Pros And Cons Of The Pre-School To Prison Pipeline

To begin, the pre-school to prison pipeline is a gateway that directs black children to be incarcerated in the justice system. Schools reinforce harsh tactics to punish black children, as a method of teaching them discipline. According to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, “African-American students are three and a half times more likely than their white classmates to be suspended or expelled” (“The School-to-Prison”, Para 9). Educators have biased views towards black preschoolers, treating them as less human than whites, giving black children a discriminatory disadvantage. This includes out of school suspensions for a small misdemeanors. If a white student were to commit the same offense, they would be given minimal …show more content…
The presence of police officers creates a more strict presence in schools, causing arrest and assault rates to drop. The use of law enforcement allows children to see that the school is serious about giving consequences for any misbehavior. This allows the mindset of the children and their behaviors to change, adapting to the more controlled and zero tolerance environment. Although this is true in some cases, other sources prove that zero tolerance policies are actually another excuse to kick misbehaved children out of class. Even though the zero tolerance policies create a strict environment that forces students to properly behave, it is a policy that allows authorities to give harsh punishments for small wrongdoings (Para 11). The idea of zero tolerance policy is to have no remorse for students that potentially influence bad behavior upon other classmates and the school. Using this policy allows the school to give the highest punishment …show more content…
Black male students are perceived to be the instigator and guilty of victimizing white boys (Kolhatkar 2). Because of this, it is easier for administrators to give black students harsh punishments since the stereotypes of aggression and hostility fit their profile. Educators unconsciously act biased towards black students, making it them more susceptible to being punished unfairly. Based off the U.S. Department of Education data, 18 percent black students are enrolled into preschool, but 48 percent of black children received out of school suspensions. However, there are 43 percent white students that are enrolled into preschool, and only 26 percent of them received out of school school suspensions (Klein, Para 4-5). The education system is clearly flawed if majority of the population receives less suspensions than the rest of the students. This system is favoring white students because they automatically blame the black student for initiating the situation. So they believe it would be a lot easier to get rid of them, instead of playing their role as a school, and teaching them to grow and learn right from wrong. According to psychology professor Tuppett M. Yates, ¨...some kids [whites] are being educated towards innovation and leadership and others