrossthe country, considerablecontroversyhasbeengeneratedover the disproportionatenumberof African American and, in somecases,Latino studentswho aresubjectedto various forms of schooldiscipline.55

In California, legislation hasbeenproposedto limit the ability of school districtsto usesuspensionsandexpulsionsasa form of punishment,in responseto theimbalancein the number of Black andLatino studentssubjectedto thesesortsof penalties.~’Although the legislation has little chanceof being approvedbythe statelegislature, the fact that it wasproposedindicatesthe depth of feelingin manyBlack communities that Black children are being treated unfairly. InCincinnati, Ohio, the disproportionatenumber of Black studentswho are sus-pended and expelled in public schools prompted ajudge to call for teachersandadministrators to he held accountablefor “studentbehaviormanagement”aspart of a court order monitoring desegregationin the district’s schools.57

Although there is evidencethatschoolsthatserveWhite middle-classstudentsin the suburbsalso haveproblemswith violence, this is downplayedin the publicmedia.56Just as the threat of violent crime in societyis characterizedlargely asaproblem createdby Black perpetrators,violencein schoolsis also equatedwithBlack, andin somecases,Latino, students.56While the correlation betweenraceandwho getsarrested,suspended,or expelled in schoolsis so consistentthat itis impossible to deny that a linkageexists, theissue tendsto be avoidedin publicdiscussions,dueto the controversyandtensionssurroundingracial issuesin U.S.

society. To avoid the charge of racism, many school officials argue that theconnectionbetweenraceandpunishmentdisguiseswhat is really more an issueof classthan an issueof race,sincemostof thosereceiving discipline comefron,lower-classfamilies/°While this .maybe true, the correlation betweenraceandclass is also high in many school districts, and so the threevariables — race,class,andviolence — tend to be associated.

The unwillingness to confront the implications of thesekinds of correlations

is replicated in the general refusalof most policymakersandschool officials toplacethe problemof violencewithin thebroadercontext of raceandeducation,Not only is schoolpunishmentconsistentlycorrelatedwith race, it is also highly

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correlated with academicgrouping and high school graduation rates. Thosemost likely to receive punishment in school are also more likely to havebeenplacedin classesfor EducationallyMentally Retarded(EMR) or Trainable Men-

tally Retarded(TMR) students.6’The consistencyof thesetrends is more thanmere coincidence.Such patternspoint to what somehavedescribedas a “sec-

ond-generationdiscrimination effect”:

In everycasewherepolicy reflectspositivelyon a student,blackstudentsareunder-represented.In every casewhere policy reflects negatively on a student,blackstudentsareover-represented.. . . Thata patternsimilar to theonerevealedherecould occurwithout somediscrimination is virtually impossibleto believe.{u

The Role of Teachers

While police officers, securityguards,and administratorsgenerallyassumepri-mary responsibility for managingandenforcing school discipline, in most casesteachers make the first referral in the discipline process,and therefore havetremendous influence in determining who receives discipline and why. In mywork with urban schools,the most frequent concern I hear from teachersis thatthey have trouble disciplining and controlling their students. This has beenespecially true in schools at which the majority of students are Black and themajority of teachers are White. Having taught in urban public schools, I amfamiliar with what teachers are up against, and recognize that some semblanceof order and safety is essential if teaching and learning are to take place. How-

ever, whenever I conduct workshops in schools,I generally try to shift the focusof talk about discipline to discussionsabout what teachers know about theirstudents. I do this becauseI have generally found that teacherswho lack famili-arity with their students are more likely to misunderstand and fear them.

Two years ago, I had the opportunity to conduct a workshop on student dis-cipline for a multiracial group of teachers at an urban middle school located inan economically depressedcommunity. Before addressing what I knew to betheir primary concern — a recipe for controlling student behavior in the class-room — I wanted to impress upon the teachers the importance of knowing thestudents with whom they worked. These teachers, like many in urban schooldistricts, did not live in the community where they worked and knew little aboutthe neighborhood in which the school was located. From our discussionsat theworkshop, it was clear that most of the teachersalso knew little about the livesof the children they taught, and most assumed that the majority of childrencamefrom deprived, dysfunctional, and impoverished families.

In an effort to increasethe awarenessof the group about the importance ofknowing the community in which they worked, a community with which I wasfamiliar, I presented them with a hypothetical situation: If you were invited toteach in a foreign country, what kind of information would you want to knowbefore leaving? The teachers responded by generating a long list of what theyfelt was relevant information that would assistthem in teaching in a land thatthey did not know. The list included information about politics, culture, theeconomy, history, andgeography.After discussingwhy they felt this information

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wasimportant, I askedhow much of this information they knew aboutthe com-munity in which they worked.

Two of the teacherssaid that they didn’t needto know this sortof informationin order to teach effectively becausethe school was locatedwithin the UnitedStates,and thereforewas partof familiar territory. Most of the others,however,recognizedtheinconsistencyin this perspective,particularly after being primedby the previous discussion,and acknowledgedthat a lack of knowledge mightpose a problem for them in their work with students.

I suggestedthat we visit some of the housing projects and neighborhoodswhere their studentslived, thestoreswherefamilies shopped,the healthclinics,Libraries,parks, andsomeof the noteworthy historic landmarksin the commu-nity. I poin ted out thata brief tour of the community would provide them onlylimited useful information, but that it could be a start at becomingbetter ac-quaintedwith their students.

They agreedto go, andthe following day we piled into my van for a four-hourtour. Interestingly, after the tour nearly all of the teachers told me that theyresentedme for taking them on this excursion becauseit made them feel liketourists. “Didn’t you see the people staring at us?” one teacher commented.

“They wereprobablywondering why we were there.” Only one teacher disagreedwith the group’s reactionandexpressedappreciation for being exposedto the

community in this way. As it turnedout, this teacherhadlived in this communitywhen shewas a child, andthe trip hadservedasa reminder to her that mostofthe residents in the area were working-classhomeowners.The winos and crackaddicts who were visible on certain street corners, andwho many other teachersbelieved were typical of a majority of the residents, actuallyconstituted a smallminority. However, the other teacherstook up the position espousedby two of

their colleaguesearlier, insisting that they did not need to know the communityin order to teach effectively. One asserted that “A good teacher can work withany child. I don’t have to becomean anthropologist to teach.” I responded by

asking if it was possible to be an effective teacher if you did not know yourstudents, but by this point most of the teachers were unwilling to pursue thisline of inquiry.

For me, this experienceillustrated, in a profound way, the gulf in experiencebetween teacher and student, which is typical in many urban schools.The pre-tense operating in many schools is that teachers should treat all students the

same,although numerous studies on teacher expectationshave shown that race,class,and gender have considerable influence over the assumptions, consciousand unconscious, that teachershold toward students.’53 Although multiculturaledtscationand student diversity havebecomepopular topics of discussionamongteachers, understanding how the politics of difference influences teacher-stu-dent interactions generally remains largely unexplored, except at the most su-perficial level.64

When teachersandadministratorsremainunfamiliar with the placesandtheways in which their studentslive their lives outsideof the schoolwalls, they oftenfill the knowledgevoid with stereotypesbasedupon what they reador seein the

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media, or what they pick up indirectly from stories told to them by children.Manyteachers,like otherswho live outsideof poor urban communities, tendtohold negativeviews toward theseareas,views thatarerooted in a fearof violence

and its media representations of the people who reside in the inner city as lessthan civilized. This fear invariably influences the interaction between teachers.andadministratorsandtheir students.In the eyesof these teachersand admin-istrators, who are “foreigners” to the school’s community, the studentsoftenseemto embodythe traits and exhibit the behaviorof the hoodlumsandthugstheyhave heard about or seenfrom afar. Manyof theteacherswith whom I haveworked in urban schools seemto fear the children that they teach; more oftenthan not, where the students are aware of it, they may attempt to use theteacher’sfear to their advantage.

This is not to saythatviolencein schoolsis-an imagined problem. I do believe,however,that it is a problemexacerbatedby fear,A teacherwho fearsthe student

that sheor he teachesis more likely to resort to someform of discipline whenchallenged,or to ignore the challenge in the hope that sheor he will be leftalone. Ratherthan handling a classroomdisruption on their own, they arealsomore likely to requestassistancefrom the central office.

My work with teachersandstudentsat a number of urban schoolshasshownme that studentsoften know when their teachersfear them. In many cases,I

haveseenstudentsusea teacher’sfearto asserttheir control over the classroomand, if possible,the entire school. I havevisited schools wherechildren openlygamble and play dice in the hallways,and where the presenceof an adult isinsufficient reasonto put out a cigaretteor ajoint. When adultsare frightenedor intimidated, disorder prevails, and acts of crime and violence becomethenorm. Moreover, when fear is at the center of student-teacherinteractions,teaching becomesalmost impossible, andconcernsaboutsafety-andcontrol takeprecedenceover concernsabout teaching.

From speaking to students and teachers at such schools, I have found that

they typically share a common characteristic: the adults don’t really know whotheir studentsare. Their senseof what the children’s lives are like outside ofschool is either distorted by imagesof pathological anddysfunctional families,or simply shroudedin ignorance. School personnelwho hold suchviews maymake little effort to increaseparentalparticipation in schoolbecausethey can’tseeanybenefits thatmight begainedthroughparents’ involvement.School staffand faculty may also be reluctant to reach out to the community to establish

partnershipswith community-basedorganizationsand churchesthat are inter-ested in providing servicesto youth, becauseall they can see in the neighbor-hood areproblems that arebestkept out of the school.Fearandignorancecanserveasa barrier greaterthan any fence,and can be more insulating than any

security system.In manyschools,differencesin age andlife experiencemake it difficult for

studentsand teachersto communicateandunderstandoneanother.Whensuchdifferences are compoundedby raceand classdifferences, a hugegap can becreatedthat can easilybe filled by fearandsuspicion.Anonymity andignorance

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createshieldsthat protectthe identities of thosewho perpetrateactsof violenceand crime, in such an atmosphere,adults and studentsmay welcome armedguards,metaldetectors,andbarbed-wire fencesbecausethey can’t envisionan-otherway to ensuretheir safety.Even if they come to find the prison-like con-ditions depressingand oppressive,they arelikely to cling to suchmeasuresbe-causechaosis worse,and no other alternativeseemsimaginable.

Humanizing the Environment: Alternative Approachesto ViolencePrevention in Schools

In critiquing the approachto discipline that is most widely practiced in the

United Statestoday, I in no way want to belittle the fact that manyteachersandstudents have been victims of violence and deservethe right to work at andattend safe schools. In manyschools,violence is real, and the fear that it pro-duces is understandable. Still, I am struck by the fact that even when I visitschoolswith a notorious reputation for the prevalenceof violence, 1 can find atleast one classroom where teachers are working effectively with their students,and where fear is not an obstacle to dialogue or even friendship. While otherteachersin the school may be preoccupiedwith managing their student’s behav-ior, an endeavor at which they are seldom successful, I have seen the samestudents enterother classroomswilling to learn and comply with their teacher’sinstructions.

Many of these“exceptional” teachershave to “cross borders” and negotiatedifferencesof race, class,or experiencein order to establishrapportwith theirstudents,”” When I have askedstudentsin interviews what makesa particularteacher“special” andworthy of respect,thestudentsconsistentlycite threechar-

acteristics:firmness,compassion,and aninteresting, engaging,andchallengingteaching style.”5 Of course, even a teacherwho is perceivedas exceptionalbystudentscan be a victim of violence,particularly becauseof its increasinglyran-dom occurrence. I have,however,witnessedsuch teachersconfront studentsinsituations that others would not dare to engage,boldly breaking up fights ordice games,or confronting a rude aud disrespectful student, without showingthe slightest bit of apprehension or fear.

What is there about the structure andculture of the institution that propa-gatesandreproducesthedestructiveinterpersonaldynamicsevidentin somanyschools?The vast majority of teachersthat I meet seemgenuinely concernedabouttheir students,and sincerelydesire to be effective at what they do. Eventhosewho havebecomecynical andbitter asa resultof enduringyearsof unre-wardedwork in under-fundedschoolsgenerallystrike nseaspeoplewho wouldprefer more humane interactionswith their students.’57

What standsin the wayof better relationsbetweenteachersandstudents,andwhy do fear and distrust characterizethoserelations, rather than compassionand respect?

My answerto these questions focuseson the legacy of social control thatcontinuesto dominate the educationalagenda,and that profoundly influences

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the structureandculture of schools.Thepervasivedysfunction that characterizessocial relations in urban public schoolsis not accidental, but is due to theseverityof social and economic conditions in the inner city. However, it is also not

unavoidable. Thereare a few important exceptions to this norm, schoolswhereteachers and students support each other in pursuit of higher personal andcollective goals.”8 Such schools,however, are not typical or common. Rather, theaverageurban high school tends to be large, impersonal, and foreboding, a place

where bells and security guards attenipt to govern the movements of students,andwhere studentsmore often than not have lost sight of the fact that education

and personal growth are ostensibly the reasonswhy they are required to attendthis anonymous institution five days a week.

I have visited urban schools that have found ways to address effectively the

problem of violence, ways that do not rely upon coercion or excessiveforms ofcontrol. At one such school, rather than hiring security guards, a grandnsotherfrom the surrounding community was hired to monitor students. Instead ofusing physical intimidation to carry out her duties, this woman greetschildrenwith hugs, and when someform of punishment is needed,she admonishesthemto behave themselves,sayingthat sheexpectsbetter behavior from them.” I havealso visited a continuation high school,75’ where the principal was able to closethe campus,not permitting the students to leaveat lunch time, without installinga fence or some other security apparatus,but simply by communicatingwithstudents about other alternatives for purchasing food so that they no longer feltit necessaryto leave for meals,7’ Now the students operate a campus store thatboth teachersand students patronize. Such measuresare effective becausetheymake it possible for children and adults to relate to one another as humanbeings, rather than as anonymous actors playing out roles.

I believe that there are a variety of ways in which to humanize school envi-ronments, and thereby reduce the potential for violence. Improving the aes-thetic character of schoolsby including art in the design of schools,or by makingspaceavailable within schoolsfor students to create gardensor greenhouses,canmake schools more pleasant and attractive. Similarly, by overcoming the dividethat separatesurban schoolsfrom the communities in which schoolsare located,the lack of adults who have authority and respect in the eyesof children can beaddressed.Adults who live within the community can be encouraged to volun-teer or, if possible,be paid to tutor, teach, mentor, coach, perform, or just plainhelp out with a variety of school activities. The above examples are meant to

begin a discussion of alternative practices for building humane -school commu-nities. There are undoubtedly a varietyof ways this can be done,and while suchefforts maynot eliminate the threat of random violence, they can help to makeschoolssafer, lessimpersonal, and better able to provide students with a senseof stability in their lives.

The goal of maintaining socialcontrol through the useof force and disciplinehas persisted for too long. While past generations could be made to accept the

passivity and constraint such practices engender, present generations will not.Most urban youth today are neither passivenor compliant. The rewardsdangled

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before them of a decentjob and material wealth for thosewho do well in schoolare seen by too many as either undesirable or unattainable.New strategiesfor

providing an education that is perceived as meaningful, and relevant, and thatbegins to tap into the intrinsic desire of all individuals to obtain greater personalfulfillment, must be devisedandsupported. Anything short of this will leave usmired in a situation that grows’ increasinglydepressingand dangerousevery day.

The urban schools that I know that feel safe to those who spend their timethere don’t have metal detectors or armed security guards, and their principalsdon’t carry baseball bats. What these schools do have is a strong senseof cons-

munity and collective responsibility. Such schoolsare seenby students as sacredterritory, too special to be spoiled by crime and violence, and too important torisk one’s being excluded. Such schools are few, but their existence serves as

tangible proof that there are alternatives to chaotic schools.plagued by violence,and controlled institutions that aim at producing docile bodies.

Notes

1. Several educational organizations have designatedviolenceprevention their highestpriority. For example, the Association of California School Administrators madeefforts to reduceviolencein schoolstheir top priority for the 1994-1994schoolyear.For a discussion of national education priorities since1980, see Beatrice Gross andRonald Gross,eds., The GreatSc1~oolDebate (NewYork: TouchstoneBooks, 1985).

2. Evidence that there has been an escalation in the number of violent incidents occur-ring in schoolsis providedin ananalysisof trendsinJacksonToby, “Everyday SchoolViolence:How DisorderFuelsIt,” AmericanEducato,;Winter (1993/1994),4—h.

3. Numerous bills for curtailing violent crimes are presently under consideration in theSenate and House of Representatives. For a critical discussionof the Clinton admini-stration’s crime bill, see Elliott Currie, “What’s Wrong With the Crime Bill?” T1,-eNation,January 31, 1994, pp. 4—S.

4. In NewYork City, over $28 million wasspent on metal detectorsduring the 1980s.See Pat Kemper, “Disarming Youth,” (latifornia School Boards Journal, Fall (1993),24-33.

5. Kemper, “Disarming Youth,” p. 27.6. A recent example of such an approach can he seen in Denver, where Assistant

Principal Ruben Perez-at the Horace Mann Middle School suspendedninety-sevenstudents in a three-dayperiod for a variety of nonviolent infractions. In defenseof hisaction, Perez argued that “the troublemakers weren’t doing us anygood. Theywere)ust interrupting the educational processfor good studentswho cometo school everday.” SeeFlorangela Davila, “Denver DebatesSchool Ousters,” WashingtonPost,Janu-ary 20, 1995,p. 18. There is also the caseof DejundraCaldwell, who was sentencedto three earsin prison for stealing $20worthof ice cream from theschoolcafeteriaat ahigh school in Birmingham,Alabama.SeeKennethFreed,“Youth ReceivesThreeYears for Stealing Ice Cream,” Los A-s-ngelesTimes,September30, 1994, p. 23. SeealsoHarold Foster, Ribbin-‘Jivin’ a-nd Pla~i-,i’theDozens:TheUnrecognizedDilemmaof l-a-n~ercitySchools (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1974). Fosterhypothesizesthat Black malesaresuspendedand expelledmore often than Whites becausethey exhibit certain“cool”behaviors,which teachersandadministratorsperceiveasrude, arrogant,intimidating,sexually provocative, and threatening.

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7. For a discussionof the successof mentoring in addressingthe needsof “at-risk”students, seeJamesMcPartlandand SaundraMurray Nettles, “Using CommunityAdults as Advocates or Mentors for At-Risk Middle School Students:A Two YearEvaluationof ProjectRAISE,” AmericanJournalofEducation, 99. No. 4 (1991), 568—586.

8. For a discussionon how to addressviolencethroughthecurriculum,seeTim Daux,“FosteringSelf-Discipline,”RethinkingSchools.4, No.3 (1990), 6—7.

9. For a discussionof this approachandothersbeingusedby urbanschooldistricts toimprove the delivery of social servicesto students and their families, seeJeannieOakes,Improving Inner-City Schools: Current Directions i-n UrbanDistrict Reform (Madison,WI: Centerfor Policy Researchin EducationJoint Note Series,1987).

10. SeeEriis Hallisey, “Gang Activity in State’s Prisonson the Increase,”San FranciscoChronicle, May 17, 1994, p. 14.

11. For example,during 1992, in the city of Oakland,California, the numberof violentcrimescommittedby juvenileswhile onschoolpropertywassubstantiallylessthan thenumberof violent crimescommittedawayfrom schoolproperty.SeeOaklandPoliceDepartment,”Oakland Police Department Report on Crime in the City of Oakland,”September1992.

12. According to a recentnational poll on attitudes toward public education conductedb Public Agenda, a national organization that conducts research on educationalissues, the need for safety in schools was identified as the most important issue ofpublic concern. For a summary and discussion of the survey, seeJeanJohnson andJohn lmmen-vahr, “What Americans Expect from the Public Schools,” American Edu-cator, Winter (1994/1995),4—13.

13. A 1989surveyby theJusticeDepartmentreportedthat incidents of violencein urbanschoolsoccurredwith twice thefrequency as such incidents in suburban schools,andnearly four times the frequency of incidents in rural schools.SeeSara Rimer, “Vio-lenceIsn’tJust in Cities, Suburban and RuralSchoolsFind,” New Yo-rk Times,April 21,1993, p. Al6,

14.An exampleof the “get-tough” approach can he seenin the policiesadvocatedby theAmerican Federation of Teachers(AFT). Citing figures that indicate a dramatic risein violencein public schoolsthroughout the country, the AFT compiled a list of thetough actions being taken by school districts and new policies adopted by statelegislaturesto curtail the problem. The AFT also recommendedthat its local affiliatesincludeviolencereductionstrategiesin collective bargaining agreements.SeePriscillaNemeth, “Caught in the Crossfire,” Awe-rican Teacher, 77. No. 2, 6—7. Also see aneditorialby .AFT PresidentAlbert Shanker,“PrivilegingViolence:Too MuchFocusonthe Needsand Rights of Disruptive Students,” AmericanEducator, Winter (1994/1995), 8.

15. During a recentvisit to an urban high school, I commented to a schooladministratorthat I was impressedby thelackof graffiti on schoolwalls. The administrator laughedand told me, “This is a lock-down facility. They can’t evenget out of their classroomswhile classis in sessionwithout beingpicked up. We run this place like San Quentin.”

16. Such an approachhasbeenadvocatedin a numberof newspapereditorials (see,forexample, “Time To Get Tough On School Violence,” Editorial, Oakland Tribune,November 21, 1991, p. 13, and“Cracking Down on Violence in Schools,” Editorial,SanFrancisco Chronicle, November21, 1991, p. 24), andin severalschooldistricts.SeeCelesteHunter, “Jail ThreatEffective in TruancyProgram,”LosAngelesTimes,January9, 1994, p. 16.

17. A clear exampleof how traditionalapproachesto fighting schoolviolencehavefailedcan beseenin Richmond, California. Despitemakingasubstantialincreasein fundingfor metal detectorsandother security-measures,severalschoolsin thedistrict have

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reported anincreasein violence.In fact, two studentswereshot recentlyat RichmondHigh School,eventhough metaldetectorswere installedat theschoolentrancestwoyearsago. SeeRob Shea. “High School Kids Want Security ProgramJunked,” WestCounty Times,April 21, 1994, p. 14.

18. Statistics frequently cited asevidenceof theprobleminclude:thenumberof studentswho reportbringingweaponsto school(l3%), thenumberof teachers(onein ten)andstudents(onein four) whoreportthat theyhavebeenvicttnrtsof violenceatschool(AssociatedPressreporton aMetropolitanLife Surveysponsoredby AmericanTeacher,December17, 1993); and the perceptionof students,teachers,and administratorsregardingthedegreeto which violence is a problem. SeeJohn McDermot, ViolentSchools— SafeSchools(Washington,DC: National Institute of Education,1978).

19. In Richmond, California, although the school district was still in the processofrepaying a $30million loan to thestateafterdeclaringbankruptcyin 1989,it set aside$50,000in 1993 to pay for the installation of metal detectors.One teacher remarked:“They’re spending money on this and we still need paper in our classrooms.” Indefenseof theexpenditure,aschooladministratorresponded,“The overall programof the district is to provide a safe environment regardlessof the cost. It’s something

we have to do.” tkimulisa Sockwell,“DetectingWeapon-freeSchools.,” WestContraCostaTimes, December8, 1993, p. 1%.

20. A recentopinion poll conductedby the Los AngelesTimes found that concernsaboutsafety remain high, despitea 12 percentdecreasein thenumberof violent crimescommitted in the state. SeeBelinda Lawson, “Fear of CrimeRemainsHigh DespiteReductionin Crime Rate,” I.os AngelesTimes,October22, 1994,p. 17.

21. Accordingto theAmerican Federationof Teachers(AFT), severalschooldistrictsdonot accuratelyreport the number of violent incidents titan occur in the schoolsbecausethey fear negativepublicity. SeeNemeth, “Caught in theCrossfire,” pp. 6—7.The New York Timesclaimedthatsimilar attemptsaremadeto downplaythefrequencyof violent incidents in New York City schools, in “Controlling School Violence,”Editorial, New York Tin,es, Ma 3, 1993, p. A24.

22. For a discussionon how theconception of the asyhtm influencedthedesignandoperationof public schools,seeDavidRothman,DiscoveryoftheAsylum(Boston: Little,Brown, 1971), pp. 83—84. Also seeDavid Tyack, The OneBestSystem(Cambridge,MA:Harvard University Press, 1974), pp. 51—58.

23. Rothman,Discovert,p. 15.24. Rothman.Discovesy,p. 235.25. Rothman,Discovery,pp. 137—139.26. Lawrence Cremin, America-nEducation: The Metropolitan Experience 1876.-i 980 (New

York: Harper& Row, 1988), p. 118. -

27. The progressive intentions of educators and social reformers is documentedits Crc-mini, AmericanEducation, pp. 164—179.

28. Michael Katz, ReconstructingAmerica-n.Eduratio-r, (Cambridge,MA: Harvard UniversityPress,1987), p. 17.

29. G. Stanley Hall, Adolescence:Its Ps’tchology and its Relatio-nsto .Ph)’sioiogy, Sex, Crime.-,Retiglo-n, a-ndEducation, 2 vols. (NewYork: D. Appleton,1904).

30. Cremin, America-n Educatio-n, p. 195.31. Crensin. A-mericanEducation,p. 295.32.JeanieOakes,Keeping Track: How SchoolsStructureinequality (New Haven:YaleUniver-

sity Press,1985), p. 28; Martin Carnoyand Henry Levin, .Schoolingand Work in theDemocraticState (Stanford,CA: StanfordUniversity Press,1985),p. 95.

33. Cremin, A-m-ericanEducatio-,t,p. 21. -

34. Tyack, The OneBes(p. 82.

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35. Tyack, The OneBest,pp. 91—97,36. The observerwas Edward JosephRice, a pediatrician who visited thirty-six schoolsin

1892 to prepare a seriesof articles on the condition of urban schools.Focusingagainon tlse body, Rice observedone teacherscold her students by asking, “How can youlearn anything with your kneesand toesout of order?” From EdwardJ. Rice, ThePublicSchoolSystemof the United States(NewYork: CenturyPress,1893)p. 98.

37. Tyack, TheOneBest,p. 74.38. Norton Grubb, “The Old Problem of ‘New Students’: Purpose,Content,and Peda-

gogy,” in ChangingPopulations,ChangingSchools,ed. Irwin Flexnard and Harry Passow(NewYork: TeachersCollegePress,1995), pp. 3—5.

39. LawrenceCremin, The Transformationof tim-c School (NewYork: Vintage Books, 1961),p. 68.

40. Oakes,KeepingTrack, pp. 32—33.41. Writing about disciplinary practices usedin themilitary andin prisonsin eighteenth-

century France, Michel Foucault describesa preoccupation with the production of“docile bodies” in which “power is dissociatedfrom the body, and aptitude is turnedinto a capacity which it seeksto increase. . . . If economic exploitation separatestheforce and the product of labour, let us say that disciplinary coercion establishesin thebody the constricting link betweenan increased aptitude and an increased domina-tion.” Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish (NewYork: Vintage Books, 1979) p. 138.

42. For a discussion of how changes brought about by migration and immigrationchanged the character of eastern U.S. cities, see Daniel P. Moynihan and NathanGlazer, BeyondtheMelting Pot (Cambridge, MA:Joint Center for Urban Studies, 1963),pp. vii—xxi.

43. The factorsleadingto thedeteriorationof urbanareasis well describedin WilliamJuliusWilson, The Truly Disadvantaged(Chicago: University of ChicagoPress,1987).

44.JamesConant,Slumsand Suburbs (NewYork: McGraw Hill, 1961).45. Conant,Slumsand Suburbs, p. 22.46. Describingthe loss of school control as a “crisis in authority,” Mary Havwood Metz

analyzeshow schooldistrictsattemptedto respondto this situation in ClassroomsandCorridors: The Crisis ofAuthorit’t in DesegregatedSecondarySchools(Berkeley:University ofCalifornia Press, 1978).

47. Allan Ornstein, “Discipline: A Major Ftmnction in Teachingthe Disadvantaged,”inUrban Education, ed.RichardHeidenreich(Arlington, VA: College Readings,1972).

48. Ornstein,“Discipline,” p. 2.49. In a study on thechangesin schoolculture that accompanieddesegregation,Metz

describeshow many schoolsexperienceda crisis of authority, much of which sheattributes to fundamentalmiscommunicationsbetweenWhite teachersand Blackstudents.SeeMetz, Classroomsand (hrridors.

50. Tyack, The OneBest,p. 54.51. In responseto therise in attackson teachers,theAmericanFederationof Teachers

hasdevelopedavictim supportprogram.For a discussionof the programand theproblemsresponsiblefor its creation,seeNemeth“Caughtin theCrossfire,” pp. 6—7.

52. Foucault,Discipline, p. 54.53. During thehearing,the fathermentionedthat he hadrecentlylost hisjob andthat

the financial problemscreatedby his unemploymenthadaddedto theproblemshewas having with his wife,

54. In describinghowpower-knowledgerelationsconstraintheability of thosedesignatedto exerciseauthority to usetheir own judgement,Foucaultwrites: “Power-knowledgerelationsareto be analyzednot on the basisof a subjectof knowledgewho is or isnot free in relation to thepowersystem,but,on thecontrarythesubjectwho knows,theobjectsto heknownandthemodalitiesof knowledgemustberegardedasso many

210

Preventing an6 Procincing l7olenccPEOROa. aooetcaa

effectsof these fnndam.ental implications of power-knmvlerlge and theh’ histndcaitransforntaoons. Paneanlt, D/n iptinr. pp 27—28.

55 4 national smdv carried not by the U.S. Office of Civil Rights reports that Blackstodeotsare 74 to 86 percent more likely than White sntdentato recene corporatpnnishment;54 to 88 percentmore likely to hesnspr.nded;aori 5 t.o S times ashkelvte he exnellerl. Scc Kenneth .\ icier. JosephStewart.anti Rohert F.nglanrt. Race, Class0)1(1 /Oncofion: /7/c Po/e/irs 0! Scro/ltl Cencrofion DOcO(iilile/ioa (.Uarlisnn 1. n/versltv oiWisconsin Press.1959) pp. 54—86.

ah. In 1991 AssenihlsBill 4214ff wasproposed by Barbaraf.ee, D~Oakland,to insnre thatthe rr:nsnvaiof stnrien.tsfrom sebtol seasviewerl as a last resort and “not to elinaina.tefrom th.e classrnonssmdentswise are difP.cnlt to teach.” See “Assemisly Bill WonidAlter School SuspensionPolicy,” Oak/anti info//c, Novemher27. 1991. p. Bl.

sj. Black parents and consns/./Isitv members in (TnOnna6 also workerl to de.lea.t theapprovalof a school hscilities bond nseasnrethat woolti base raised $348 million to9 nancerepairs to deterioratingsednotsbecautseof their angerover the treannent 01Black stutde~sts.See Adrian Ring. “Stnrlent Rights s’s. School Safety:School Districts

rapple with the Rarial lntplicatfons of NeseSecnritv Measnres.” Lu/ot’ritioii lOck,Jannarv 19. 1994, l~ 8

58. A suidy cnndnctedat Xavier Eniversite and cited by the.V’n 131// i’ll//es snpportstheitlea that violence is nnt solely an nrhan issne.The stndv f/////id that 54 pc/’cem of the294 snhnrnanschoolsa.nd 43 percentor the544 small town schoolssniaeverlreporterlan /ncrease.is tnent//ssiserof violent hucirlents. Se.e Daniel Goldunan, DoneSeen.forCnrbing Ynnt.h Yioie.n.ce,” /On Y’oik ‘l’h//cs, April 21, 1 995, p U. 2.

~.-/0Dna rhscnssionof how theeqna.donol’ Blackswith crime hasbecomecentral to pn~~i cdisccinrseahont.violence and en nse, see AnunsWilson, 1i/orc-on-Ii/artr kb/encc (N etcYork: Ah’ikan World infosvstems, 199.9). pp. 1—51. Also seeRichard idajors andJanetBiilso/s, (.To/ Po,sc 1 Netc Ycrk: ‘Tonehtone. 19921. pp 33—55. l’ora. discnssion0/s pewcepti/50.5 of lllack n/al/’ S iolence.

66. l’tuus a/‘gmnent is made in JacksonTohv, “Eve/’yrlav Selss/o1 Violence: H.tsr Distu’deror It 401(1/leo 1 t/ons/o/ if / /C If 09 100 1 no t I in 1) or / P /(1

Nfnsniban,“fiehn in g’ Deeie.ncv Down.” .4 asoroa //dora/or, Winter I 1 9f15 1994). lii.61. Meier et al., Rare. Class. non /:0 nrC/nO, ~ Si—SI.62. 51ci e. r et.al., Pore. Class, mat ia/ore/Ioo. p. 59.65. WilIhnr Brookover aisd Edsel Erickson, SIr Sor/olr,~:of Poaro//oii I fiomes.emrd, Ii..:

Dm’sey Press.1 975): Nancy St. John, Schoo/Dc,tcgtrgv//oa fkui/coaics /or Cf i/hay (New51 Ia Jo // Sf/Its 97s f ~ -w in s u d d 1 s I ont r / /5yoi ihw 1 in / / /5 tNenYo/’k: [.onginan. 1983) Jertme [losek a/srI Cai I Josepis,“The Ba.sesof TeaciserExpec-tnt/es 5 Strt *i lsss 6o,i / 5/Ill/U/U/ //P0(krhIfa W (/°Ssi ~7_

1t6 Rsoi u

Weinstein and Charles Sotile. “Expect.athnsa//ri I ligh SebresiChange: ieaelser-Re-searenerCoUalsou’:uti/s/s to Prevent Scbrrd Failore,” .1 n/cr/ra/l /0///’// at of Coai(1/u/I/IdPatrkr/ogv. /9. Xis. S (1991).

lid. For a disct/ssi0/5 0/s use, var/our fit tnus of nsr/l t.icnltnrai ectncatuousanti t.lse discontse.sassusci:sted:sriu/a it, ser: fds/’isti/se leeueu’, J/is~/ioairrinra/1/4issrii~’L~list///cls//s.,ea’/’id/in n/ens(Albausy: State Cusis’ers~tvof N

tew York Press,1991).ap. 1—23.

6/s. “Brurcier crossIng is a p.htase c.i/i/5 rcl isv Henu’y fhks.s’urx to rieserifas tfse tsrs///s:situ’ansfssrmatiou/evpe/’ieuscetiby teaclseu’s:uusrl stuwf,entse/sgagedi/s crit.ical disc/st//acand tsedagoga.lIe serites: “Cri6eei cdtucatrn’s take op cu/iuuu/’e as a vutai sourer: dirttt 0

5P°D sontts 1 /6 t us r 10 u n 6 t ,

5us

0f ~n ut no e ~s 1 r lt

tsr u.uusclsaunging. bust isa site usf /lstuitifsle and iset.e.rogeneiasshssu’derssrist:re tfii/du’e/sthistories. lausguages.e:vfscrsr:/sces, a/sd veicesf/sternsungle :5.05 idsu diverse u’elati/s/ss ofpower austi privilege. Wiu.lsin this jsedagssgic:sl htsu’deu’lanti kusose/sas school,suuhisrdi-nate ctultuuresptush ags.iasuawd. user/aueateu.lse alIegeri u//stsus~islensanca,/sd h.usua/sgeust:-

nt

Harvard Educational Review

ous bordersof thedominantcultural forms andpractices.~~..Radicaleducatorsmustprovide conditions for students to speak so that their narrativescan be affirmed,”Henry Giroux, Border Crossings(NewYork: Routledge,1992), p. 169,

66. Theseinterviews were partof asurveythat I conductedwith 125studentsat anurbancontinuation high schoolin northernCaliforniain 1990-1991.

67. My impressionof theattitudesand intentionsof manyurbanteachersis supportedby Carl Grant,who cites researchon teacherattitudesin his “Urban Teachers:TheirNew Colleaguesand Curriculum,” Transforming Urban Education (Boston: Allyn &Bacon, 1994), pp. 315—321, and by Pamela Boltin Joseph and Gale E. Burnaford,whosestudy on teachers’ self’imageschallengesmany of the prevailing notions aboutteachers’ incompetence and indifference. See Pamela Boltin Joseph and Gale E.Burnaford, eds., Imagesof Schoolteachersin Twentieth Gentusy America (New York: St.Martin’s Press, 1994).

68. Several exceptionally goodhigh schoolsare describedand analyzed in detail in SaraLawrence Lightfoot, The GoodHigh School (NewYork: Basic Books, 1983).

69. This schoolwasalso the onlyjunior high school in the district whereno weaponswereconfiscatedfrom students. See“SelectedSchool Characteristics,” Office of the Super-intendent, Oakland Unified SchoolDistrict, December, 1993.

70. Continuation high schoolsare set up for studentswho have either been forced tsrwho have volunteered to leavea regular high school. Many students at continuationschoolshave a record of poor attendanceand/or poor behavior in school. Somestudents are required to attend continuation school as a condition ofjuvenile proba-tion.

71. Efforts to close a campusfor securityreasonshaveoften met with resistancefronsstudents. In Richmond, California, the district’s attempt to close high school cain-pusesatlunch time led to protests andwalkouts from school.SeeSockwell, “DetectingWeapon-freeSchools,” p. 13.

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