I. Introduction
Education plays a critical role in the life opportunities accessible to children. To pursue a more equitable and just society, all students must share the right to a high quality education in a safe and supportive learning environment. However, each year millions of students are pushed out of public schools as a result of zero-tolerance policies and the discriminatory enforcement of school rules. Additional factors like unprepared teachers, inadequate resources, and low expectations also contribute to the disproportionate suspension and expulsion of students of color. These students are often pushed from schools to the margins of society where they are more likely to be impoverished, unemployed, and incarcerated. Suspensions
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In his book Too Important to Fail, Tavis Smiley discusses how Black students are systematically removed from schools for long periods of time. The “inconsistency in discipline” according to Vernon C. Polite, professor at Bowie State University and coeditor of the book African American Males in School and Society transcends any stereotypes or baseless arguments that Black students are committing more egregious violations than whites or are doing so more frequently than their white counterparts. Polite conducted a study and found that for the same offense, suspensions ranged from 2 days to 22 days longer for black students. Due to differing state and federal guidelines for suspensions and expulsions, large numbers of African American boys end up roaming neighborhood streets, increasing the likelihood of engaging in illicit activity and finding their way into the juvenile justice system when they’d be better served in schools (Smiley …show more content…
(Table 1). Disabled, Black students are restrained and secluded at alarming rates. Students with disabilities represent 12% of the student population, but 58% of those placed in seclusion or involuntary confinement, and 75% of those physically restrained at school to immobilize them or reduce their ability to move freely. Black students represent 19% of students with disabilities served by IDEA, but 36% of these students who are restrained at school through the use of a mechanical device or equipment designed to restrict their freedom of movement (Office for Civil Rights 2014). This is not a problem confined to Southern states where there may be a suspicion of heightened prejudice against students of color. In Minnesota, more than 4 percent of all Black students are identified as having emotional or behavioral disorders, a subjective catchall label for thousands of children considered disruptive. That rate is more than three times the national average for black students and higher than any other state in the country, according to the most recent federal data available. (Id.) Minnesota also maintains one of the largest discipline gaps in the United States. With a student sample size of 90% of all students, Minnesota ranked sixth in the nation for the largest Black/White suspension risk gap during the
An F is a grade that many students fear of obtaining in their school career, unless the student does not care about his or her education. In Carl Singleton’s article, What Our Education Needs is More F’s, Singleton expresses his belief that if students begin to receive more F’s, students would be working harder to earn good grades, parents would become more considerate of their child’s education, and teachers would be stricter and harsher when grading. Therefore, education systems requiring teachers to frequently give more F’s will fix the “inadequacies of American education,” or so Singleton believes. (Singleton). Unfortunately, Singleton’s plan if enforced, would have several negative effects to it, such as; students’ motivation would instead diminish rather than accelerate, students would not
Another school in the same district is located “in a former roller-skating rink” with a “lack of windows” an a scarcity of textbooks and counselors. The ratio of children to counselors is 930 to one. For 1,300 children, of which “90 percent [are] black and Hispanic” and “10 percent are Asian, white, or Middle Eastern”, the school only has 26 computers. Another school in the district, its principal relates, “‘was built to hold one thousand students’” but has “‘1,550.’” This school is also shockingly nonwhite where “’29 percent '” of students are “‘black [and] 70 percent [are]
In today’s society mainly anyone growing up in poverty stricken communities, single parent homes, domestic violence or infested and drug infested areas are at risk to being abducted by the school to prison pipeline. The school to prison pipeline is a system designed for at risk teens that do not do well in school. The effect is them being thrown in jail. Economically the black and the Latino community constantly after generation and generation are getting dealt the same hand because each child in the new generation is growing up in a broken home and are falling victim to the same problems that the generation before them have faced. By compiling annual reports on the total number of disciplinary
Race as a factor in inequity. Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995) posit that race continues to be a significant factor in determining inequity in the United States. Race matters in society. If we look at high school drop out, suspension, and incarceration rates of men of color in America we see a disproportionate amount of men of color marginalized and profiled by society. This is further compounded by the perception that male faculty of color cannot be educators or at least are not often conceptually visualized in that capacity (Bryan and Browder, 2013).
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.
In Topeka, Kansas, the school for African-American children appeared to be equal to that of the white school. However, the school was overcr...
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 theme of the research is to discover why there is such a vast educational gap between minority and Caucasian students. Many American are unaware that such an educational gap actually exists among today’s students. This article informs us of alarming statics, such as of African American students representing a majority of the special education population, despite only making up roughly 40% of the student population. It also breaks down key events that contributed to the poor education that minority children are currently receiving. For example, in the past, it was illegal to educate African Americans and when it became legal to blacks were treated as second class students. They were segregated from their white counter parts and given hand-me-down textbooks. This article also discusses others factors that contributed to the poor education of minority students such as moral principles, socio-political, and economic stat. Despite the amount of time that has past, today’s schools are similar to the past. Minority children are still in second-rate learning environments while white students enjoy the comforts of first class school buildings and textbooks. In summary, the theme of this article was to bring attention to the educational gap among African-American, Latino, Asian, and other non-white students.
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).
Another major reason why juveniles are ending up in the juvenile justice system is because many schools have incorporate the zero tolerance policy and other extreme school disciplinary rules. In response to violent incidents in schools, such as the Columbine High School massacre, school disciplinary policies have become increasingly grave. These policies have been enacted at the school, district and state levels with the hopes of ensuring the safety of students and educators. These policies all rely on the zero tolerance policy. While it is understandable that protecting children and teachers is a priority, it is not clear that these strict policies are succeeding in improving the safety in schools.
The school-to-prison pipeline is the idea that schools funnel students into the prison system. This theory is narrow-minded and ignores how the government benefits from the surveillance of African Americans. With the imagery of a pipe, this complex issue is reduced to the single-minded idea that schools force people of color, most notably African Americans, and does not discuss the evolution of the larger society. The way society has evolved to discriminate against African Americans at the institutional level is a key factor in the increased incarceration rates. The school-to-prison pipeline is an outdated and prejudiced model that does not fully explain the situation many African Americans face.
In many inner – city schools, a stick and – carrot method of behavioral control tradionally used in prisons is now used with students. Kozel has visited sixty schools over the past five years and says they are all very segregated. The most segregated school of children is located in New York. New York is the most segregated state in the nation. The schools that are segregated are a mixture of black and brown children according to Kozel.
‘Zero-tolerance’ policies criminalize minor infractions of school rules, while high-stakes testing programs encourage educators to push out low-performing students to improve their schools’ overall test scores. Students of color are especially vulnerable to push-out trends and the discriminatory application of discipline (Gabbard 2013:33).
Khadaroo, Teicher. A. “School suspensions: Does racial bias feed the school-to-prison pipeline?” The Christian Science Monitor. March 31, 2013. Web.
According to the most recent data from the Department of Education, preschoolers who are racially diverse are being disciplined at a rate 3 times as great as their white classmates (Rich, 2014). The Department of Education data shows 48 percent of preschool suspensions were of black students who only make up 18% of all students attending preschool (Rich, 2014). This data is deeply disturbing. What could a preschooler possibly do to warrant a suspension?