Education and Child Study 336cc - Seminar: Topics in American Education-Control and Compliance: How School Discipline Shapes Inequality
Sem:T-Control&Compiance
Fall
2025
01
4.00
Rachel Fish
TU 1:20 PM - 4:00 PM
Smith College
EDC-336cc-01-202601
McConnell 301
rfish33@smith.edu
Schools don’t just teach academic content to students. They also teach behavior, morals, norms and social hierarchy. This course examines the social processes through which students learn to “behave” in schools, including discipline and surveillance structures, student-teacher interactions and students’ interactions with peers. The course pays particular attention to how race, gender, disability and other systems of inequality shape behavioral expectations and disciplinary responses – and how these processes, in turn, exacerbate inequalities. Discussions include no-excuses charter schools, teachers’ racial and gender bias, bullying and behavioral modification methods typically used with disabled students. Restrictions: Juniors and seniors only. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required.
[CE] JR/SR only