Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools — A Book Review
Black girls notice the verbal and nonverbal cues that signal what they are supposed to do and be in life, and they are astute enough to realize when the learning environment is producing something other than its stated goal of educating children. What is often being produced creates a climate so hostile that it pushes girls out of school, and so toxic that it is giving us all an attitude. — Monique W. Morris, Pushout (pg. 66)
This is the assessment of Monique W. Morris, Ed.D. in her book Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools, based on her years long study interviewing and collecting narratives of Black girls and their experiences in school settings across the United States. Lending a voice to criminalized and often marginalized girls, Dr. Morris provides a compelling groundwork for policymakers and educators.
Dr. Morris takes a close look at what Black girls face in the American education system, both in community schools and within the juvenile justice system. From discriminatory dress codes, zero tolerance policies, poor student-teacher relationships based on perceptions of willful defiance and “attitude,” to educational institutions that reinforce society’s racial and gender hierarchies, Black girls pay a price. They are expelled and suspended at higher rates than their white peers, drop out of school at higher rates and are often not provided adequate opportunity, understanding, or resources for redemption when they have gotten off track.
Much of Pushout is dedicated to relaying the experiences of Black girls through a narrative lens. Two primary themes addressed in the book are hyper-punitive learning environments and discipline as experienced by Black girls, or what readers would traditionally refer to as the school-to-prison pipeline, and the marginalization of Black girls, cis and transgender, resulting from sexualization and regulation of their bodies.
The reader learns about girls like Michelle and Diamond. Michelle, from Chicago, describes the city’s schools as looking like “mini-prisons” and decries the feeling of “always being watched.” Diamond was persistently absent from school and found herself regularly fighting fellow students who were teasing her and was expelled as a result. What the school failed to recognize was that Diamond was a victim of sex trafficking. Of these victims, Dr. Morris writes, “With little understanding of how they’re being pulled out, we call them dropouts. We — educators, neighbors, and other community members — fail to include their stories and experiences in our understanding of how and why girls may not be attending school or how the jezebel stigma affects their ability to go to school.” (pg. 118)
The book concludes with a chapter on how the historical breakdown in the relationship between schools and Black girls can be repaired. Dr. Morris identifies several themes for producing better learning environments for Black girls. These include decreased emphasis on discipline and surveillance, requiring a disruption in the criminalizing pathways that are repeated time and again in schools; stronger student-educator relationships addressing the lack of connection that Black girls feel to their teachers; as well as “school–based wraparound services” that can support girls in and out of school.
From her interviews it becomes clear to Dr. Morris that Black girls are looking for “educational programming that [is] respectful, collaborative, and tied both to preparing for their futures and to building relationships.” (pg. 189) She emphasizes the need to center girls and intersectionality in education scholarship and practice and concludes, “What I learned and now know with certainty from this experience is that the education of Black girls is a lifesaving act of social justice.” (pg. 196)
New Washington State Study
The recent report Girls of Color in Juvenile Detention in Washington State finds that while Black girls make up 4.9% of the female youth population, they make up 14.6% of the female population in juvenile detention in the state. The majority of girls in Washington enter juvenile detention for misdemeanor offenses, while the majority of boys are detained for felonies.
In Pushout Dr. Morris reports similar findings nationwide and that arrest and detention rates for girls have risen, while they have fallen for boys. It is these trends that showcase the need for a continued focus on criminal justice and education policy issues surrounding girls, and particularly girls of color. Like Pushout, the report urges a move away from traditional school discipline and different approaches to truancy. Read the report here.
New Proposed Washington State Legislation
The legislature established the Improving Institutional Education Programs and Outcomes Task Force in the 2020 legislative session. The task force held five work sessions and provided a report to the governor and legislature in December. Legislation prompted by the task force proposals was passed by the State Senate on April 3rd of this year. In Pushout Dr. Morris calls for such measures in her analysis of education programs in juvenile detention settings. (SC)
