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Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear
Police officers, armed security guards, surveillance cameras, and metal detectors are common features of the disturbing new landscape at many of today’s high schools. You will also find new and harsher disciplinary zero-tolerance policies, random searches with drug-sniffing dogs, and mandatory suspensions, expulsions, and arrests, despite the fact that school crime and violence have been decreasing nationally for the past two decades. While most educators, students, and parents accept these harsh policing and punishment strategies based on the assumption that they keep children safe, Aaron Kupchik argues that we need to think more carefully about how we protect and punish students.
In Homeroom Security , Kupchik shows that these policies lead schools to prioritize the rules instead of students, so that students’ real problems—often the very reasons for their misbehavior—get ignored. Based on years of impressive field research, Kupchik demonstrates that the policies we have zealously adopted in schools across the country are the opposite of the strategies that are known to successfully reduce student misbehavior and violence. As a result, contemporary school discipline is often unhelpful, and can be hurtful to students in ways likely to make schools more violent places. Furthermore, those students who are most at-risk of problems in schools and dropping out are the ones who are most affected by these counterproductive policies. Our schools and our students can and should be safe, and Homeroom Security offers real strategies for making them so.
In Homeroom Security , Kupchik shows that these policies lead schools to prioritize the rules instead of students, so that students’ real problems—often the very reasons for their misbehavior—get ignored. Based on years of impressive field research, Kupchik demonstrates that the policies we have zealously adopted in schools across the country are the opposite of the strategies that are known to successfully reduce student misbehavior and violence. As a result, contemporary school discipline is often unhelpful, and can be hurtful to students in ways likely to make schools more violent places. Furthermore, those students who are most at-risk of problems in schools and dropping out are the ones who are most affected by these counterproductive policies. Our schools and our students can and should be safe, and Homeroom Security offers real strategies for making them so.
- GenresEducation
274 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2010
3 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Aaron Kupchik
8 books7 followersAaron Kupchik is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware. His book, Judging Juveniles: Prosecuting Adolescents in Adult and Juvenile Courts, won the 2007 Michael J. Hindelang Book Award from the American Society of Criminology. He is also the recipient of a number of other awards for his scholarship.
His recent book, Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear, is intended for a broad audience. It uses empirical research to discuss ways that school security and discipline cause more problems than they solve.
His recent book, Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear, is intended for a broad audience. It uses empirical research to discuss ways that school security and discipline cause more problems than they solve.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 5, 2015
I bought this book (eBook version) in the wake of two recent events of national interest: the arrest of Ahmed Mohamed in Texas for bringing what appeared to be a hoax bomb to school, and the video of a high school girl in South Carolina who was forcefully extracted from her desk in order to remove her from the classroom. In the former case the immediate and broad reaction in "public opinion" was this was a form of racism and/or Islamophobia, and in the second case the video looked as if this was some form of brutal extrajudicial punishment. There are holes in both of these simple initial narratives in my opinion, but what eventually came to my mind as I tried to piece together the scenarios was that what they had in common was that evidently nowadays, unlike 40 years ago, uniformed police officers are actually stationed in high schools. Why and how did this come about and what does this have to do with either of the above events?
This eventually led me to this book, which is at a minimum a great starting place for those of us outsiders who may not have been aware of vast changes that have gone on since the Clinton administration in how a crime-punishment ideology and framework has come to predominate in schools. I just had no idea. I also wonder if even teachers and staff schools are fully aware of this broad evolution, because sometimes when you are in the thick of things it is hard to have a long view. In other words, I would say that anyone who cares about the role of schools in society, which should be all of us whether we have kids in school or not, can benefit from Kupchik's overview.
Does he answer all the questions I have? No. For one thing it is still a little unclear why this change happened — from what I was used to as a student in the 1970s, to a quite different security atmosphere today, with guards, cameras and on-campus police. He leaves the motivation as a vague "fear of crime and violence" in society, but for reasons not worthy of elaboration now I am of the opinion that this does not get to the root of the issue. Fear of crime and/or violence, even if that crime and violence is real, still has a deeper cause based in other social forces.
In regard to the events which led me to seek out this book, since it was written several years previous it can't possibly answer cause and effect directly. However, it does leave little doubt the the situation is schools is very complex in terms of policies and procedures, varies widely from school to school, and should not be second guessed by us outsiders without a bit more sober examination.
In the case of Ahmed, what the outrage centered around was an image spread in worldwide media of a spindly kid in a NASA shirt and handcuffs. As it happens handcuffing him was just part of procedure in this school, and really is not unusual. The story spun out of whack in other ways in that much of the news media said he was charged with bringing a bomb to school, whereas (1) he was never actually charged with anything and (2) he was arrested and brought to the juvenile process center not because they suspected it was a bomb, but because they suspected it was a hoax bomb, which in itself is a crime. Without any knowledge of the specific procedures at his high school, nor even of general disciplinary procedures at high schools generally as laid out in Kupchik's book, it was immediately fanned into an issue of an Islamic and/or brown skin innocent kid who was being singled out because of his religion or race, despite the fact there was no real evidence of that. The school, incidentally, still to this day can't give details of what happened (for privacy reasons), while Ahmed's father (a Sudanese politician) is literally traveling the world telling his version of events.
In the case of the girl at Spring Valley High, there is little doubt she is a victim, but there is lots of reason to doubt that the particular school resource officer (SRO) was being extraordinarily abusive. He was not necessarily treating her gently either, but for the most part he was doing a job he was authorized and trained to do. If people are outraged by the fact that she might have been injured (which I don't think she actually was) then their outrage and attention should be on the framework and system in general, and the whole set of issues can be better understood among other places by reading Kupchik's book. Further evidence that an over-simplified reaction to the Spring Valley incident was misplaced is the fact that several hundred students, mostly African-American, walked out of school in support of the SRO a few days after he was suspended from his job. What should change at Spring Valley? Read Kupchik's book before you think that firing the SRO is going to fix anything even in the short term, let alone get to the root cause.
I should mention that I think Islamophobia is a real issue, I just don't think there was any evidence it was at play whatsoever in Ahmed's case. I also think, as I said, African-Americans in general continue to suffer abuse at the hands of the system, I just think it can't be fixed by simple punishment of the officer involved in any given incident. Deeper analysis is required, not to the point of paralysis of analysis but certainly alongside any political action people take.
Regardless of my opinion on either of these cases, thanks to this book I do think I have at least a little bit more insight into how school security works, and moreover I agree with Kupchik's basic thesis, that the manner in which school discipline is generally approached is in and of itself a problem. For whatever reasons, schools for the most part spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on rules and punishment, and nowhere near enough time helping problem students get over their problems so they can succeed. Because this slant on their approach comes in the context of racism in society, it is bound to merely exaggerate racial inequality. Kupchik has good analysis and data on this general subject of the racial and class bias. He makes it clear why for some sections of (non-white) people in society, schools become mostly a pipeline to prison. School staffers and teachers all care, all try, and all have the best interests of the students in mind. However, the framework is very often dysfunctional.
As a non-teacher (but someone who has worked with problem youth as a volunteer) I can't know what is going on in schools except through study. This book will now go in my list of recommendations, alongside those by Jonathan Kozol, as a good way for us outsiders to get some insight.
This eventually led me to this book, which is at a minimum a great starting place for those of us outsiders who may not have been aware of vast changes that have gone on since the Clinton administration in how a crime-punishment ideology and framework has come to predominate in schools. I just had no idea. I also wonder if even teachers and staff schools are fully aware of this broad evolution, because sometimes when you are in the thick of things it is hard to have a long view. In other words, I would say that anyone who cares about the role of schools in society, which should be all of us whether we have kids in school or not, can benefit from Kupchik's overview.
Does he answer all the questions I have? No. For one thing it is still a little unclear why this change happened — from what I was used to as a student in the 1970s, to a quite different security atmosphere today, with guards, cameras and on-campus police. He leaves the motivation as a vague "fear of crime and violence" in society, but for reasons not worthy of elaboration now I am of the opinion that this does not get to the root of the issue. Fear of crime and/or violence, even if that crime and violence is real, still has a deeper cause based in other social forces.
In regard to the events which led me to seek out this book, since it was written several years previous it can't possibly answer cause and effect directly. However, it does leave little doubt the the situation is schools is very complex in terms of policies and procedures, varies widely from school to school, and should not be second guessed by us outsiders without a bit more sober examination.
In the case of Ahmed, what the outrage centered around was an image spread in worldwide media of a spindly kid in a NASA shirt and handcuffs. As it happens handcuffing him was just part of procedure in this school, and really is not unusual. The story spun out of whack in other ways in that much of the news media said he was charged with bringing a bomb to school, whereas (1) he was never actually charged with anything and (2) he was arrested and brought to the juvenile process center not because they suspected it was a bomb, but because they suspected it was a hoax bomb, which in itself is a crime. Without any knowledge of the specific procedures at his high school, nor even of general disciplinary procedures at high schools generally as laid out in Kupchik's book, it was immediately fanned into an issue of an Islamic and/or brown skin innocent kid who was being singled out because of his religion or race, despite the fact there was no real evidence of that. The school, incidentally, still to this day can't give details of what happened (for privacy reasons), while Ahmed's father (a Sudanese politician) is literally traveling the world telling his version of events.
In the case of the girl at Spring Valley High, there is little doubt she is a victim, but there is lots of reason to doubt that the particular school resource officer (SRO) was being extraordinarily abusive. He was not necessarily treating her gently either, but for the most part he was doing a job he was authorized and trained to do. If people are outraged by the fact that she might have been injured (which I don't think she actually was) then their outrage and attention should be on the framework and system in general, and the whole set of issues can be better understood among other places by reading Kupchik's book. Further evidence that an over-simplified reaction to the Spring Valley incident was misplaced is the fact that several hundred students, mostly African-American, walked out of school in support of the SRO a few days after he was suspended from his job. What should change at Spring Valley? Read Kupchik's book before you think that firing the SRO is going to fix anything even in the short term, let alone get to the root cause.
I should mention that I think Islamophobia is a real issue, I just don't think there was any evidence it was at play whatsoever in Ahmed's case. I also think, as I said, African-Americans in general continue to suffer abuse at the hands of the system, I just think it can't be fixed by simple punishment of the officer involved in any given incident. Deeper analysis is required, not to the point of paralysis of analysis but certainly alongside any political action people take.
Regardless of my opinion on either of these cases, thanks to this book I do think I have at least a little bit more insight into how school security works, and moreover I agree with Kupchik's basic thesis, that the manner in which school discipline is generally approached is in and of itself a problem. For whatever reasons, schools for the most part spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on rules and punishment, and nowhere near enough time helping problem students get over their problems so they can succeed. Because this slant on their approach comes in the context of racism in society, it is bound to merely exaggerate racial inequality. Kupchik has good analysis and data on this general subject of the racial and class bias. He makes it clear why for some sections of (non-white) people in society, schools become mostly a pipeline to prison. School staffers and teachers all care, all try, and all have the best interests of the students in mind. However, the framework is very often dysfunctional.
As a non-teacher (but someone who has worked with problem youth as a volunteer) I can't know what is going on in schools except through study. This book will now go in my list of recommendations, alongside those by Jonathan Kozol, as a good way for us outsiders to get some insight.
March 25, 2024
Read like 80% for class, just needed to finish up! Engaging and informative for academic nonfiction 👍
November 14, 2024
Read it for school, it was good. The proposals in the conclusion are really good.
November 17, 2012
I'm writing an actual review of this so just a thought...I think parents and teachers who believe jn harsh discipline should see this.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews