In her article “Harvard Survey Reveals Pessimism About K-12”, Michelle Molnar, a contributor for Education Week, states: “In a report released last week, the business school [Harvard] indicated that 47 per cent of its alumni. . . saw little improvement in the K-12 education system.” (Molnar, 5) Even though public education does much good, rising high school dropout rates, increasing juvenile crime, and the falling of American education’s global rating cause some parents to wonder if America’s public education is really working. The outcomes of American education are becoming grim. Public education has negatively affected children.
First, public education has negatively affected children by using ineffective curriculum. Public education’s
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Public education’s ineffective discipline is caused by the problems of the zero tolerance policy. In his article “The Failure of Zero Tolerance”, Russell J. Skiba, Ph. D., who teaches counseling and educational psychology at Indiana University, explains that the policy of zero tolerance has “dramatically increased the number of students put out of school for disciplinary purposes, and may be accelerating student contact with law enforcement”. (Skiba, 27) The zero tolerance policy is proving to be ineffective, adding to juvenile prisons instead of creating a positive learning environment. Skiba also states that school officials are having trouble balancing an environment that is safe, but allows students to stay within the learning environment. (Skiba, 27-28) A zero tolerance policy is not the answer to public school discipline if schools are planning to keep their students. In his article “Turning Off the School-to-Prison Pipeline”, Harry Wilson, a Senior Fellow at ICF International in Washington, D.C., notes that suspensions and explosions that keep students out of school “contradict the core goal of schools—achievement.” (Wilson, 50) Students excluded or suspended from schools are not learning or achieving, and are instead left own their own. Ineffective discipline in public education has negatively affected …show more content…
Public education is negatively affecting children by using biased and mediocre curriculum and ineffective discipline. While public education is a negative influence, parents can help solve this problem. Through voting, parents can help give back power to the local school districts, allowing schools to teach an unbiased curriculum that teachers agree on. Parents can also be personally involved in the way schools are run to help create a more caring, disciplined, and structured learning atmosphere. Public education can be made effective once again with the help of
1. Summarize the main point of this episode on The Story of American Public Education
For my second article review I decided to do mine over the article Harry Wilson titled Turning off the School-to-Prison Pipeline. The main theme that this particular article deals with is how our school systems have become a direct pipeline for kids to end up in prison and the way to break this pipeline is through our schools changing certain policies they operate by. The main topic of this article that the author talks about frequently that contributes to the “pipeline” is the zero tolerance rule that school systems follow. The author speaks frequently about how the zero tolerance policy is a key factor to the school-to-prison pipeline being eliminated. Throughout the entire duration of the article the reader can expect to be confronted with
The intent of this argumentative research paper, is to take a close look at school systems disciplinary policies and the effect they have on students. While most school systems in the nation have adopted the zero tolerance policies, there are major concerns that specific students could be targeted, and introduced into the criminal justice system based on these disciplinary policies. This research paper is intended to focus on the reform of zero tolerance policies, and minimizing the school to prison pipeline.
Webber, Karl. “A Nation Still At Risk.” Waiting for Superman: How We Can Save Save America’s Failing Public Schools. Ed. Carl Weber. New York: PublicAffairs. 2010. 3-10. Print.
In the most recent years, the relationship between educational institutions and the juvenile justice system, which was once created to protect children, has displayed an ultimatum for minors through “zero tolerance” policies that result in sending individuals from school to prison to pipeline. Studies have shown that these policies are not beneficial to students or the educational environment that should be guaranteed to children. Opponents argue that the policies promote safety, but through this research it can be concluded that the policies actually increase danger. Studies demonstrate the factors that affect the enforcement of these policies which include media, the sociopolitical atmosphere, and the racial disproportionality, yet there are valid solutions for this issue that can be explored.
The United States of America has placed low on the educational ladder throughout the years. The cause of such a low ranking is due to such heavy emphasis on standardized testing and not individual student achievement. Although the United States uses standardized testing as a crutch, it is not an effective measure of a student’s ability, a teacher’s competency, or a school’s proficiency.
Following the Columbine tragedy in 1999, “school systems across the nation introduced the zero-tolerance policies aimed at the curtailment of harmful student behaviors” (Noll, 2014, p. 295). The original focus of the policies was to eliminate the use/carrying of weapons but soon after spread to restricting drugs and medication (2014). By 2006 95% of the U.S. public schools had adopted the zero-tolerance policies and more than half of them reported taking significant action against students, many of which resulted in expulsion (2014). While the zero-tolerance polices were originally welcomed by all members of a community as a means of promoting and keeping a safer environment-- as of late many individuals are questioning the relevance of some actions and some school officials (2014).
Zero tolerance policies have resulted in an increasing number of suspensions. “In 2009-10, at least 2,624 secondary schools across the nation suspended 25% of their total student body” (Losen & Martinez 15). Forcing
An article from the Los Angeles Times showed that the majority of Californians give California schools “a grade of C or below” and half think that the quality of schools will continue to decline (Watanabe). While the economic downturn affected the public school system in a negative way, it was not the sole root of its problems. It just simply exacerbated existing issues. Because of widespread discontent with the public school system, many different solutions to reform the mainstream public school system have been brought up in public discourse.... ...
The zero tolerance policies were implemented with the intended purpose to punish juveniles who display unacceptable behavior and dissuade them from committing the act in the future. The policies are based on deterrence theory. Deterrence theory states that an individual is capable of making rational choices to partake in behavior, therefore punishment which is implemented with swiftness, severity, and certainty will cause the individual to change their delinquent behavior (Schram and Tibbetts 2014). This is the foundation to the school-to-prison pipeline as one receives punishment directly after the incident occurs, the punishment is harsh as one is suspended, expelled, or adjudicated, and there is certainty that the offense will be processed.
We all recognize and comprehend the negative effects the harsh punishment like suspension for violations can have on the success of our students including increasing dropout rates and could also lead to them having trouble with the law “A study of nearly one million Texas students found that those suspended or expelled for violations at the discretion of school officials were almost three times as likely to be in contact with the juvenile justice system the following year.” For this Reason Harambe High School has implemented “restorative justice”, which bring all parties involved to discuss what and why happened and how to solve the conflict. An example of this system in effect can be seen in California, where “The result of these and other discipline reforms in California was a 14 percent drop in suspensions and a 12 percent decrease in expulsions for the 2012-13 school year.” Hence, restorative justice has shown a positive effect on both the student and the school by keeping students in school and that is why Harambe High School proudly implements it. Harambe has outstanding security so that our students feel safe but not to the extent where kids feel like they are in a prison. We have the same belief as Professor shaun Harper who stated, “environment matters” and also “If a school promotes academic rigor and going to college, that shapes student behavior. If a school's
Martinez, S. (2009). A system gone berserk: How are zero-tolerance policies really …..affecting schools? Preventing School Failure, 53(3), 153-157. Retrieved from …..http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/228530113?acco…..untid=6579
There is current controversy over zero tolerance within schools with communities, teachers/staff, and administration. There is a disconnect between the administrators (people who create the policy) and the teachers and school staff (who implement the policy throughout the school year). There are large gaps in administrator comprehension, that is, what they remembered of the law and the intent and conditions for applying it. Some teachers are not even aware of what a zero tolerance policy is, thus it is broadly interpreted and therefore practiced inconsistently (Robbins). The disconnects in understanding zero tolerance are not only found between teachers and administrators but also between administrators and their communities. Some parents are
A criticism of zero tolerance policies is that they disproportionately impact students of color. When school suspension and expulsion rates represent minority students at higher rates than their white, non-Hispanic, counterparts, a racial disparity exists. For example, suspending 1.2 million black students from K-12 nationally during 2011-2012, yet more than half of occurring within 13 states in the South. Likewise, expelling 50 percent of black students enrolled in those states, that same year [citation]. Nonetheless, years of racial segregation, discrimination and the overall mistreatment of minorities in the public, however, have influenced this disparity trend. Although representing 18 percent of enrolled students in school, black students accounted for 35 percent of those suspended once, 46 percent of those suspended more than once and 39 percent of all expulsions nationally, during 2009-2010 [citation].
In schools, teachers need to find a way to create and maintain a safe learning environment. Schools have a duty to keep students safe. Teachers find it challenging to maintain this environment when some students do not follow rules that are designed to keep both the teachers and students safe. In an effort to keep students safe, a policy of zero tolerance has has tried to help maintain this environment. Zero Tolerance is a policy in which it does not matter why a rule was broken or what the story was just that the rule was broken. This is thought to keep students safe, because the student breaking the rule will be punished and can be removed from the school so that the safe learning environment of the school is maintained. Many schools