ERIC Number: EJ790973
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-May
Pages: 24
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0195-6744
EISSN: N/A
"Sitting on a Tinderbox": Racial Conflict, Teacher Discretion, and the Centralization of Disciplinary Authority
Kafka, Judith
American Journal of Education, v144 n3 p247-270 May 2008
The centralization of school discipline in the second half of the twentieth century is widely understood to be the inevitable result of court decisions granting students certain civil rights in school. This study examines the process by which school discipline became centralized in the Los Angeles City School District in the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, and finds that the locus of control over student discipline shifted from the school site to the centralized district largely in response to local pressures. Indeed, during a period of large-scale student unrest, and in an environment of widespread racial and cultural tensions, many Los Angeles students, parents, community members, and educators actively promoted the centralization of school discipline--although often for directly conflicting purposes. Ultimately, this article argues that the centralization of school discipline was not inevitable and must be understood in the broader historical context in which it occurred. (Contains 45 notes.)
Descriptors: Urban Schools, School Districts, School District Autonomy, Campuses, Court Litigation, Politics of Education, Civil Rights, Discipline, Centralization, Student Rights, Context Effect, Police School Relationship, Racial Discrimination
University of Chicago Press. Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, IL 60637. Tel: 877-705-1878; Tel: 773-753-3347; Fax: 877-705-1879; Fax: 773-753-0811; e-mail: subscriptions@press.uchicago.edu; Web site: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A