What is the School-to-Prison Pipeline and Who is Most Affected?

The school to prison pipeline is a phenomena that it plaguing our schools on a national level. School to prison pipeline entails institutional policies and practices that push students out of school and into juvenile detention facilities. This approach stresses importance on students following rules rather than learning.  Many students who fall into this pipeline is largely due to the lack of resources in their schools, especially public schools. The lack of resources can be seen through the lack of funding, over-sized classrooms, less qualified teachers and other services needed to ensure success for all students. Another negative effect of the school to prison pipeline is the disciplinary acts. Many schools have occupied the zero-tolerance policy. This policy allows schools to severely punish students for minor infractions. For instance, I had a brother who once was suspended from school for wearing a t-shirt with the face of Bob Marley on the front of it. The school’s reason for his suspension is because Bob Marley is affiliated with marijuana so therefore he was in conflict with the school districts policy of drug paraphernalia. To mention, the t-shirt did not have imagery or literature related to marijuana in any way. This may be an extreme example, but my point is to show the extremes of the zero-tolerance policy. Due to these minor infractions large numbers of students are pushed into the juvenile system initiating a ripple effect. Once out of school, students fall behind in their course work, engage non constructive activities, loose interest for education or more severe, dropping out (ACLU,2008). Another aspect of the prison to school pipeline is policing within schools. Many schools focus on safety and discipline by occupying the zero-tolerance policy. Schools start employing security officers, hall monitors and even in school police officers, creating a prison-like atmosphere. This allows the schools to perform on sight arrests and direct access to court and juvenile justice services. The issue then becomes greater as many of these students struggle to reenter the school system due to the barriers placed by the school and court systems (ACLU, 2008).  A high disproportionate number of males of color get funneled down the pipeline. The school to prison pipeline affects many students, specifically students who attend public schools. However, the group that has been marginalized the most is students of color. Males of color hold the highest dropout percentage in the U.S. In 2008, statistics from the U.S. Department of Education reported males of color having a dropout rate of 28.6% compared to White students dropout rate at 5.4%. To further describe the significant damage of the school to prison pipeline is in 2009, the U.S. Bureau estimated the U.S. population of 18 years old or younger was 24.3%. In 2008, 43% of that population were juvenile arrests of non white youth. What I am implying here is a connection of racial profiling reinforced by the zero-tolerance policy. Many communities of color or urban areas reside in city spaces of low socioeconomic status. Within these communities also reside struggling public schools that apply characteristics of the school to prison pipeline. There has been research done revealing correlations between racial profiling and the zero tolerance policy. The studies show racial profiling becomes a method for schools to express their authority through individuals or groups who do not fit their perception of a student, in this case students of color. The traditional education system in the U.S. is upheld through White, male, middle class ideology. Students who do not fit this ideology struggle with the system. The only alternative for many students is to resist. The resistance is viewed as deviant behavior and students become labeled as at risk students. Minority students or students of color are most affected by this. The schools then take extreme measures such as over surveillance. Racial profiling also leads to assuming deviance based on race. Educational institutions justify the application of the zero tolerance policy as a method of creating and obtaining a safe learning environment. This is great, but the common practice of the policy has done the opposite. Students who are targeted feel unsafe and alienated. The perspective of this practice is the “one size fits all” approach (Solomon & Palmer, 2006).  As a result students or forced to focus on not getting in trouble rather than learning and loose motivation. The zero tolerance policy marginalizes students of color and promotes racial based markers as a way to determine a student’s success, thus feeding the school to prison pipeline       

References:

U.S. Department of Justice. (2009, October 31). Juvenile (0-17) population proportions by

     race/ethnicity and state, 2008. Juvenile population characteristics. Retrieved from

     http://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb

Taylor M. J. & Rodgers, P. L. (2002). Table 2: Utah 2000 drop-out rates and educational

     attainment rates by ethnicity. In Utah State University: Center  for the School of the Future.,

     Increasing graduation rates for minority and other at-risk students: The high school

     completion study. Retrieved from http://www.csf.usu.edu/publications/hscs.pdf

Solomon, P. S. & Palmer H. (2006). Black boys through the school-prison pipeline: When

     “racial profiling” and “zero tolerance collide”. In Armstrong, D. E., & McMahon, B. J.,

     Inclusion in urban educational environments:  Addressing issues of diversity, equity, and

     social justice  (pp 191-208). United States of America: Library of Congress Cataloging.

National Center for Education Statistics. (n.d). Table 108 percentage of high school dropouts

     among persons 16 through 24 years old by race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1960 through 2008.

    Digest of education statistics. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/tables/

American Civil Liberties Union. (2008, June 6). School-to-Prison Pipeline.  Retrieved from

     http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/school-prison-pipeline