A City Full of Flowers: How Young Children Conceptualize the Role of Morality and Belonging in School Discipline

• In Event: Research in Progress Roundtable Session 3
  In Invited Roundtable: Social Justice Perspectives on Civic Education, School Disciplinary Experiences, and Relational Learning (Table 1)

Abstract

This study investigates how Black early elementary children experience and articulate discipline, power, and morality in schools shaped by adult supremacy and carceral logics. Drawing on six narrative-based interviews with Black K-2 children in Philadelphia and schematic document reviews with their caregivers, the research explores young learners’ voices regarding their disciplinary experiences at school. Early findings suggest that children who receive positive reinforcement favor restorative approaches, while those labeled as disruptive often desire more punitive measures. By centering children's voices, this study highlights how exclusionary discipline in early education perpetuates inequities, with long-term consequences. It argues for co-creating educational environments with young learners in order to counter harmful adult-centric paradigms.

Author

• Alexandrea R. Henry, Stanford University