Prison vs. Education
Prison or Education?
Mrs. Kolb
Comp. II
12 March 2014
America is ranked number one in the world in the amount of people they incarcerate. On average for every 100,000 U.S citizens there are 500 citizens incarcerated (Tsai). A high percentage of the inmates are illiterate and about seventy percent of them dropped out of high school (Tsai). The government continues to increase funding for prisons as their population grows and at the same time the funds for education decline. As one might see there is an underlying correlation between education and crime. If the government would put less money into the prison system and more money in the public school system; crime and high school dropout rates would decrease. In Los Angeles, California resides the country’s highest prison population averaging out to more than 20,000 inmates. To compensate for the high incarceration the funds for their prisons increased a billion dollars more than education in 2010. In that same year Los Angeles Unified School District estimates about 640 million dollar loss from their previous year’s budget (Hawkins). This is only spreading the burdens of the economy onto students making it harder for them to succeed. Cities in L.A. where schools have the lowest performing students exist in the highest incarceration rated neighborhoods. The schools with the highest performing schools have the lowest incarceration rates (Hawkins). Dr. Tracy Lachica Buenavista reveals that, “Research has found that access to education is a deterrent to incarceration and if they have an access to education, they are less likely to be incarcerated” (Hansook). When budget cuts are made schools have to eliminate programs, resources, and teachers to compensate. They have to raise their class sizes which makes it harder for teachers to focus individually on students, further allowing more to slip through the cracks. Houston, Texas contains some of the nation’s highest dropout rates. Sharpstown High
Mrs. Kolb
Comp. II
12 March 2014
America is ranked number one in the world in the amount of people they incarcerate. On average for every 100,000 U.S citizens there are 500 citizens incarcerated (Tsai). A high percentage of the inmates are illiterate and about seventy percent of them dropped out of high school (Tsai). The government continues to increase funding for prisons as their population grows and at the same time the funds for education decline. As one might see there is an underlying correlation between education and crime. If the government would put less money into the prison system and more money in the public school system; crime and high school dropout rates would decrease. In Los Angeles, California resides the country’s highest prison population averaging out to more than 20,000 inmates. To compensate for the high incarceration the funds for their prisons increased a billion dollars more than education in 2010. In that same year Los Angeles Unified School District estimates about 640 million dollar loss from their previous year’s budget (Hawkins). This is only spreading the burdens of the economy onto students making it harder for them to succeed. Cities in L.A. where schools have the lowest performing students exist in the highest incarceration rated neighborhoods. The schools with the highest performing schools have the lowest incarceration rates (Hawkins). Dr. Tracy Lachica Buenavista reveals that, “Research has found that access to education is a deterrent to incarceration and if they have an access to education, they are less likely to be incarcerated” (Hansook). When budget cuts are made schools have to eliminate programs, resources, and teachers to compensate. They have to raise their class sizes which makes it harder for teachers to focus individually on students, further allowing more to slip through the cracks. Houston, Texas contains some of the nation’s highest dropout rates. Sharpstown High
Bibliography: Koughan, Frank. "Dropout Nation." PBS. PBS, 25 Sept. 2012. Web. 06 Mar. 2014 Dropout Nation is a documentary on Sharpstown High School in Houston, Texas Norton, Amy. “Prisoners vs. Students, Who do we value more.”Octopodes.Feb.2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. Prann, Elizabeth. “States Spend Almost Four Times More Per Capital on Incarcerating Prisoners Than Educating Students.” Politics. Fox News, 14, March. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. Tsai, Tyjen. “U.S. Has World 's Highest Incarceration Rate.” Population Reference Bureau. 2013. Web. 04 Mar. 2014.