Compare schools to prisons, in all truth there is not much difference. Picture yourself walking through a school where the students look the same, the same bland uniform and the same miserable faces. It is accurate to say that schools in Britain are morphing into jails and pupils are being stripped of their identity, before even getting to the age of five.
The point of schools is to teach children and teenagers how to ‘strive to be the best they can be’ but tell me this how can they be the best when they can’t even be themselves? Children are told every single week day to completely ignore who they are and to blend in with everyone else, it’s appalling. School uniforms are not good for pupil learning as it discourages them to have their own personality and style. According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada ‘ allowing students to choose their own clothing is an empowering message from the schools that a student is a maturing person who is entitled to the basic self-determination.’ This point was argued in a court case when a boy refused to cut his hair shorter, to what extent are schools willing to go with school uniforms and regulations? To a point where long hair is not allowed? Or to a point where self expression is forbidden all together?
Although parents and teachers believe school uniforms are good for pupils, pupils themselves disagree. Study shows that students dislike wearing the identical style of clothing every day to school, it is boring and
In March of 2013 7-year-old Anne Arundel was suspended for biting a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun and then making shooting noises (Chasmar). Arundel was suspended for two days for threatening other students (Chasmar). This is only the beginning of a pipeline that is leading children into prison. The School-to-Prison Pipeline has made it to where students, mainly black and hispanic, are being punished harshly and punished by being expelled or sent to juvenile detention centers which eventually lead to prison.
“Tomorrow 's future is in the hands of the youth of today” is not a particularly new sentiment. But what is new, what has become a pressing question, is what is to become of the future if our youth are behind bars instead of in schools? Youth today are being pushed into the criminal justice system at an alarming rate. This issue is known as the school to prison pipeline ─ the rapid rate at which children are pushed out of schools and into the criminal justice system. The school to prison pipeline is a term that came into use by activists in the late 1970’s and has gained recognition throughout the years as the issue became more prominent in the 1990’s. Some activists view policies meant to “correct” misbehaviors, especially in regards to Zero Tolerance policies and the policing of schools, as a major contributor to the pipeline. Others believe that the funding of schools and the education standards are to blame for the rapid increase of youth incarcerations. While the school to prison pipeline affects every student, African American students, both male and female, are more often the victim of discrimination in education. The school to prison pipeline must end, and the trend must be reversed.
America is the land of opportunities and the land of freedom, where people can carry guns and received free options like free education; Everyone can criticize anything including the government and get away with it. In the article “The School-to-Prison Pipeline” by Los Angeles journalist Marilyn Elias, she elaborates how racial minorities and children with disabilities were disproportionately represented in the school-to-prison pipeline. Elias suggest that teachers were harsher with Minorities and children with disabilities and these children were disproportionately suspended and expelled which increases the likelihood to be a drop out and wind up behind bars. It was mentioned that police on campus has helped to criminalized many students and
The wide traditional school policies that are harsh, cruel and rigid and the ever increasing responsibility of implementation of regulations in institutions of learning have led to the emergence of School-to-Prison Pipeline in which
The School-to-Prison Pipeline is a “national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems” (“School-to-Prison Pipeline”). This phenomenon brings children into the juvenile justice system at a very young age. An article published in the journal Urban Education explains that, “The school-to-prison pipeline contributes to the atmosphere of increased surveillance of schools including police presence in schools, zero-tolerance policies, physical restraint tactics, and automatic consequence policies, resulting in suspensions from school” (Martin, Beese 2015). By increasing police presence in schools, children are more likely to be searched, questioned, or targeted by police than they would be without police present. And as a result, “children are far more likely to be subject to school-based arrests—the majority of which are for nonviolent offenses, such as disruptive behavior—than they were a generation ago” (“School-to-Prison Pipeline”). For example, if a child was misbehaving in class in a school that had a police presence, they could possibly get arrested and sent to prison. But if a child was acting the same way in a school that did not have any police presence, they would not be arrested. Police would most likely be present in a school in an urban environment or poor neighborhood because more crime occurs in urban and poor places, so in theory, by placing police in schools, they would be preventing any crimes
The ever-growing problem that is occurring in public schools around the country is the school to prison pipeline epidemic. The school to prison pipeline is a term used to describe how students are being pushed out of public school and into the criminal justice system. This epidemic is a result of the education system’s zero tolerance policy that enforces harsh punishments for misbehaving students. Although its goal was to eliminate misbehavior, studies have shown that the increased disciplinary actions have resulted in a modified school environment, police in school
This mean that school-to-prison pipeline schools have an environment where the majority of the students cannot pursue an education freely without worrying about being criminalized by police officers for minor offence. This is also known as “feeder schools” since the schools are feeding the prison students. The school-to-prison pipeline is split into two parts: path 1 and path 2. Pathway 1 is that “suspensions and expulsions [put] students at risk of becoming incarcerated because they remove [them] from the positive influences of schools while increasing the opportunities for students to encounter negative influences” (Krezmien, Leone, and Wilson 2014). Pathway 2 illustrates that if students are referred to law enforcement or the judicial system, they will be criminalized instead of treated as a student (Krezmien, Leone, and Wilson 2014). Therefore, school-to-prison pipeline is an inefficient system to implement in any schools to provide a learning and progressive environment since it contradicts the schools’ morals, values, and
In recent years, public schools have been accused of participating in the school to prison pipeline. The school to prison pipeline refers to the growing incarceration of youths, resulting from the zero tolerance policies implemented in schools. Therefore, I decided to do my research based on the school to prison pipeline to understand what these accusations mean and their consequences. My research will be divided into three main categories; what is it and how the pipeline became common practice, how it affects the United States, and some solutions to the problem. So far, my claim is that the public schools unintentionally started to connect more students with the judicial system because of growing concern over crime. But when it became known
School to prison pipeline is an upcoming challenge for today's schools on deciding what the punishment should be for students. “a disturbing national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.”Daniel J. Losen & Gary Orfield eds., 2002)
School to Prison Pipeline is a zero-tolerance policy enforced by the school, police officer, and a judge. It is punishable by a ticket, court appearance, and even put away in prison or a juvenile detention center. Also, includes the presence of a police officer at the schools, which can include harsh tactics, physical restraint, punishments that result in suspensions, expulsion, or “push out” of class. Why are we letting this happen to your kids? If these children are supposed to be the next generation, we must help them not end up in prison, for minimal things they do.
In today’s society our children go down one of two paths: become successful or become criminals. The question then must be asked: have we allowed our children to be tracked down such opposite paths by using discipline as an excuse? There may well be an argument that ultimately the school and prison system have nothing to do with one another; however, I believe they have become one in the same. When a child can be suspended from school for bringing a plastic knife to cut his banana or a child can be expelled after two incidents of misbehavior, I think we have a problem. Where is the compassion and understanding that our education system
School uniforms and dress codes are becoming a popular trend among schools. Most Students and some parents don’t agree with the enforcement with school uniforms, saying that uniforms are taking away self-expression in schools. But, school uniforms are not a negative thing to have. Yes, uniforms and some very strict dress codes limit what the students have to choose to wear to school every day, but it doesn’t limit them from learning which is the main reason they are in school. Some students treat school as a fashion show, so eliminating the size of wardrobe shifts the attention toward their school work. Although requiring students to wear school uniforms may violate their self-expression in some ways, a uniform is supposed to be looked
Nowadays, we see many teenagers dress in spaghetti-strap tank tops, low-cut shirts, drop pants, pajamas, and even spandex shorts in school even though there have been policies about dress codes. Teachers, parents, and other adults feel disgruntled about the way they dress. Many students also complain about difficulties in concentrating on schoolwork because of the same reason. Obviously, what students wear to school has become a very distracting issue in the school environment. Therefore, school uniforms should be required in public schools due to many reasons.
While wearing uniforms, students have to obey and follow the rules, so they will learn how to respect others. An article reports “Teachers and principals often report that discipline problems are reduces in schools that implements a standardized dress program.” (School Uniforms). In addition, wearing school uniforms is a step of preparation for professional life. When you have a job, you will have to wear uniforms. Whether you are a doctor or a nurse, you are in the same position. School uniforms also help students to realize that they are a part of a group, so they feel liked they belong and learn to take responsibility for whatever they do.
It is a belief that school uniforms teach students to respect their learning environment and behave themselves, and, therefore improving discipline. However, that assumption isn’t entirely correct. Researchers have actually found that school uniforms don’t make students better behaved. According to a study of more than 4,500 students, those who wore a school uniform did not have fewer behavior problems or better attendance. Forcing students to wear uniforms lead to more problems and misbehavior instead of encouraging discipline. Students could get into trouble if they did not wear their uniforms correctly. Many kids in today’s society cannot stand the thought of someone telling them what to do, especially what to wear. Instead of encouraging respect, uniforms may cause rebellions. For example, in 2009, a group of students at John A. Ferguson Senior High School rebelled against their school uniforms. Instead of following their school uniform requirements, the students wore what they thought would be a better school uniform to school. Not only uniforms don’t earn schools the respect from its students, but it may also lead to more problems.