When we hear about high school drop-outs, some people assume that students stop attending because teens are just lazy, or they want to grow up before their time. But we don't usually hear people asking how welcome we feel at school when we do go. According to this article from the New York Times, African-American students have a disproportionately high rate of suspension compared to other ethnic groups in the U.S. But it's not necessarily because we're doing more dirt- we're also punished with suspension more often even when we commit the same violations. (This echoes a trend in the criminal justice system. Coincidence, we think not!)   In the case of reported on by the Times- a group of Black students were suspended for a whole semester after one group fight and weren't allowed to attend any other schools in the district. Several of the students never ended up going back even when they were allowed back. And even though it's not in their best interest to quit school altogether- How bad would you feel if society looked down on you for not going to school, but you don't feel like your school even wants you to be there?

Its alot of pressure going to high school. Making friends, fitting in, turning in homework (on time), and your parents wanting you to graduate. Getting suspended only makes the burden that much heavier. I never got suspended from school but I did drop out because I felt like the teachers didnt care. I thought I would just be another face in the classroom to them, one more assignment to hand out. My high school was huge and had over 1000 students and there were plenty of fights that security and teachers didn't know about. In my opinion, a couple things need to happen if schools want to retain all students, regardless of color. First, just like the big-time education analysts n the article say- we need to have more equal suspension practices. Zero tolerance is harsh to begin with, but if is gonna be zero tolerance, it can't also secretly be 25% tolerance for white kids. And, I feel that if you get suspended from a school they should have a program or a class that you can attend to keep you from falling behind and to prevent you from just sitting at home with nothing to do. Suspension is a punishment, not a mini-vacation.

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