Push in the Wrong Direction
The school to prison pipeline refers to all the aspects that contributes to how students in school are being pushed towards imprisonment. A very significant factor of the school to prison pipeline is often that schools choose to emphasize on punishment rather than education. This can be seen in the views/attitudes that adults have towards children of color, how teachers/disciplinarians react to certain students over others, the policies and rules that schools enforce, etc. Many situations have occurred around this operation in schools. Examples of this include teachers viewing students of color in a negative perspective and then choosing to act upon those prejudices. A teacher could choose to punish a black child over a white child when both are at fault. Another example would be where a teacher chooses to punish a student over some minor misconduct rather than simply correcting them on their mistakes in order to insure that they will know what the appropriate behavior is and that there won’t be a repetition of their misbehavior. Moreover, there are rules and policies that are constructed in a way to specifically target a particular group children over others.The hidden curriculum, subtle messages within schools that is not a part of the official curriculum, has a significant influence on the students and an be found if one notices carefully. This method of focusing on punishment instead of education is a major component of the school to prison pipeline. This pipeline leads to youth becoming incarcerated and more likely to go into a lifestyle of crime when they grown up.
The most important people that can change this situation are educators. They are the ones with the power to change a young individual’s life. Thus, teachers and the like need to be aware of their actions in front of impressionable youth. We as educated students need to become more aware of the situation and advocate for others when we see this issue occurring around. Only then, when educators and students both work together can this vicious cycle be stopped.
