The History of Zero Tolerance in American Public Schooling

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Focusing on the Los Angeles city school district from the 1950s to the 1970s, Judith Kafka investigates how race, politics, and bureaucracy shaped educational discipline. She highlights the growing centralization of control over discipline as a response to various stakeholders, including teachers and local politicians, which evolved over time. Kafka argues that the racial disparities seen in contemporary school discipline policies are not fixed outcomes, suggesting that they can be challenged and changed.