About 2.8 million American children were told at least once during the 2013-2014 school year to leave public school for bad behavior. In the United States, forcing a student to leave school is a punishment known as suspension. It is designed to stop misbehaving students from interfering with classroom activities. But a number of recent studies suggest the punishment does not work. One group, for example, found that suspended students are more likely to be arrested by police or drop out of school. The Council of State Government carried out the study. Another survey found that suspensions in 10th grade alone cost U.S. taxpayers $35 billion for extra prison and social welfare spending. That finding came from researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). And suspensions may unfairly target African-Americans, according to the U.S. Department of Education. It reported in June that African-Americans are 3.8 times more likely to receive one or more suspensions as white students.
