A Historical Account of the Construction of Zero Tolerance in Print Media

• In Event: Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Problems With Punitive School Disciplinary Policies: Race, Place, and Gender

Abstract

Despite the research on zero tolerance policies demonstrating the ineffectiveness of mandatory suspensions and expulsions, many schools maintain such disciplinary approaches. The public discourses surrounding zero tolerance in public schools are found across a variety of media contexts (i.e. newspapers), and have the potential to create meanings, ideas, and attitudes that facilitate institutional changes. In this study, we considered the ways in which zero tolerance policies have been historically positioned since the passing of the Gun Free Schools Act of 1994. We traced the public discourse, as presented in The New York Times, from 1994 to 2012, examining the ways in which media sources worked up particular versions and stories about the use of zero tolerance policies within educational contexts.

Authors

• Katherine Rene Evans, Eastern Mennonite University

• Jessica Nina Lester, Indiana University