Disciplining a Nation at Risk: Punishment, Standards, and 1980s Federal Education Policy

• In Event: 64.039 - Federal Policies and Educational Borders: Teachers, Standards, and Nations at Risk

Abstract

Historical accounts on the evolution of federal education policy have written much about the impact of 1980s education reform. Such education proposals served as precursors to later federal initiatives that promoted school choice, standards and accountability. Yet significant, though under-examined, is how Reagan’s distillation of the 1983 federal report, "A Nation at Risk" also significantly focused on restoring discipline and reducing drugs and violence particularly in inner city schools. Using archival research methods and a theory of poverty governance this study argues that just as Reagan’s rhetorical presidency reset national goals towards standards, accountability, deregulation and school choice—the Reagan administration’s appeal to stricter discipline reform similarly recast national goals towards more punitive discipline practices that constituted later zero-tolerance policies.

Author

• Mahasan Violet Chaney, University of California - Berkeley