Hidden curriculum, school to prison pipeline

As someone who's worked on a campaign to combat the school to prison pipeline, there are definitely things that many powers that be overlook when dealing with both children living in poverty and children of color. There's a disregard of outlying circumstances and a sort of harshness towards students. When we take in to consideration the Zero Tolerance Policies (policies that allow for students to be kicked out of schools for having scissors in their back packs) and rates at which students get suspended and expelled, we have a problem. Many times, students who need extra help and time are the ones targeted and given up on..

I read a few different articles on the School to Prison phenomenon and can't help but think of Project Connect. When these low achieving students are committing minor crimes they become a nuisance to the educational system. Much like a dog eat dog model, the white middle to upper class educated students succeed while the lower social class of students get left behind. And instead of trying to encourage their development, we are much quicker to send them into the judicial system and in effect, take away any educational growth they might have been capable of. When they try to enter back into the school systems, they hit many barriers such as normal Public schools not accepting them back in on the basis of them being too far behind or simply unteachable anymore. This is where organizations like Project Connect come into play and have to step in to offer guidance to these students who have constantly been told they aren't good enough for education, based off a mistake they may have made when they were young. I think this raises the question of how do we stop this School to Prison mentality. I know it is easier said than done, but I think teachers need to start taking the time to encourage positive behavior interventions for these at risk students instead of just sending them away for minor infractions. Without portraying that these behaviors are acceptable, teachers should be disciplining while giving the student an opportunity to learn and grow from their mistake. If they just send them away for the law to deal with it, you are sending them into a system that will completely stunt their educational growth.

there's been quite a bit statistical research done on the school to prison pipeline. they almost universally find support for the idea that higher levels of education will reduce crime overall. One of the theoretical points the researchers make is that because education tends to increase future earnings, it also raises the opportunity costs of participating in crime. It also raises the costs of time spent in jail since that obviously adversely affects career prospects. Education also tends to make people more risk-averse; they understand that they can achieve greater prosperity in life but pursuing an education and finding a career. In other words, they're much more far-sighted.

Young people who commit crimes often tend to be more short-sighted. They don't see the point in being patient with education and pursuing a career if they can make money now by committing crimes. This is a failure of education and society at large. As teachers, it is extremely important to foster this sort of patient, risk-averse attitude when it comes to education. By instilling in students that education will improve their life; and often times can help them overcome whatever disadvantages they may be facing, students can begin to see how pursuing education is really like making an investment in their future.