Abstract Previous research in middle-class school districts has focused on within-school segregation but not between-school segregation. Drawing on two years of ethnographic fieldwork and 122 in-depth interviews with students, parents, and faculty in an affluent suburban school district, I find that students who struggle academically at prestigious “Pinnacle High School” are pressured by administrators to transfer to nearby “Crossroads High School.” These students are disproportionately black, Latinx, and working-class. Though students transfer due to academic struggles and not behavioral issues, Crossroads features an austere, prison-like appearance, constant surveillance of students by staff and local police, and a curriculum that disqualifies graduates from matriculating at a four-year college. I argue that the transfer policy and process disproportionately affects lower-income, black, and Latinx students, stigmatizes students who struggle as deviant “failures,” and is largely punitive rather than rehabilitative. Concentrating struggling students in a school such as Crossroads facilitates an institutional culture of academic apathy that runs counter to the school’s stated purpose as an academic rehabilitation center, and Crossroads serves the interests of academically elite schools like Pinnacle by providing those schools with a place to “dump” students who suffer academic setbacks. I refer to this form of segregation as academic apartheid—between-school segregation based on academic standing—and I conclude by proposing a change with the potential to increase equity and inclusion for students who struggle.

中文翻译：

---

“失败”的隔离：富裕郊区的学校不平等和弱势学生

摘要先前在中产阶级学区的研究集中在校内隔离，而不是校际隔离。凭借两年的人种志田野调查和对富裕的郊区学区的学生，家长和教职员工的122次深入访谈，我发现，在著名的“品尼高中学”上在学业上挣扎的学生受到管理人员的压力，要求他们转移到附近的“十字路口高中。” 这些学生绝大部分是黑人，拉丁裔和工人阶级。尽管学生因学术上的挣扎而不是行为上的问题而转学，但Crossroads具有朴实，监狱般的外观，工作人员和当地警察对学生的不断监视，以及课程设置使毕业生无法入读四年制大学。我认为，转学政策和流程会严重影响低收入，黑人和拉丁裔学生，给那些挣扎为异常“失败者”的学生蒙上了污名，并且在很大程度上是惩罚性的而非康复性的。将挣扎中的学生集中在Crossroads这样的学校中，会促进一种学术淡漠的制度文化，这种文化与学校作为学术康复中心的既定宗旨背道而驰； Crossroads通过为这些学校提供“遭受学术挫折的学生。我将这种形式的种族隔离称为学术种族隔离，即基于学术地位的学校之间的种族隔离。最后，我提出了一种改变方案，该方案可以为挣扎的学生增加平等和包容性。