Essay On School to Prison Pipeline

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Literature Review on Article “Turning off The School to Prison Pipeline by Harry Wilson
“School-to-prison pipeline” is a phrase that describes the close connection that exists between exclusion from school to the criminalization of young people. In an article entitled "Turning off the school-to-prison pipeline,” Harry Wilson argues that “zero tolerance” policies have been responsible for increased incarceration of young men, particularly African Americans (49). Scholars argue that there are better strategies of dealing with these students instead of subjecting them to the exclusion. According to Fasching-Varner, Mitchell, Martin, and Bennett-Haron, most students who fail in their education are often subjected to poor life outcomes, which is similar to “death by education” (410). Therefore, there is a need for effective strategies that can be used to engage students instead of subjecting them to the exclusion that eventually leads to poor life outcomes.
Studies have shown that that the policies that educators implement to improve behaviour and academic success are the same ones that cause failure and promote school-to-prison pipeline. Harsh disciplinary policies have significantly contributed to school the exclusion and increased incarceration. Wilson argues that one such policy the "zero tolerance" in schools where any social problem is categorized as a security issue (50). When the zero-tolerance policy is applied in schools, it contributes to automatic punishment for small offences, which can eventually result in the exclusion of the accused individual. When cases of crime are rampant in society, zero-tolerance policies contribute to increased expulsion and suspension of students. Furthermore, such policies in the justice system tend to subject students to severe punishment which prevent them from continuing with their education. According to Kim, Losen and Hewitt 195), since there are predetermined punishments for certain forms of offences, it implies that instructors fail to examine the individual needs of a student.
I agree with the arguments of the author that there is an urgent need to reform the policies that are implemented in the education system, particularly when it comes to correcting students’ behaviours. Scholars argue that policies that focus solely on security when implementing corrective strategies in schools fail to address the specific needs of a student (Wilson 50). Studies have shown that education reforms have regarded ethnic and racial disparities as dysfunctions, leading to increased imprisonment of African Americans and Latinos in comparison to Whites (Fasching-Varner et al. 411). Such policies have led to uneven educational outcomes between the non-white students and their white colleagues.
Studies have shown that there are increa...