Jimmy Higgins
Contributor
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2001
- Messages
- 44,683
- Basic Beliefs
- Calvinistic Atheist
To me, just based on the numbers implies a suspension policy that is inadequate and failing students, not necessarily because of race. From the numbers alone it could be a race ignorant issue, where as the policies don't negatively affect white students, therefore it is assumed the policies have to be fine and "black culture" is the problem.I'd need more info on the race of all involved, and the general breakdown of race in the school. Hard to tell if it is racism or an attempt to make more money for detention facilities. Either way, it is grossly disturbing.
Then consider this as well
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/education-under-arrest/school-to-prison-pipeline-fact-sheet/Students who are forced out of school for disruptive behavior are usually sent back to the origin of their angst and unhappiness—their home environments or their neighborhoods, which are filled with negative influence. Those who are forced out for smaller offenses become hardened, confused, embittered. Those who are unnecessarily forced out of school become stigmatized and fall behind in their studies; many eventually decide to drop out of school altogether, and many others commit crimes in their communities.
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact reason for the school-to-prison pipeline. Many attribute it to the zero tolerance policies that took form after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. Others blame educators, accusing them of pushing out students who score lower on standardized tests in order to improve the school’s overall test scores. And some blame overzealous policing efforts. The reasons are many, but the solutions are not as plentiful.
and this
http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/05/good_news_in_miss_school-to-prison_pipeline_closed.htmlThe sealing of the school-to-prison pipeline in Meridian, Miss. has officially started after a U.S. District Court judge approved what the Department of Justice is calling “a landmark consent decree” that features a “far-reaching plan to reform discipline practices … that unlawfully channel black students out of their classrooms and, too often, into the criminal justice system.
In March, the Justice Department reached agreement with the Meridian Public School District to decrease excessive suspensions and expulsions of mostly young black students for trivial infractions like wearing the wrong colored socks. Kids were lucky if they were only suspended — in many of these cases, schools called the police to arrest the students, as young as 10 years old, and send them to juvenile facilities, as reporter Julianne Hing found last November.