School Pushout Is A Form of Systemic Oppression
By: Olivia Perry
School Pushout is plaguing our nation. To bring more equity to our education system, School Pushout should beone of the first things to be eliminated. Before I dive into why I believe School Pushout needs to end, let’s define the term. “School Pushout” defines the act of driving marginalized students out of schools. Schools use disciplinary actions to exclude minorities and force them into the juvenile justice system.
According to girls inc, Black female students are 7x more likely to be suspended, and 4x more likely to be arrested at school as compared to their White counterparts. School Pushout is arguably the largest contributor to the school to prison pipeline, as black students make up 31 percent of school-related arrests.
Though I’m fortunate to go to a well funded and relatively socially aware school, and have never personally experienced or witnessed any issues pertaining to School Pushout, as a Black female with a passion for education, this data saddens me greatly. Due to stereotypes and biases, Black students are stripped of the basic right to education, and stripped of a future.
School Pushout is the direct result of unchecked biases and prejudices. In schools, Black students are often stereotyped as loud, aggressive, and interruptive, leading to uncalled for disciplinary responses. The ideal solution for combating School Pushout is eliminating teachers’ deep rooted biases and prejudices towards marginalized communities. To work towards this goal, it’s important for schools to provide implicit bias training and more mental health resources. Now you may be thinking, “I’m 16 years old, I can’t give schools more mental health resources!” And to that, I’d say I feel you. As teenagers, it’s hard to find ways to help with School Pushout, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. If you want to help end School Pushout as a young person, you could simply spread awareness in your community or get involved in a grassroots movement such as, Dignity in Schools. Dignity in Schools is a group of youth and teachers that aims to stop the arrests of Black students, end physical punishment, and generate more funding for counselors in schools.
I am Olivia Perry, from Maryland and Louisiana, and currently a junior at St. Andrew’s School. I believe that everyone should have access to quality education, because knowledge provides power and liberation from systemic oppression.
