School-to-Prison Pipeline: Wise Words from a White Man The article The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Rhetoric and Reality by Aaron Kupchik unpacks the meaning behind the very popular phrase that we hear about today. The conversation is centered on the idea that schools can shape the future of children. According to Kupchik schools are the first exposure that children have when it comes to the juvenile justice system. He believes that schools are the first institution to criminalize and stigmatize the behavior and emotions of children. He also argues that schools with harsh disciplinary polices are not meeting the needs of children but instead setting them up for greater hardships in the future. Kupchik argues that there should be less policing of children in …show more content…
He distinguishes them into three different categories. One of them being individual level risk factors, like that of race. Here he claims that students of color are perceived as disorderly and dangerous by default. That is why students of color face harsher disciplinary actions and at higher rates. This interconnects with school level risk factors like that of the presence of police officers on campus. Kupchik argues that the presence of police officers on campus criminalizes youth even more. Now students can be criminalized for behavior that before would only result in detention. This goes hand in hand with the social climate of school, which according to Kupchik plays an important role in the behavior of students. If students feel like they are cared about in school then they are less likely to misbehave. Community risk factors include the underfunding of schools in low-income communities that also tend to have high crime rates. Funding impacts the quality of education that the children will receive. Schools in poor communities will have larger classes and fewer resources available for
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
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
Studies and anecdotes have shown that our modern approach, however, is ill-equipped to reduce crime or deal with chronic delinquents while at the same time protecting their due liberties. We now stand on the precipice of decision: How can we strike an appropriate balance in the juvenile justice system? Should we even retain a separate system for children at all? The answers are usually difficult, sometimes subtle, but always possible to attain.
As education plays a key role in the opportunities one is afforded in life it is clear that minorities and other poor people whom live in school districts that receive less funding are at a disadvantage. Having less access to opportunity and quality education means that these already oppressed and impoverished people will not be ready to enter advantaged careers but instead will be routed into lower paying jobs and ultimately lower socioeconomic status and capitol. As of result of these factors these very same people are more likely to be criminalized and have involvement with the judicial
These crime-ridden communities (or ghettos) are springing up all through the country, mainly in and around major metropolitan areas. These areas are the most populated, so that means that within these areas are the most people there to be influenced by the crimes committed by fellow people. In Male's reading he shows statistics that prove the fact that once the poverty factor is taken away then teen violence disappears. He later adds, “That if America wants to rid of juvenile violence than serious consideration needs to be given to the societally inflicted violence of raising three to 10 times more youth in poverty than other Western nations.” (Males p386)
The school to prison pipeline is a phenomenon that refers to the practices and policies that have pushed school children, especially the most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile justice system. This disturbing occurrence indicates the prioritization of incarceration over the education of children. Most alarmingly, many of the children being targeted have learning disabilities or histories of poverty, abuse or neglect. Instead of being targeted, these children would much rather benefit from additional counseling and educational services. Moreover, the knowledge acquired in this course will be incorporated in this paper and used to explain the points made. In this term paper, what will be discussed is the expansion of the zero tolerance policy, the different views on the policy, who is mostly targeted, the effects on the juveniles and any alternative solutions that could diminish this dismaying occurrence for becoming a larger problem.
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.
To understand this approach, he maps the ways that the justice system stigmatized and killed these Latino and African American youth future dreams. Children, these young kids that could be future doctors, scientists, and engineers are forced by this punishment that could lead them to prison or even killed in the streets with no hope or opportunity to prosper. The author described a Fifteen-year –old Latino kid born and raised in Oakland by name of Slick.
The novel offers insight into a corrupted system that is failing today’s youth. This system places children into state custody with environments that are academically and socially incompetent. These children suffer within a corrupted system that denies resources and attention during the most crucial period in their emotional development. They develop very few meaningful adult relationships, endure damaging environments, and ultimately become trapped in a system that often leads to a prison life.
Schools inevitably must deal with disciplinary action when it comes to misconduct in students. However, at what point should the courts and law enforcement intervene? “Zero tolerance” policies started as a trend in the school setting during the 1990s in “response to the widespread perception that juvenile violence was increasing and school officials needed to take desperate measures to address the problem” (Aull 2012:182-183). However, national statistics indicated a decrease in juvenile’s share of crime during the influx of zero tolerance policies in schools (National Crime Justice Reference Service 2005).
This theory however as some have argued has emerged from social disorganisation theory, which sees the causes of crime as a matter of macro level disadvantage. Macro level disadvantage are the following: low socioeconomic status, ethnic or racial heterogeneity, these things they believe are the reasons for crime due to the knock on effect these factors have on the community network and schools. Consequently, if th...
Tulman, J. B. (2008). Time to Reverse the School-to-Prison Pipeline. (Cover story). Policy & Practice (19426828), 66(1), 22-27.
It is to no surprise that America has a large amount of its people incarcerated for a variety of reasons. One must ask themselves how we can help these individuals get back on track. The answer is America’s most powerful weapon known to man; an education. This is an annotated bibliography for research on the effects of education in the prison system and if these effects are worth taxpayer’s money.
Khadaroo, Teicher. A. “School suspensions: Does racial bias feed the school-to-prison pipeline?” The Christian Science Monitor. March 31, 2013. Web.
If a child is raised in a good neighborhood they are likely to be raised well. Children in a good environment are likely to have a better attitude and behavior. Especially when it comes to schooling. They will do well in school and those school systems are likely to have a higher rate of graduating children and children who actually take their education seriously. Better neighborhoods are known to lead to higher test scores. Making sure that a child has a safe, clean, peaceful and comforting environment is necessary and important for your child’s development. Growing up in a bad neighborhood where children aren’t putting school as a main priority and concerned about getting a good education may rub off on a child as they follow one another not put there education first. If a child is raised in a bad neighborhood where there area has a lot of criminal activity and gangs it may influence the child towards joining ...