Plugging the School to Prison Pipeline by Addressing Cultural Racism in Public Education Discipline
2012; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1556-5068
Autores Tópico(s)Education Discipline and Inequality
ResumoAs timely as today’s headlines, I take a critical look at the failure of the public schools to educate our children by criminalizing and alienating students of color and of economic disadvantage, forcing them out of the schools and into the juvenile justice system as the first step to a life of reduced expectations and productivity. We are failing to prevent these children from becoming disengaged from society and its institutions that were designed for their benefit – the institution of a free public education. It is time we frankly acknowledge that our long stored history of racial conflict has matured into more subtle expressions of superiority and inferiority evidenced by the demographics of that large segment of our children that fail to complete the basic high school education. Over 1,000,000 young people each year do not graduate on time. Call it dropouts, call it “leavers,” call it “delayed graduation,” give it whatever bureaucratic label you wish, but a population of our youth as large as the tenth largest city in the United States fails to timely graduate high school EACH YEAR. This is a failure of monumental proportions and has led to societal restructuring inconsistent with our history. The systematic exclusion from public education of children of color and of economic Associate Professor of Law and Director of Criminal Clinics at Texas Tech University School of Law; additionally teaches in the areas of Capital Punishment and Texas Juvenile Law. B.A. Texas Tech University 1970; J.D. The University of Houston 1973. Thanks to my colleague, Professor Jennifer S. Bard for her advice and patient mentoring, and to my colleagues at SEALS for encouraging me to write on this topic, in particular Professors Deborah Archer, Alfreda Robinson, Timothy Floyd, and Augustina Reyes. Also, I would like to thank the rest of my colleagues on the faculty of the Tech Law School who graciously gave me the opportunity to do this work, and in particular my friend, Professor Arnold Loewy. My special appreciation goes to my research assistants, Kama Lawrence, Sarah Rose, and Zack Allen for their hard work and cheerful professionalism. 2 Toppo, G., Atlanta cheating scandal tied to pressure of high-stakes standardized tests, USA TODAY, ASSOCIATED PRESS, DETROIT FREE PRESS, July 7, 2011. Available at: http://www.freep.com/article/20110707/NEWS07/107070562; Toppo, G., Amos, D., Gillum, J., and Upton, J., When test scores seem too good to believe, USA Today, March 17, 2011. Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-03-06-schooltesting_N.htm; Lenz, S., Report finds teachers helping students cheat to pass high-stakes testing. Deseret News. Salt Lake City, UT. March 10, 2011. Available at: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700117132/Report-finds-teachers-helping-studentscheat-to-pass-high-stakes-testing.html; Monahan, R., NYC drops controls to ferret out cheating on high-stakes standardized tests. NY DAILY NEWS. August 3, 2011. Available at: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2011/08/03/2011-0803_easier_for_cheaters_cuts_in_monitoring_of_city_school_tests.html?r=ny_local.
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