Kids in Cuffs: Striving for Equity and Empathy in Education

Picture it. Twenty years ago you experience exclusionary discipline firsthand. Years later you become a parent and suddenly your kid is pulled aside by the teacher for a supposed offense. Your kid has no idea what he's done wrong. When you pick him up that day, you learn that he was disciplined for a benign, youthful action. Situations like this happen more often than not to students of color.

Long-standing discriminatory practices in school discipline, whether intentional or not, have manif...