School To Prison Pipeline Essay

The school-to-prison pipeline targets inner city kids and makes it nearly impossible for them to finish school and have success. Overbearing police presence and zero-tolerance policies give the affected children a disadvantage and forces them to work twice as hard to get half as far. Through less criminalization of children of color and less use of the police force the school-to-prison pipeline can be decreased and ultimately stopped.
A zero-tolerance policy was vastly adopted following the 1999 Columbine shooting. It was created in order to make schools safer by giving harsh punishments no matter the circumstances of the issue nor the child. By using this policy, minor mistakes made by students are criminalized and can give them a criminal
With an SRO present, there is a direct connection from the students to local law enforcement, referrals are made to them more often, and mischievous students get a reputation with the police force which eventually causes minor offenses to be major offenses. In order to stop the school to prison pipeline, adults need to stop viewing students of color any differently from white students. Before they have even shown what they are capable of, teachers often already have an incorrect disposition about them. The zero-tolerance policy needs to be lessened, as it has been proven ineffective, and police officers need to be less involved in minor mistakes made by kids who don’t know any better. The school-to-prison pipeline is significant to me because I see the importance in young people. Those children are the future. To lessen their probability of a successful future is to lessen the probability of our country having a successful future. It is our responsibility to lead them on the right path, guide them to stand up for what they believe in, and make a difference. It may be too late for older generations, but it is not too late for