The Grammar of School Discipline: Removal, Resistance, and Reform in Alabama Schools

(Hardback)

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The Grammar of School Discipline examines how seemingly discrete school discipline policies and practices constitute a particular grammar: Removal, Resistance and Reform. Weaving numeric data with portraits of students and school practitioners, the authors detail a nuanced landscape of school discipline in Alabama and its anti-Black foundations. The removal of Black students can be traced to the antebellum construction of Blackness as criminal, deviant, and deserving of punishment. A focus on resistance centers the agency that students and practitioners exercise despite anti-Black removal. An exploration of specific reform efforts emphasizes that even the most well-intentioned and well-organized reforms are limited when the removal of students remains an option for practitioners. The authors end with an appeal to educational stakeholders to repair the harms that these anti-Black policies and practices inflict on students and communities, and thus move towards repairing the damage that white supremacy inflicts on everyones humanity.

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Bagget and Andrzejewski document the harms we do to students through racialized discipline, how students and educators resist, and how we can reform and repair our schools. Their argument is thorough, well-supported, and balanced. It shares an unflinching view of the humanity of students who resist and endure a system of school discipline built on white supremacy.

Author Bio

Hannah Carson Baggett is associate professor of educational research in the College of Education at Auburn University.

Carey E. Andrzejewski is professor of social foundations of education and educational research in the College of Education at Auburn University.