Elementary students in Indianola, Mississippi were unfairly arrested when caught talking during a school assembly. Schools in the U.S. have gotten way too strict when it comes to discipline. The causes and effects of these situations may be enough to ruin the high school careers of most of these students or even produce a bigger issue. Students are being robbed of their respect and dignity when punished and accused of being potential criminals. Notice, students in these schools either don’t care or aren’t getting any better. Zero tolerance policies in U.S. schools are highly unnecessary. U.S. schools establish unreasonable punishments towards students who break their policies. A study published in 2011 proved that about 60% were either expelled or suspended at some point in middle or high school. Also, these punishments were barely scraping the surface of being justified. “The majority of those suspensions and expulsions appear to be for offenses that did not involve behaviors that …show more content…
Only 35% of public schools and 13% of private schools are making an effort to enforce zero tolerance policies. It is true that students will have a better understanding of how to behave with zero tolerance policies made prominent, however, most students will not listen, therefore rendering zero tolerance policies useless. “Sure, kids will tell you these experiences were meaningful and that they liked them, but there’s no evidence that liking a program or experiencing an emotionally powerful presentation leads to changes in youth behavior,” says the article, “Many School Drug Prevention Programs Are Ineffective.” Students may feel that these presentations are insulting to their behavior or even distrustful. Adults in this generation force teens to be people that they want us to be, not who we want to be. Resulting in the student acting out. The behavior of students will not change for zero tolerance
The school to prison hypothesis describes how black children enrolled in schools face racialization and discrimination constantly and it is based off the “zero tolerance” policy (T. Davidson, Education, 2018, lecture 5). This theory connects to the book because Maynard explains throughout chapter eight of how black school children are treated differently. They are more subject to punishments and are susceptible to harsher disciplines. Black students are often seen as a threat within the education system and are constantly over surveilled. The linkage between the educational and criminal justice system is strong.
Topic: In the 1970’s, many schools operating in Dade County used corporal punishment as a form of punishment for misbehavior. A male student attending a Dade County Junior High School was forcibly restrained and paddled after failing to allegedly adhere to school policies. The student claimed that the paddling of students as a means of maintaining school discipline constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth Amendment; Issues: (1) Was it unconstitutional for the school to administer corporal punishment under the Eighth Amendment? (2) Did the school’s principal and vice principal violate the student’s Eighth Amendment by restraining him during punishment? (3) Under the Fourteenth Amendment, was the principal required
Additionally, the policies implemented and enforced, such as the zero-tolerance rules, disproportionately impact students of color, students with disabilities, and students from low-income families. Moreover, the beginnings of the pipeline were elaborated on, connecting it to the modern problems faced within the pipeline, all backed by conclusive research. Again, the majority of schools within these impoverished/ low-income communities may exercise numerous security measures, such as the placement of metal detectors, cameras, or even police officers to monitor the halls rather than teachers or administrators. As a result, a domino effect happens where more arrests within schools occur, resulting in another spiral that is juvenile detention centers and alternative disciplinary schools. Ultimately, three solutions were posed to such a dilemma, including increased funding for education in low-income neighborhoods, providing support for students with disabilities and mental health needs, and adopting restorative justice practices that focus on repairing harm rather than punishing students.
It is imperative that school administrators understand the underlying argument of property rights in relation to student’s school attendance. The school administrator represents the government, and as such must provide equal protection to all students to take advantage of this right. They also must understand the relevance of taking away an individual’s right without due process of the law, which is particularly relevant to suspensions and
McCarter describes thoroughly the consequences STPP has on the nation’s school-age youth, including but not limited to increased exposure the criminal justice system, and gives solutions that schools can implement that will hopefully limit the overwhelming amount of students coming in contact with the STPP. The article proves that zero tolerance policies are not conducive to a safe school environment and does not foster a safe learning climate for
The literature review clearly has shown that there is a phenomenon called School to Prison, Schoolhouse to Jailhouse, or Public Education to Prison Pipeline. Therefore, Jeremy Thompson (2016) says, “Zero-tolerance policies in schools result in high suspension rates and expulsion rates among students in general, but disproportionately affect minority students, especially African-Americans because students who have been suspended or expelled are more likely than not to end up in the Criminal Justice
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), students of color are more likely to be suspended or expelled from school than their white peers and are more likely to be referred to law enforcement for school-based offenses (ACLU, 2021). Students with disabilities are also disproportionately affected by this pipeline, according to the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), students with disabilities are more likely to experience exclusionary discipline practices than their non-disabled peers (NDRN, 2021). It is evident that the school-to-prison pipeline is an issue of inequality. It contributes to systemic oppression and discrimination in schools. School should be a safe place where students feel welcome and respected, not a place of inequality and
Or the North Carolina teenagers arrested and charged with “disorderly conduct” in 2013 for an end-of-the-year water balloon fight. This list continues endlessly (Flannery). Schools and the NEA took many different approaches to put an end to these needless practices by ordering school districts to respond to student misbehavior in fair, non-discriminatory, and effective ways. NEA leaders started to raise awareness of the issue, shape district and state policies, and provide resources on restorative practices. In 2014 an education association worked on creating a new student code of conduct that minimizes suspensions and allows students to learn from their mistakes.
Youth of color specifically are at an increased risk of being suspended at an extended time out of schools. Consequently, they are casted into the streets, which ultimately sends them into juvenile detentions or into prison. The problem of racial and ethnic disproportionality in the discipline of schools is not new issue. In 1974, in one of the earliest investigations of disciplinary policies and practices, “the Children’s Defense Fund revealed that suspension rates for African American students were between two and three times higher than those for white students”( Thomas Rudd February 05, 2015) Ongoing research are still showing that in many places, this problem have worsened significantly.
Everyday Braxton goes to school and does the correct things needed to be known as a good kid. One day a fight happens in front of Braxton and tries to break the fight up, instead of breaking the fight up, Braxton ends up being fought also. He is told that he is punished instead of helped. In the short run everyone thinks he will learn from his mistakes, in the long run, this is ran through all of the colleges and nobody accepts him, Braxton drops out. When it comes to student misbehavior, most schools have long practiced a basic system of crime and punishment, isolating the perceived “offender” through detention or suspension.
Many people supported the program despite the criticism and alleged failure presented by the media (newspapers and TV), and undesirable evaluation evidence. Both school district administrators and police officials supported this program because they regarded the evaluation evidence as unrealistic and not generalizable. Based on their argument, “substance abuse is a societal problem with deeply entrenched causes that no single intervention is strong enough to counter the drug pressure in society” (Birkeland et la, 2005). Therefore, decision makers found no valid reasons for discontinuing with the program. The authors found that the program developed and built harmonious relations between police officials, school administrators, students and their families.
Should schools continue to use the traditional form of punishment of suspending students? Is suspension a benefit or a disadvantage to a students learning? Is suspension the right thing to do for all students? For many years suspension has been a common punishment for bad behavior in school, though many people are starting to wonder whether suspending a student really helps them learn and grow or does it harm their learning career. This is a big debate that has just recently come into light.
This isn 't the first time that "bureaucratic determinism," where administrators declare themselves powerless to exert discretion and end up punishing students for infractions that even they agree didn 't contain any elements of threat or aggression, has triggered calls for a more lenient approach. Public outrage and media exposure have succeeded in reversing sanctions in cases such as suspensions when a student makes a "finger gun" (some schools interpret any such displays as threats). It 's an uphill battle, though, and the stone rolls down as soon as it reaches the top. A 13-year-old girl received a three-day suspension from a Texas middle school for a finger gun in 2010, making headlines; in December 2012, the hammer of justice came down on a 6-year-old, who received a one-day suspension from a Maryland elementary school for the same reason. That incident made the Washington Post, with over a thousand comments lambasting the school administrators for overreacting; nonetheless, in October of 2013, an 8-year-old was suspended for a day in Florida, also for making a finger
Remove or Revise Zero-tolerance policies are policies that have been adapted in work places, communities, and, most frequently, schools. Depending on how certain schools are run and who they are run by, zero-tolerance policies could be positive and helpful or negative and harmful. Many people wonder are these policies really effective in reducing crime and creating safer environments in schools like lawmakers claim these policies are doing ; most of the opponents to zero-tolerance policies believe that the policies are just cruel punishments that add to the problems that already exist in our schools and communities. There are obviously those who feel that the policies do exactly what they say they do; advocates for zero-tolerance policies
“Over 60% of teens claim drugs are used on school grounds”(Fitzgerald). Over the years, schools have not been doing anything to prevent this. Teens revealed that, “1 in 5 of their classmates either drink, use drugs, or smoke during school hours on school grounds” (Fitzgerald). More studies show that, “17% of high school students use drugs daily.” Kids in schools know someone who either does drugs, or sells drugs on school grounds (“School”).