Dr. Rios: Zero Tolerance Study

In the article “Fremont high school”, Jonathan Kozol describes how the inability to provide the needed funding and address the necessities of minority children is preventing students from functioning properly at school. He talks to Meriya, a student who expresses her disgust on the unequal consideration given to urban and suburban schools. She and her classmates undergo physical and personal embarrassments. Kozol states that the average ninth grade student reads at fourth or fifth grade level while a third read at third grade level or below. Although academic problems are the main factor for low grades, students deal with other factors every day. For example, School bathrooms are unsanitary, air condition does not work, classrooms have limited

The School to Prison Pipeline was chosen as a topic because it is relevant, controversial and dramatically affecting the nation’s youth. The school to prison pipeline proposes youth to choose between an education and jail, though the decision has often already been decided for them. A child should never be pushed away from education for any reason. School is the one place society depends on to guarantee that youth discover world of knowledge, their identity and a safe haven away from home. This issue is no secret as it is very obvious to see in almost any school district that the pipeline is an ongoing practice. The author takes an interest in this topic being a strong advocate of academics. The author disapproves of the pipeline effect as it shows detrimental damages to educational systems and young children across the nation. From the earliest school age to the last, youth are being stripped of their educational privileges due to an unfair system.

Out of school suspensions (OSS) are often enforced with the assumption that students receiving the suspension are less likely to repeat the problem behavior in the future. However, this has been proven to be false. Suspending a student for engaging in a certain behavior does not in fact serve as a deterrent from the behavior but as a deterrent from attending school instead. In actuality, receiving just a single suspension can increase the probability of a student experiencing academic failure, school dropout, and involvement in the juvenile justice system. Knowing this, some educators still believe that for many students, suspension can serve as an effective lesson. One of the greatest concerns that educators and administrators face is the matter of classroom management. It is part of their job to ensure a safe, productive and supportive classroom allowing students to learn and grow to their greatest potential. Though there are several strategies gauged towards managing a classroom, the most severe offences often lead to either in or out of school suspension. Some of the largest concerns faced with out of school suspensions is that they are often ineptly applied, used unfairly against students of color and seemingly ineffective at producing better behavior. Also known as exclusionary discipline, the majority of offenses that led to OSS have not been centered around violence but instead emphasised issues of classroom insubordination and defiance. In some rather extreme cases

Zero-tolerance policies developed to prevent drug abuse and violence in school in 1990 in the U.S. Even if those behaviors or small things minor offenses were done by accident or unconsciously, students get prosecuted and sent into the juvenile justice system as a punishment. Schools create disciplines for suspending and expelling students when they break certain rules. For example, if a student brings a weapon to school, including items that may not hurt anyone like nail clippers and toy guns, if a student has drugs, including medications or alcohol on campus, if a student says anything that someone could get as a threat, if a student does not obey teacher’s instruction, if a student fights with other students, the student would be given punishment with no choice. After adopting this policy, the number of school suspensions and dismissals increased, and the number of students who send into the prison also increased as well. Therefore, the school to prison pipeline became an issue in the education system.

For my entire life of schooling, both my parents and I would agree that I constantly complained about the educational systems in which I was enrolled. But when I actually take the time to think about everything I have been through, I realize that I have indeed had an excellent education. My schooling was full of opportunities and experiences, all of which contributed to the person I am today; adequate education has been an indispensable facet of my being. Sadly, not everyone has had this same privilege. And now as a college student, I am becoming even more aware of this sad fact. Looking around me in such a diverse city as Chicago, I find myself being more and more grateful. When I read Jonathan Kozol's Fremont High School, this these

Rebecca London, a research professor at UC Santa Cruz, explains about how the zero tolerance policy plays a critical role in developing the school-to-prison pipeline. The zero tolerance policy was implemented in 1990 in hopes to reduce the amount of criminal related activity in schools (London 2017). Because of the policy, many minor or small infringement of the school rules criminalized at-risk students. For example, students were punished heavily for carrying nail clippers, having over the counter medications, and even cutting the lunch line (London 2017). Students who partake in any of the examples or anything similar will be suspended or face tougher consequences than normal discipline actions compared to a privileged school. By punishing

The premise of this paper is to discuss the definition, background, and negative aspects concerning zero-tolerance policies in high school education. The use of reports, mental development research, and examples will provide sufficient evidence that zero tolerance policies are ineffective and creates more harm than good for high school students. To address the need for attention, alternative recommendations will provide positive results if adopted and implemented correctly in school districts.

Victor Rios is not only an author of a book called Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys, but he is also an ex-felon. Rios holds a PH.D. in sociology and is now an assistant professor at the University of Santa Barbara. Victor Rios has published on juvenile justice, masculinity, and race and crime in scholarly in journals such as the Critical Criminology. He has not only lived the life he preaches about, he has shown to be extremely knowledgable in this life he has once lived and is also considered an expert in his field of sociology among his peers . Rios grew up in the streets of Oakland, California and found himself in the midst of trouble when he joined a gang at the age of 13. Victor Rios lived the life of the typical stereotypical hispanic young male, living in high crime poverty neighborhoods. As a young boy, he began dealing drugs, participating in the killings of people, and violence. Throughout his life, he has witnessed a great deal of horrific tragedies that not many thirteen year olds experience ever in their whole life. Throughout his experiences, he was able to live and tell his stories through his book, Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys. Victor Rios has used his past experiences for the good, he has mentored many kids who are going through what he went though as an adolescent. Throughout the many obstacles he has faced, it has opened up the opportunity for him to write this book about his life and the gang

It was November 2013. “I don’t want to go to High School in Bridgeport.” I remember telling my mom. My mom then said, “Wherever you go, you’re determined to succeed.”I didn’t want to be any average Bridgeport girl, I wanted to be more than that. I didn’t want to be a product of my environment or the system that was designed to fail me, so I knew the only way out for me was quality education. Bridgeport is one of the biggest cities in Connecticut yet we have one of the highest crime, poverty, and unemployment rates As a city we are already doing poorly and the education system is a whole other story. In a Bridgeport high school the students are at a very high disadvantage compared to surrounding high schools. The city’s budget cuts have been increasing steadily over the years from all the schools in the city. From art programs to music to even sports programs.Years leading up to my graduation I saw programs I enjoyed participating in slowly disappearing. It was the same thing over and over

After I saw Eddie’s story I found myself thinking back to my own learning history, coming very close to dropping out myself. School due to parental abuse, has in the past been nothing more than a social escape, away from home but no incentive to think about school work.

schools. School administrators became increasingly concerned about drug use and gang activity among students, and dramatic events such as the shooting at Columbine High School further solidified fears about school safety. In response to these problems, many schools began implementing policies of exclusionary discipline, (Skiba & Rausch, 2006).  Such policies are generally based on the assumption that removing students from schools when they behave disruptively will create peaceful learning environments and deter others from engaging in similar patterns of conduct.  However, frequent use of disciplinary removal from school is associated with a range of negative student outcomes, including ad increased contact with the juvenile justice system (Skiba, et al. 2008). (IN FAVOR OF EXCLUSIONARY). Such practices have long been embedded within the culture of public school discipline in the United States as a means to maintain safety and order in schools.

The greatly discussed dilemma of having a child be taught in a public school setting versus a homeschool setting has been evaluated by parents since the idea was first introduced in the 1970’s. Public schooling had been the standard method of teaching since it is a requirement for states to provide public, free education for children in grades K-12. However, the backlash against the system began when two educational theorists and supporters of school reform, John Holt and Raymond Moore, started to question both the techniques and the products of public schools. Some parents went on to support the ideas of them and began to teach their children in the environment of their own homes for several different reasons. Some included moral or religious reasons, a desire for high educational achievement, dissatisfaction with public schools’ instructional program, or concerns about drugs and peer pressure in a public school environment. Child development specialists believe that homeschooled children are isolated from the outside world, therefore making them socially handicapped. If being exposed to this type of education on an elementary school level, the child can suffer from the lack of fundamental development of effective social skills needed for a lifetime ahead of them.

Blacks now make up nearly 5 percent of the estimated 1.7 million children who were home schooled in the year 2002(Penn-Nabrit, 2003). Pockets of black home schooling families are popping up in Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Louisiana, California, New Jersey, and Texas (Penn-Nabrit, 2003). Black children also are dominating the ranks of local gym classes, religious scouting troops for home schooled children, Christian support groups and curriculum supervision programs for their parents, another sign home schooling advocates say that more black families are joining this movement. Most of them like white people, say that public and private schools in their neighborhoods are failing to provide their children with strong moral values, a quality education or a history of black culture and identity. Large class sizes and lack of one on one instruction are also to blame (Goldberg, 1998).

Historically, American students fall behind the rest of the developed world in the subjects of reading, math, and science within schools (Ripley, 2013). In assessing our inability to do as well as the top countries on the international PISA exam, people have tried to place the blame on a specific area and try to fix that one area in hopes of radically altering the results. Some want to argue that it is bad schools which form bad neighborhoods due to the school’s inability to produce strong students (Chilcott, 2010). Others see the fault in the neighborhoods and families within the neighborhoods, pointing out that it is the situations that these families find themselves in that makes it impossible to school their children (Tough, 2012). While the true problem does not completely conform to one idea listed above, acknowledging a student’s experiences ought to be addressed in schools to ensure that students not only succeed in the present, but also in the future.

Policies, at micro, mezzo, and macro levels, affect our schools and students every day and constitute the foundation of educational standards in North American schools; to say that students are unaffected on a micro level would be dismissive, ignorant, and narrow minded. Additionally, disregarding existing policies and practices in educational institutions and their potential interactions and effects with new policies and practices would be a grievous oversight in the decision-making process. Zero tolerance in schools was initially defined as “consistently enforced suspension and expulsion policies in response to weapons, drugs and violent acts in the school setting” (NASP, 2001); if anything, maintaining the safety or well-being of its students is a responsibility of the school and school district and a honorable goal to set. However, these policies have been broadened to include any rule infraction, more or less, regardless of mistakes, ignorance, or extenuating circumstances. With a broad policy like zero tolerance in schools comes a broad range of intended and unintended consequences; these consequences can be positive, negative, and possibly even affect the policy’s actual or perceived effectiveness.