If you think the school to prison pipeline doesn’t exist think again. The pipeline often starts in low income schools and and ends at the country’s prison system. When I first entered the classroom as a teacher, the Mister was in prison. I had no idea what I was walking in to. I was nervous about teaching because I didn’t major in education and had no experience as a teacher.
My major was biology and I honestly hadn’t picked up a biology book, or anything biology related, since I graduated five years earlier. I remember walking into the classroom not knowing what to expect and what to really do. So I did what I knew, I taught my students the way I was taught in college since that’s where they would be soon. As I started asking questions, I realized we just weren’t connecting. But it wasn’t that we weren’t connecting because of my biology hiatus. We weren’t connecting because too many, not all, but many of my students were struggling academically.
Now in no way, shape, form or fashion am I putting my students down. I can honestly say, I love each and everyone that I’ve come across. And yes, some of us had quite a few run-ins but the love was always there. My issue was I didn’t understand what went on from the time I graduated high school in 1996 to 2005. I was so surprised and hurt at the number of my high school students that couldn’t read fluently; I was surprised and hurt at the number of kids that didn’t want to learn; I was surprised and hurt that too many students didn’t see the importance of an education. What happened? Well, you can check out some of what I think happened in Graduation Rate Increases, Knowledge Decreases.
It was quite obvious that students were being socially promoted if they made it to the high school without being able to perform the basics. What I learned from my family members that are teachers from different states, as well as, teachers I met during the years from across the country at workshops, is that this was the norm not just in my school district but nationwide for schools in low income areas. So there we have it, mass miseducation is the feeder to mass incarceration. No rocket science. No major research needed to come to that conclusion. It simply is what it is! The public school system is one of Jim Crow’s accomplices.
My students would often say to me, “school is just like prison!” I would assure them that it was nothing like prison and even ask them have you been to a prison to know what prison’s like? Well, it wasn’t until I was at school one day, leading my students in a single file line (let me add, I was a secondary teacher, not elementary), making them be quiet and stand on the wall, that I began to feel like the Correctional Officers that I watched in action when visiting the Mister. I hate when visit is over, because I hate to see grown men lined up on a wall being told what to do. I literally turn my back to that dehumanization.
I began to despise leading those lines but that’s the way several schools were and are run. When students were in trouble, they were sent to a room (In School Suspension) to finish work they more than likely didn’t understand, but no form of rehabilitation was taking place. Now that I think about it, administrators were the Wardens and the teachers were the Correctional Officers. Sad but true. When students were disciplined the teachers kept documentation in order to build a “case”. Sound familiar?
Now not all schools are operated like this. But again, teachers talk from district to district. And many schools in low-income areas function in this manner. If students are graduating not being able to read, what are their chances of success after graduating? Well, they’re going to continue to live life, start families, and attempt to provide for their families. But unfortunately, they will soon realize that minimum wage won’t be enough. So what do they do? They do what they can to survive and a lot of times that survival method is to do whatever they can by any means necessary. If that means breaking the law, then they will take that chance.
So now, you have children without their mother or father who didn’t receive the best education raising children that are traveling through the same pipeline as their parents. The cycle continues. So why not put preventative measures in place? Simple…America has prisons to fill!
I am doing my part to make sure my son grows up to be healthy.
This is so true!! I work in all grades as a long-term contracted substitute. I saw little ones as young as 3 sent to the principal’s office. I try so hard to show these kids love and empathy but it is hard when they give made attitude and awful behaviors.
You’re right, it is hard! It’s good that you do show love and empathy, some educators truly don’t. Most of the time there are circumstances at home that cause the children to act out and they don’t even know how to receive love you’re trying to give.