Homeroom security : school discipline in an age of fear / Aaron Kupchik.

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 practices: 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. Based on years of field research, Kupchik demonstrates that the policies we have zealously adopted are the opposite of the strategies known to successfully reduce student misbehavior. As a result, contemporary school discipline is often unhelpful, and can be hurtful to students in ways likely to make schools more violent.--From publisher description.

Introduction : Too much discipline -- A new regime -- Protecting our children : discipline practices at school -- A blue line on the chalkboard : police presence in schools -- Teaching to the rules -- Unequal discipline -- Conclusion : Undoing the harm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.