HOW DOES RACE CONTRIBUTE TO THE EXISTENCE OF THE SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE?
By: Jason Zajac
The school-to-prison pipeline effects all children, but the main victims of the pipeline are the students of color. Schools are putting students at a distinct disadvantage due to the treatment of races when it comes to disciplinary actions, showing how some students are pushed to the streets instead of into school. As you can see on the chart to the left, a majority of the students dealt with severe disciplinary actions are of color, and it shows how a majority the prison population either dropped out, or got arrested during high school without earning a diploma. This is a major inequity in education. According to the Advancement Project in March 2005, "Black students represented only 17% of national public school enrollment in 2000 but accounted for 34% of suspensions." Also , the Advancement Project in 2000 states, "a child who has been suspended is more likely to fall behind in school, be retained a grade, drop out of high school, commit a crime, and become incarcerated as an adult." Both of these statistics contribute to the fact that schools are pushing children, specifically of color, out onto the streets where they will most likely commit crimes, which creates the school-to-prison pipeline. Specifically in the Chicago Public School system, in the last school year ,"...approximately 75 percent of all suspensions were handed to African-Americans" (Ahmed-Ullah Richards 1). Which shows Blacks are treated with harsher punishments than other races throughout the entirety of CPS.
A solution to this inequity that schools could attempt to implement is to send teachers and other faculty members to conferences/seminars that will deal with the treatment of races and to try and strive for equality in the classroom. These conferences will stress on educating them and raising their awareness of sub-conscience discrimination in the classroom. If schools implement this into their school systems this will cut down on the severe differential of percentages of crime rates between different races. This will greatly contribute to the end of the of race in the school-to-prison pipeline.
The Advancement Project (2000). Opportunities Suspended: The Devastating Consequences of Zero Tolerance and School Discipline, p. 13.
The Advancement Project (March 2005). Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track, p. 18.
"Charter schools' expulsion rate vastly higher than rest of CPS." Chicago Tribune.
A solution to this inequity that schools could attempt to implement is to send teachers and other faculty members to conferences/seminars that will deal with the treatment of races and to try and strive for equality in the classroom. These conferences will stress on educating them and raising their awareness of sub-conscience discrimination in the classroom. If schools implement this into their school systems this will cut down on the severe differential of percentages of crime rates between different races. This will greatly contribute to the end of the of race in the school-to-prison pipeline.
The Advancement Project (2000). Opportunities Suspended: The Devastating Consequences of Zero Tolerance and School Discipline, p. 13.
The Advancement Project (March 2005). Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track, p. 18.
"Charter schools' expulsion rate vastly higher than rest of CPS." Chicago Tribune.