School To Prison Pipeline
It’s well-established that low-income students are much less likely than their more affluent counterparts to receive a challenging, fulfilling education. When one group of students is at a disadvantage from the beginning, they don’t perform as well on the standardized tests required to graduate from high school and they are more likely to have behavioral problems leading to punishment in school. But could those factors actually push low-income students toward prison?
A new report from the civil rights group Advancement Project concludes that high-stakes standardized tests and zero-tolerance policies in public schools have created a direct school-to-prison pipeline for many low-income students and students of color. These disadvantaged students are being forced out of their schools, whether by overly harsh punishments for their infractions or by being held back because they failed a standardized test. And when school is no longer an option, many of those disenfranchised teenagers turn to crime. High school dropouts are eight times more likely to be incarcerated than their peers who graduate.
lol! get this!:
“Back in My old hood”
-The Schools and the County Jail are Painted with the same colors!
-May as well get them used to it?
If something isn’t done this will only get worse. I didn’t see anywhere in the link or the article that I found from the link that addresses the current homeless problem and that more than likely will skyrocket these statistics. When children are institutionalized they most likely will become institutionalized adults. Mentors instead of probation officers are needed badly.
as a LD (Learning disability) with mild speech problems. I have been put in a special class to “over come” my disability. Still being classified as a LD with mild speech problems. I cannot help, but wonder…. Why are black americans and hispanics are not being labeled as LD and put into those special classes? Not say or deem them as stupid, as I am also LD. Obvisouly, they do have a learning disabilities or at least some them seems to be that way. It just makes me wonder if the school system is attempting to not help them and over come their disabilities… I heard stories that the prison makes a huge amount of money putting people in jail. Is the school system helping the prison make more?
Wait..that cannot be right. Would the school loose its funds if they do not help students pass the standardized tests?
Those standardized tests were created by people who grew up in the dominant White culture, and while they probably didn’t intend to do this, nevertheless, kids not growing up in the dominant White culture simply won’t do very well on them. Intelligence in humans is distributed along the Bell Curve of Probability. There are very few really intelligent people, very few really stupid people, and the bulk of humanity is clustered in the middle.
The probability of a kid being brilliant, is just as likely in any strata of society, and we lose out big time by not giving all of our kids an equal opportunity in education. Now if we would simply get out of these insane wars, we could easily afford to do that.
“A new report from the civil rights group Advancement Project concludes that high-stakes standardized tests and zero-tolerance policies in public schools have created a direct school-to-prison pipeline for many low-income students and students of color”
Over here,all such tests have been abolished,and so has discipline in schools. And yet we still have those exact same problems; anti-social behaviour,illiteracy and kids heading off into a life of unemployment,unfulfillment and in some cases crime. So I can confirm,from experience,that going easy on the punishment in schools and abolishing regular testing is not the answer. In fact they even lowered the standards of the end-of-school (GSCE & A-level) qualifications here so that more kids would “pass” (which is then detrimental to the hard-working studious pupils,as their qualifications are seen as of little worth). Lowering standards overall has negatively affected EVERYONE,and actually most penalises those who go to school wanting to learn because they are not being challenged by their schoolwork and so are growing bored and restless,and the devil finds work for bored hands 😉
So,instead of pandering DOWN to the lowest common denominator in education,there needs to be a way to raise UP the aspirations overall. Education needs to be seen as a way out of one’s current situation,and education needs to be thorough and taught in a way so as not to induce a coma.
I don’t know how things work in America,but one of the problems started here when they stopped separating the students into classes based on ability. This is bad for everyone. The bright pupils are being held back,and the ones who are struggling are left to stagnate. An example would be a kid who is brilliant at maths. He or she is stuck in a classroom that is teaching stuff he/she already knows and finds boring beyond belief. That boredom leads to anger. In the same classroom is a kid who is terrible at maths. He/she is also not getting the special attention needed to help him/her understand the subject,and so grows disillusioned…and bored. And angry.
There is nothing bad at all about grouping students according to ability. That is actually the best solution for all of their needs.
Kentucky is trying to OPT Out of NCLB and standardized Testing…
Maybe other states will follow… maybe parents will push for it.
Maybe it starts today and with us.
I see a lot of people are responding to the school theme but have not commented on the “pipeline to prison”. Did anyone actually watch the videos?