As mentioned in other posts, the public university was one of the wealthiest and whitest higher education institutions in California. The juxtaposition of these two student populations could not have been more extreme. At that time, I was a road warrior: I taught at a public university 30 miles from my home and then drove about 45 miles to teach night classes to reentry students who were finishing their high school diplomas. Reading this book reminded me of the brief time spent teaching secondary and postsecondary students in the early 2000s. It has become commonplace for schools to push out black girls under the aegis of “willful defiance” which included acting out, talking back, and lack of completion of assignments which Morris argues is a catchall for “misbehavior.” It seemed to be a common theme to hear stories of these girls expressing frustrations when their white peers were not called out for similar behavior. I found myself becoming absolutely mystified by the extent to which young Black girls suffered from racially coded policies. Some were as mundane as wearing the wrong kind of shoes or forgetting to wear a belt, especially those students who attended schools with uniforms. A common experience was suspension or being sent home for dress code violations. Morris interviewed numerous students who shared experiences of school pushout. Zero tolerance policy applies to everything from behavior issues to dress code violations and incomplete homework assignments. Second, widespread use of a zero tolerance policy yields a high rate of pushout.
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