School To Prison Pipeline Analysis

Before I started reading this chapter I had a since of the direction it was taking me. However, I was never really familiar with the term “School to Prison Pipeline” For most of the youth the pipeline begins with poor resources in the school system. Which could include overcrowding classroom, under qualified teachers and low funding for counselors and special educators. ( (https://www.aclu.org/fact-sheet/what-school-prison-pipeline) I think the standard testing contributed to the dropout rate among our youth. Example if a child has already failed a grade and is at risk of failing again more than likely he or she will drop out.
Therefore, I strongly believe that the schools play a huge role in the expulsion and dropout rate which has a direct impact on the “School to Prison Pipeline” The zero-tolerance policies that has been on place has also had an impact on students who are not nuisances or at risk. Imagine your child gets suspended for bringing a nail clipper to school… Overly harsh disciplinary policies push students
directly down the pipeline. Suspend and expelled students often fall behind on their coursework and are left at home unsupervised. Another area within the school that has a huge impact on how the youth view structure is to place our children in schools with police officers patrolling the hall. It is as if the children are already in a prison or restricted environment for just attending school. This also contributes to the dropout rate for youth.
Now this leads to the other half of the pipeline the juvenile system. So a child home environment does not contribute 100% to the expulsion and dropout rate. The school admistrators as well as the school board play a bigger role then they would like to admit.
What can the schools do differently to achieve different results?
Well to start I do not agree with the standard testing. All children test and learn differently. The standardized test can assist one child and hinder another. Also the 0% tolerance should always be reviewed on a case by case basis. Now most school districts offer alternative schools for those youth who have been expelled from the general school system. This alternative is more like a second chance if the student really wants to change. I believe that we (school district) should promote and support more qualified teachers and counselors this could get to the root of the disruptive behavior. Some school really just don’t want to deal with those unruly children and would like them to become someone else’s problem. Which the someone else turns into the tax paying citizens. There are several options to eliminate the “School to Prison Pipeline” If we start at the root and work our way
up.