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Journal of Youth and Adolescence pp410-joyo-368829 March 23, 2002 10:40 Style file version July 26, 1999

Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 31, No. 3, June 2002, pp. 185–195 (°
C 2002)

Racial and Ethnic Minority High School Students’

Perceptions of School Disciplinary Practices:
A Look at Some Canadian Findings1

Martin D. Ruck2 and Scot Wortley3

Received November 7, 2000; revised July 28, 2001; accepted November 6, 2001

This study examined perceptions of differential treatment relating to school disciplinary practices in
a racially and ethnically diverse sample (Black, South Asian, Asian, White, and “other” racial/ethnic
background) of high school students (N = 1870). Participants completed detailed individual ques-
tionnaires assessing general perceptions of school disciplinary practices and various aspects of the
school environment. Results indicated that racial/ethnic minority students are much more likely than
White students to perceive discrimination with respect to teacher treatment, school suspension, use of
police by school authorities, and police treatment at school. Multivariate analyses revealed that such
perceptions are particular strong for Black students. In addition, a number of other variables such as
gender, socioeconomic status, age of immigration, and views of school climate also predicted students’
perceptions of differential treatment toward members of their racial/ethnic group. The implications
of these findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research are outlined.

KEY WORDS: race and ethnicity; differential treatment; school discipline; police.

INTRODUCTION face, reported in the American literature, include lower

There is no shortage of empirical evidence high-
lighting the difficulties encountered within the educational
system for minority students in the United States and
Canada. Racial and ethnic minority students often face
poorer educational outcomes in variety of areas than do
their mainstream counterparts. Some of the negative out-
comes associated with schooling which minority children
1 Portions of this work were presented at the 1997 biennial meeting of
the Society for Research in Child Development and the 1998 annual
meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence.
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, The Graduate Center,
City University of New York, New York. Received PhD from the Uni-
versity of Toronto. Current research interests include adolescent social
development, urban education, and young people’s understanding of
human rights. To whom correspondence should be addressed at De-
partment of Psychology, The Graduate Center, City University of New
York, New York, New York 10016-4309; e-mail: mruck@gc.cuny.edu.
3 Associate Professor, Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto. Re-
ceived PhD from the University of Toronto. Current research projects
include examining the relationship between leisure activities and crim-
inal victimization and offending among Canadian youth, and racial
differences in perceptions of social justice.
test scores, poor grades, low attendance, grade retention,
and early school leaving (Connell et al., 1994; Ensminger
et al., 1996; Ford, 1993; Fordham and Ogbu, 1986; Gay,
1989; Humphreys, 1988; Irvine, 1991; Shapiro et al., 1993;
Taylor et al., 1994; Whaley and Smyler, 1998). Canadian
research also suggests that minority students, especially
Black students, are more likely to be enrolled in basic and
general level academic programs (Brown, 1993; Cheng,
1995; Cheng et al., 1993, all cited in Dei et al., 1995; James
1990; Samunda et al., 1989; Solomon, 1992) and show
disproportionately higher levels of school dropout than
do other students (Brathwiate and James, 1996; Brown,
1993; Dei et al., 1995, 1997).
In addition, and of primary concern with regard to the
present investigation, racial/ethnic minority students are
also more likely to be disciplined at school than White stu-
dents. For example, there is overwhelming American evi-
dence that students of color, especially African American
males, are much more likely to be suspended from school
than are their mainstream counterparts (Banks and Banks,
1993; Bennett and Harris, 1982; Calabrese and Poe, 1990;
Darling-Hammond, 1994; England et al., 1982; Felice,

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C 2002 Plenum Publishing Corporation
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186
1981; Irvine, 1991; Jones, 1989; Kaeser, 1979; Sheets and
Gay, 1996). Although a variety of disciplinary actions can
be taken by schools, suspensions are one of the most se-
vere in that they result in the removal of students from the
school and thus a decrease in student’s instructional time
(Williams, 1989). Available information also suggests that
disciplinary problems, such as suspensions, are a factor
contributing to the high incidence of early school leaving
among minority students (Children’s Defense Fund, 1974;
Dei et al., 1997; Jones, 1989; Rumberger, 1983; Williams,
1989; Wu et al., 1982).
While there is some evidence that racial and eth-
nic minority students often believe that they will receive
harsher or more public punishment for engaging in the
same behavior than White students (Marcus et al., 1991;
Murray and Clarke, 1990), there has been little system-
atic research directly exploring racial/ethnic minority stu-
dent’s views and beliefs pertaining to school disciplinary
practices. Two recent ethnographic studies, however, pro-
vide some direct evidence pertaining to how racial mi-
nority high school students’ may view school disciplinary
practices.
In a Canadian study of a group of Black, predomi-
nately male, low socioeconomic status (SES), urban high
school students, Solomon (1992) found that with regard
to school disciplinary practices these students tended to
view school discipline as being administered arbitrarily
by school authorities. For example, these students per-
ceived that they were more often suspended than White
students for engaging in the same types of behaviors.
In addition, Solomon noted that the Black students in
his study felt that the schools’ regular use of police at
school-related events was primarily to control and super-
vise the behavior of members of their racial/ethnic group.
In a later investigation, Sheets (1996) examined a small
group of racially and ethnically diverse students’ (e.g.,
African American, Chicano, European, and Filipino) per-
ceptions of classroom discipline in an urban American
high school. One of the main findings reported was that
while there were differences in perceptions of disciplinary
practices according to students’ race/ethnicity, percep-
tions tended to be more similar among students of color.
In addition, the racial minority students interviewed felt
that racism was the main reason for the perceived dif-
ferential application of school disciplinary actions. Taken
together the findings from these studies, although lim-
ited because of the size of the samples, are instructive
in that they offer some insight into how minority high
school students’ perceive school discipline and experi-
ence the educational system. However, there is clearly
a need for more quantitatively oriented research in
this area.
Style file version July 26, 1999
Ruck and Wortley
The importance of examining student’s perceptions
or views should not be underestimated. How an indi-
vidual perceives his or her environment may be more
important than “objective reality,” in that one’s percep-
tions will influence how one responds to the environment
(Bronfrenbrenner, 1979). Thus, if certain groups of stu-
dents perceive unequal or unfair treatment than that per-
ception is their reality (Holliday, 1985; Marcus et al.,
1991), which has important implications if schools are
to develop measures to ensure that students from all racial
and ethnic groups perceive equal educational opportunity.
In addition, examining students’ perceptions of various
aspects of their educational experiences also provides a
unique view of how young people interpret aspects of their
social world (Berndt et al., 1989, 1990, all cited in Ford,
1993).
This study was conducted with a large multiethnic
sample of high school students from the Metropolitan
Toronto area. Canada, like the United States, has histor-
ically been a racially and ethnically heterogeneous soci-
ety (Moodley, 1995), and minority students in Canadian
schools are no less immune to the detrimental effects
of racism, discrimination, and prejudice than are their
American counterparts (Alladin, 1996; Braithwaith, 1989;
Cheng and Soudak, 1994; Dei et al., 1995, 1997; James,
1990; Karaucharey, 1992; Solomon, 1992). Moreover, no
published studies have systematically examined a large
and sociodemographically heterogeneous sample of stu-
dents’ perceptions pertaining to differential treatment with
regard to school disciplinary practices.
Furthermore, over the last decade the police have be-
come a major presence in Canadian schools in dealing with
unacceptable student behaviors (e.g., fights, thefts, etc.),
often through the laying of criminal charges (Ministry of
Education and Training, 1994). While there is a general
dearth of research examining minority students’ percep-
tions relating to school disciplinary action, there is even
less information available examining racial/ethnic minor-
ity students’ perceptions of using the police to control stu-
dent behavior. However, the available research examining
racial and ethnic minorities’ perceptions of discriminatory
treatment in the criminal justice system (e.g., police treat-
ment) may provide some insight into how young people
from diverse racial/ethnic groups are likely to perceive po-
lice treatment at school. For instance, American as well as
Canadian studies have found that racial and ethnic minori-
ties believe that the police are more likely to discriminate
against members of minority groups than against Whites
(California Judicial Council, 1993; Hagan and Albonetti,
1982; Wortley, 1996). Determining whether similar per-
ceptions are held in a racially/ethnically diverse sample
of Canadian students with regard to differential treatment