The problem presented in this article is the school-to-prison pipeline. The explanation of the problem, a specific case, and a rebuttal will all be highlighted throughout this article. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay To understand why something is a problem, you must first understand the problem. The school-to-prison pipeline refers to the process of systematically targeting at-risk youth with harsh disciplinary policies (also known as zero tolerance policies) within the school system. Once these young people have been disciplined by the school for the offense committed, they are often presented to law enforcement for additional sanctions. Before they know it, they are completely excluded from the education system and integrated into the criminal justice system. In the book The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Structuring Legal Reform, the "central" aspect of the pipeline to this issue is described as "the failure of public institutions to meet the educational and social development needs of a large portion of the children they are charged with serving.” Overcrowded classrooms, socioeconomic and racially isolated environments, lack of constructive teachers, and inadequate funding are just a few flaws that have been found to “virtually set students up for failure.” In light of this, let's move on to statistics and put this into numbers. It should be noted that an African American man is the victim in the specific case highlighted in this article. So I will provide statistics involving African Americans to strengthen my argument. Looking at the 33 years from 1973 to 2006, the percentage of American students enrolled in public schools who were suspended at least once during the school year increased from 6% to 15%. This percentage has since doubled. When looking at racial gaps, the numbers are worse. Thirty years ago, African American men were twice as likely to be suspended as their white peers. Today, they are three times more likely. From 2002 to 2003, the risk of African American men being suspended was nearly 18%, compared to only 7% for their White peers (Kim, Losen, & Hewitt, 2010). Let's take a quick break from the numbers. Looking at this problem from a different perspective, this problem may not have affected you. Whether it's because of your race, your socioeconomic status, the region you live in (although the South is mentioned as a specific region, this problem is known to occur in many states and regions within the states -United) or even simply because you managed to avoid being targeted by your school officials. Either way, you may have been lucky enough not to have this problem. That being said, this problem could very easily become yours if you have children. You see, this problem is rather timeless. In other words, timeless means it's been a problem for a while now. It's not really urgent, and obviously no one is working feverishly on a solution to this problem. Therefore, over time this issue is likely to continue to be a problem and, as previously mentioned, just because it has slipped your mind doesn't mean it won't be a problem for your children. Do you want your children to have a longer cover sheet than they did before they even graduated due to the incessant targeting of school officials who are practically sworn to do their best for them? If the answer to thisquestion is no but you haven't done anything to look into this problem or investigate some of your child's public school policies that don't really sit well with you, you are part of the problem. Let's get to know one of the many victims of this problem. Dontadrian Bruce is a young African-American man: he was 15 years old at the time of this unfortunate event. He attended Olive Branch High, in Olive BranchMississippi. He was in his biology class on the last day of January 2014, working on a group project. Once he and his group were finished, the teacher of said class asked Bruce and his classmates to take a group photo with their work. Bruce started smiling and posed for the photo. Bruce's favorite pose; raising three fingers. His three favorite fingers were his thumb, index finger and middle finger, with the hand facing forward. The teacher took the photo and moved on to the next group. The following Monday, Bruce was called out of his first class of the day, English, by Olive Branch High assistant principal Todd Michaels. Michaels then explains to Bruce that he must be suspended for 3 days until his disciplinary hearing which will ultimately decide his fate at Olive Branch High. For what? Michaels stops and shows Bruce the photo his biology teacher took of him the previous Friday and explains, "You're holding up gang signs in this photo." Bruce very quickly tries to explain that the gesture he made in the photo was representative of his football jersey number, which is number 3. He also argues that all of his teammates do it too and had absolutely no idea that this gesture was also a gesture. symbol of affiliation with the Vice Lords gang (note that the presence of this gang is mainly 20 miles from Olive Branch). The 3 days pass and Bruce's mother accompanies him to the hearing. The verdict? “Indefinite Suspension with Recommendation for Expulsion” (NBC News, 2014). With all the information provided, it's safe to say you've formed an opinion. Your opinion either supports that this is a problem or refutes it, it's actually quite simple. For educator and author Robert Ward, the school-to-prison pipeline is a myth. To summarize his position, Ward believes that the school-to-prison pipeline is nothing more than a “scapegoat and simplistic solution to complex educational problems.” He also believes that educators and schools “are not the problem.” The “real culprit” for why children in the public school system are funneled into the justice system is “political paternalism, poverty, the systematic undermining of schools, and a pervasive media that also glorifies and normalizes violence, materialism , hypersexuality, narcissism and anti-socialism”. -intellectualism” (Ward, 2017). Ward makes a valid point, but have you ever heard of the saying "nice try, but no cigar?" ". First, his opinion on the matter will be biased because he is indeed an educator. This alone clouds his judgment and also makes him defensive. As an educator, he probably feels attacked, and rightly so, almost as if his character and reputation are being called into question. Despite this, you cannot realistically say that "schools and educators are not the problem" unless you have visited all existing public schools and thoroughly researched them. He relies too much on what he's seen in his classroom and the fact that he's worked with "at-risk teens for 26 years." This is a very closed-minded opinion that has virtually no basis. He attempts to provide statistics to support his point of view, but no. 2019].