School To Prison Pipeline Essay

As time progresses, our country’s agenda alters according to what issue is seemingly more important than another at that specific time. An issue that has been considered for far too long is a notion regarding the American education system and its connection to mass incarceration. The supposed link between education and incarceration is commonly referred to as the “school to prison pipeline”. Although African Americans are only 13% of the United States population, they account for almost 38% of the inmates in American prison systems. The overrepresentation of African American people in the American prison system displays the obvious injustice. The school to prison pipeline is the practice of repeatedly over punishing children for minor offense

thus pushing them out of the school system all together and into the prisons.
Children targeted in this practice are minorities and children with disabilities.

The social effects can be described as an increasingly harsh legal system for juveniles into their adult years as the expansion of the prison industrial complex continues to increase. The criminalization of black individuals creates the stereotypical cultural effect of a dangerous black man or angry black woman. The political aspect of the issues resides in the industrial prison complex where the government profits off of criminalizing our children. The ecological levels of self, family, and community all play a role in the theory of why youth in the targeted classifications fall under this social injustice that persists in our nation. This theory helps explain the fragility of the “School to prison pipeline” foundation. As researchers, we should question what social and political effects of the school-to-prison pipeline impact African Americans and what possible solutions can be applied to eliminate the epidemic? Using a qualitative research methodology, the discourse will be debated in order to bring underlying facts to the forefront. The system was never built to accommodate those who it targets and instead it was created to work against people of color, poor or disabled.

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The “school to prison pipeline” is a theory about the idea that the American education system is methodically structured to drive African American youth into trouble and then into the American prison systems. There is a plethora of reasons to support this theory which range from its internal foundation of prejudice, especially in urban neighborhoods, to the financial gain that results from the population of prisons. The inadequate funding of urban education countrywide, the post-incarcerated effects that redirect former prisoners back into the prison system.
The theory that the inadequate performance of the educational system is directly related to underfunding has been overlooked among the many other issues and debates taken on or responded to by our government. “What is the exact reasoning educational systems acquirement of less funding than that of the prison system?” Why does our educational system continually face criticisms to concerning their funding? Hardly ever is there a complaint proposed in representation of the prison system regarding lack of funding. In fact the new construction or proposals to construct new prisons are heard more than the construction of new educational institutions or additional funding to the educational system. Although this is a country wide issue, it is more applicable and more commonly found in the urban communities of our country. Insufficient funding and resources in public schools is the most substantial of reasoning for the effect of the school to prison pipeline. Overpopulated classrooms, the deficiency in properly qualified teachers and staff, insufficient funding; these are all reasons that incite disinterest and increases the probability of disengagement in students and cause them to dropout or not continue their education. In America, education is imperative; without proper education our youth almost instantaneously resort to crime and other behaviors that result in their classification as a criminal. The most preposterous fact of it all is that the lack of funding and other accountability regimes overwhelms the small amount of qualified teachers and staff that we do have. The overwhelming pressure results in the disengagement of the teachers and staff or creates incentives for schools to go as far as to encourage students to dropout. The dropout rates of urban communities, which typically have minority students, exceed that of suburban community because of lack of funding. The status dropout rate decreased from 12 percent in 1990 to 7 percent in 2013, with most of the decline occurring since 2000. From 1990 to 2013, the Hispanic status dropout rate declined from 32 percent to 12 percent, while Black and White status dropout rates decreased by 6 and 4 percentage points, respectively. Nevertheless, the Hispanic status dropout rate in 2013 (12 percent) remained higher than the White (5 percent) and Black (7 percent) status dropout rates ("What Is the School-to-Prison Pipeline?").The lack of funding and resources for our educational system increases the risk of a large portion of our youths’ population to find themselves bearing the brunt of our judicial system.
The lacking of funding for the educational system causes an increase in dropout rates in various educational institutions throughout the country. When the funding of the prison system is prioritized over the funding the education of our country’s youth there is an issue. The prison system should not prepare to house criminals over creating an alternate route, which in fact should be the primary route, to education. Dropout rates have a vast bearing in the facilitation of the school to prison pipeline. Dropout rates are the direct result of insufficient funding and the lack of concern for our youth’s education; logically, ethically speaking even, that is wrong. Education should be a priority. Education is the soles means of deterrence for individuals in urban communities. If the concern of the educational system increases and becomes a priority we will develop a mass production of skilled citizens, minimize the amount of criminal activity in our country, and develop more efficiently as a country.
Another issue that has been taken note of, yet is still pushed aside and “swept under the carpet” is the idea, or notion, that students are “prisoners”.

To an adult, or an individual that lacks concern, or prefers to not acknowledge the social and physical restraint and conditioning of the educational system, the idea that students are prisoners would seem extraneous. However, for students this idea is truth, nothing other than fact. There is a plethora of similarities between the life of a prisoner and that of a student in America. Students and prisoners alike are continuously on a timer. Every task has a time restraint and a consequence for not meeting the specified deadline. The timer concept is so severe that students, just as prisoners, are timed when eating. In addition to be timed they are forced to consume food without regards to complaints or preference. Students and prisoners are also monitored in the amount of time they spend outdoors and engaging in extracurricular activities or hobbies. There are guards in schools to restrict and forcibly control students. Many times administrators would rather call a guard to escort a student out of their office rather than lend an ear to the complaints or propositions a student has. Society would rather criminalize behaviors that are historically typical of students at their respective ages than actively work toward solving the issue. For example, bullying has been made crime in numerous states. Granted, the effects of

bullying is not limited and therefore can result in death. However, criminalizing bullying does nothing but create the opportunity for the prison system to request more funding when sensible, less severe, solutions can be created bullying and hazing alike. The New York Times argues that criminalizing bullying and hazing does not definitely increase the safety of schools, however it absolutely does speed up the process of directing students away from school and into the prison system. The concern for the fact that once an individual is in the prison system that they will most likely spend the rest of their lives in that system because there are hardly any routes to evade criminal activity after serving their time in prison; our country does not create opportunities for felons.
The corruption is so extensive that it seems as though individuals are more likely to enact a detrimental decision upon the conclusion of their time at the institution than prior to. The similarities between schools and prisons are extremely apparent, so much so that it has been denoted as the “school to prison pipeline”. For example, if one looks up synonyms for the word “school” they will find that jail is on that list. The similarities of the educational system and the prison are abundant to the extent that school can actually be seen as an introductory program for students to ultimately arrive at the status of criminal.
​There are ways to avoid the school to prison pipeline. It takes the full engagement of teachers and staff in order to divert the school to prison pipeline. One way requires the engagement of teachers and students alike. This method requires an increase in the use of positive behavior interventions as well as an increase in the support available. There are about five additional methods to evade the education to incarceration pipeline. Accumulating annual reports on the total number of disciplinary actions taking place in educational institutions will allow for the creation of solutions to eliminate such acts in the future. This method will lower the dropout rates for students based on gender, race and ability.
​The most promising method of all of the methods to divert the school to prison pipeline is to generate agreements with the criminal justice system and the court system to minimize the arrests of students at school and generally among our youth. The method also incorporates the use of minimal restraints, such as mace and handcuffs. In addition to this method, a method adjacent is that of providing basic and logical explanations of infractions. This method also requires the educational system to create a code of conduct equipped with prescribed responses to ensure fairness. There should also be limits established to prevent the overuse of law enforcement in educational institutions. Lastly, there should be a paucity of available teachers and staff members who are qualified and trained to react and positively assist at-risk students as well as students who require extra academic assistance.