Suspended Education

How the historic resistance to racial desegregation in schools led to the over-punishment of students today
Every year, millions of public school students are suspended. This overused punishment removes students from the classroom, but it does not improve their behavior. Instead, suspension disrupts their education, harming the students, their families, and their schools. Black students suffer most within this broken system, experiencing a far greater risk of school punishment and the significant harms that accompany it. Many activists and scholars have considered how school punishment increases racial inequity, but few have thought to ask why. Why do we punish students the way we do, and why have we allowed this harmful practice to impact the lives of our nation’s children?
In Suspended Education, Aaron Kupchik takes readers to the root of the issue. Suspensions were not intended as a behavior management tool. Instead, they were designed to remove unwanted students from the classroom. Through statistical analysis and in-depth case studies of schools in Massachusetts and Delaware, Kupchik reveals how suspension rates skyrocketed after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, serving as an unofficial means of removing Black children from newly desegregated schools. His groundbreaking research traces the legacy of these segregationist movements, demonstrating that school districts with more desegregation-related legal battles from the 1950s onward suspend more Black students today. Combining expert analysis with compelling, accessible prose, Kupchik makes a powerful case for the end of suspension and other exclusionary punishments. The result is a revelatory explanation of a pressing problem facing all children, parents, and educators today.

"Timely and terribly important." Jonathan Kozol, author of The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America
"While Black suspension rates remain disproportionately high today, Kupchik makes a convincing case that the lessening of the gap between Black and white suspension rates shows that while explicit racism is less likely to be the impetus behind suspension, unconscious bias is still motivating the practice... It’s an essential read for educators." Publishers Weekly
"In this ground-breaking book, Kupchik dives deep into the contentious issue of school suspensions, revealing the stark ineffectiveness and harm of such punitive measures. Drawing on a rich structural race perspective, the author delves into historical battles over racial segregation and how they shape today's punitive approaches to student behavior. The volume shines a critical light on the disproportionate impact of these practices on students of color, particularly Black students. Through a convincing blend of historical context, statistical evidence, and a call for a paradigm shift towards more inclusive and restorative practices, this book challenges educators, policymakers, and society at large to reevaluate the use of suspension. By examining the roots of these policies and their long-term effects, the book challenges us to reconsider the role of education in perpetuating racial oppression. This book is a critical addition to the conversation on race, education, and the enduring legacy of segregation in America." Victor Rios, author of Human Targets: Schools, Police, and the Criminalization of Latino Youth
"Suspended Education is a fascinating, well-written, and informative book that illustrates the need to center structural, historical understandings of racism in our analyses of all aspects of contemporary American society, including how and why we punish kids the way we do. Bringing together historical research, national data on school punishment trends over time, and rich findings from two qualitative case studies, Kupchik shows that the ineffective practice of suspending kids from school—a practice we take to be “normal” despite being ineffective and unfair—is tied directly to the history of white backlash to U.S. school desegregation efforts in the 1970s. I hope criminologists, school officials, and anyone who cares about the education of all of our children reads this book carefully and takes its lessons seriously." Margaret Hagerman, author of Children of a Troubled Time: Growing Up with Racism in Trump’s America
"Suspended Education is a deeply researched, compelling examination of the racial biases embedded in America’s school disciplinary systems. Through meticulous archival analysis and interviews, Kupchik reveals how exclusionary practices, like suspensions, disproportionately target Black students - a modern legacy of resistance to desegregation. Thought-provoking and empirically grounded, this work exposes the structural racism that persists within educational systems, offering a well-substantiated case for reform." Reginald Dwayne Betts, author of Felon

Aaron Kupchik is Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware. He is the author of many books including Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear and The Real School Safety Problem: The Long-Term Consequences of Harsh School Punishment. His book Judging Juveniles: Prosecuting Adolescents in Adult and Juvenile Courts won the 2007 American Society of Criminology Michael J. Hindelang Award for the Most Outstanding Contribution to Research in Criminology.

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