Studies Confirm the Dehumanization of Black Children and the ‘Preschool-to-Prison Pipeline’

While I think there is a definite problem with how schools treat students, and I think certain charter schools have shown that all kids can be educated, even the groups typically considered "unteachable" by public schools, I also think this is pinning too much on education and ignoring the other societal elements that play a big factor in this.

I used to work at an at-risk program for very young kids, and the things I've seen parents do was just so astonishing I'd go home and bawl at night. We had parents who didn't care enough to pick their kids up because they knew someone would bring the child back if they didn't. I saw kids who were completely resented by their parents and emotionally abused them. I had a kindergartener once tell me that he wished he was in jail so he wouldn't have to go to school, and it turned out his father and older brother and uncle were all in jail. This is not all black families, btw. This was a mix of races.

I read a great book while I was there about poverty and how it leads to future problems and how to try to overcome those, and I really think that in a lot of ways, poverty is one of the main factors in lack of success. We had a fantastic, wonderful mom who cared so much, but who worked three jobs just to feed her kids, and as such didn't have time to do things like work with them on homework.

Schools can definitely have a hugely positive influence, but I think unless you find ways to break a cycle of jail or help people out of poverty so that more time and effort can be spent on education, and so on, it's tough. Young kids often see going to jail as their future because it's the future of the other men they knew (for whatever reason). If you start out in elementary school thinking "I'm just going to go there anyway," it's very different from thinking, "Jail? That's scary! I'm never going to jail."

I'm just kind of rambling here, but just in my personal experience, I think that this is a really big problem that goes beyond just schools discriminating against students. Obviously that needs to stop, but we also need to change attitudes, help people who are poor, and stop things like police officers who use racial profiling, etc.

Just a +1 to kaitie.

I'm sure the educational system isn't helping, but it seems unlikely that any one factor alone created this problem, let alone perpetuates it... especially as I suspect it isn't just an American problem, or a black/white problem, but something that can and does occur almost anywhere.

One doesn't graduate public school; one survives it.

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(I don't think I've ever known who coined this phrase, so if you know, tell me and I'll attribute it.)

You could say that to my african-american friend who's graduating from Walter Payton (a public high school) and is currently in the process of deciding between attending The University Of Chicago and Yale.

I'd find it easier to believe that the UN Human Rights Committee is imputing causes and receiving sexed-up data to back up its imputations than that the absolute vast majority of American school teachers at all levels, of all colours, exude some aura of negativity and pessimism at black children which condemns them to a lack of education and dooms them to prison.

Rufus Coppertop said:

the absolute vast majority of American school teachers at all levels, of all colours, exude some aura of negativity and pessimism at black children

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This much is true — for many underrepresented minorities, not only blacks.

Which does not necessarily imply ill-intent. Or intent at all.

Don said:

The article then goes on to back up these assertions with reference to various studies. Public schooling is not healthy for children and other living things.

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It was never meant to be, according to an "acquaintence" of ours from the university here. He teaches higher education, ie if you attend the university here and want to be a superintendent or a principal then you have to go through his program at the uni.

After listening to the guy talk for a solid hour about higher education, and teaching childen K-12, I wanted to have the whole lot them thrown into prison! Basically it's one social experiment after another that is being exacted upon the youngest minds in society. He was pretty proud of the poision they are pumping out here at the university.

The fact is we all learn differently, the reality of public education is individuality is not to be celebrated but to be pounded out of you using whatever techniques will get the job done (his words not mine). Think the so-called melting pot.

kuwisdelu said:

This much is true — for many underrepresented minorities, not only blacks.

Which does not necessarily imply ill-intent. Or intent at all.

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Thank you, being half native american I can tell you from first hand experience that one does NOT have to be black to be discriminated against.

My daughter attends a small parish school which only has 60 odd pupils. Half of which have English as a second language, and 10% of the kids there have some sort of special need. For a small school it's pretty diverse, with about a third of the children being 'non-white'

My daughter is thriving there. As are ALL of her classmates. And this thread makes me increasingly glad that I made that decision to send her there.

kuwisdelu said:

This much is true — for many underrepresented minorities, not only blacks.

Which does not necessarily imply ill-intent. Or intent at all.

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Thirding, as many hispanic people and asian people as blacks face the same thing in my city.

milkweed said:

Basically it's one social experiment after another that is being exacted upon the youngest minds in society.

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And it's no fun if your school is chosen to be a "pilot" school for those programs. That was my class from about 7th grade upward.

Every year, the state would have another "brilliant" idea to improve education (read: raise standardized test scores), but they wouldn't try it on all the schools at once. They chose specific schools for the purpose, and our ISD would always rush to volunteer.

Every year, we had a different set-up for the way our school days and lesson plans were structured. Every. Year.

Don said:

Public schooling is not healthy for children and other living things.

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Like private school is some smorgasbord of cultural diversity?

Cyia said:

(I don't think I've ever known who coined this phrase, so if you know, tell me and I'll attribute it.)

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I googled the phrase and didn't find it, but found this other article:

Understanding the Propaganda Campaign Against Public Education
http://billmoyers.com/2014/03/25/understanding-the-propaganda-campaign-against-public-education/

The reader said that those who were trying to create a market-based system to replace public education were using FUD to undermine public confidence in public education. They were selling the false narrative that our public schools are obsolete and failing.

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Celia Cyanide said:

Like private school is some smorgasbord of cultural diversity?

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This is a good point. Private schools are not exactly free from the same mentality.

Cyia said:

And it's no fun if your school is chosen to be a "pilot" school for those programs. That was my class from about 7th grade upward.

Every year, the state would have another "brilliant" idea to improve education (read: raise standardized test scores), but they wouldn't try it on all the schools at once. They chose specific schools for the purpose, and our ISD would always rush to volunteer.

Every year, we had a different set-up for the way our school days and lesson plans were structured. Every. Year.

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I work in the public school system and while I think that for the most part the teachers are caring and dedicated individuals who do their best to ensure their "kids" learn, I do have to agree with you regarding the "brilliant" ideas. I don't know who decides (not the teachers), but I have to think it's done by committee made up of people who have never set foot in a class room - either that or a herd of ADHD squirrels on acid. As soon as something works, they drop it and they go on to the next best thing - and there is always the flavour du jour - phonics/chunking/memorizaton/doyourbest.

Now, the push for JK/SK is to have less emphasis put on reading/writing/math in favour of student lead learning. Meaning what ever the kids want to learn about, is what they do - a few months ago it was on how a sump pump works. Yes it was fun for them to see water all over the floor but I'm not sure of how much of the information they received (they are only 4 and 5 years old) they will actually retain. These classes are further instructed that this coming school year the need to get all the toys out of the class room and have only natural items in. Perhaps playing with sticks, rocks and shells are a novelty for city children, but we live in the middle of the Canadian Shield - stick and rock country and the playground is filled with them.

And you just know that in a few years, this idea will be discarded and something new and equally goofy in it's place.

Sometimes educators may approach it wrongly, but I do think it's important to try to communicate concepts and difficult material to students through subjects they can relate to.

Here's the real problem and the real cause of the pre-school to prison pipeline. It's not forced conformity. It's poverty, and the fact that kids who grow up in poverty, on average, are already behind their peers who didn't start in poverty. And because of that, they are slower to develop their reading skills. And there is a strong correlation between poor reading skills and misbehavior in schools. Because they're bored and frustrated they can't keep up, so they do something else.

Nobody is going to fix any of these problems (the performance gap, the punishment gap, etc) until that issue is adequately addressed.

You also have to take into account that kids who grow up in poverty have dietary limitations that kids in wealthier homes do not.

They may be protein or vitamin deficient, or come from houses that have no food in the fridge or cupboards, meaning what they get at school is ALL they get. WIC only goes so far, and it only covers kids of a certain age. There's a large swath that fall through gaping cracks in the system.

They spend the day hungry, and so irritable, or foggy brained - especially after school breaks where they've had several days in a row of inconsistent meals.

clintl said:

Here's the real problem and the real cause of the pre-school to prison pipeline. It's not forced conformity. It's poverty, and the fact that kids who grow up in poverty, on average, are already behind their peers who didn't start in poverty.

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No, the real problem and the real cause is that there are multiple problems and multiple causes and they are complex and interrelated.

It's poverty and cultural expectations and self-reinforcing stereotypes and methods of communication and environment and. . .

Celia Cyanide said:

Like private school is some smorgasbord of cultural diversity?

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No arguments here I attended a catholic school for the first six grades 1-6 and then the public school got ahold of me.

I will say that the damage the catholic school did was minor compared to what the public school exacted upon me.

At the catholic school they taped me to my chair with my left hand taped behind me and a pencil taped into my right hand. See I am the spawn of satan because I was born a south paw!

The public school, however, when they got ahold of me and realized that I was dyslexic immediately labeld me as being "retarded" and put me into special ed courses! Ummm yes I I have a copy of my school record declaring me retarded, which my dad has held over me my entire life, I'm retarded!

Over all, other than being the spawn of satan crap, my catholic school education has benefitted me and in more ways than I ever thought possible at the time. My public school education... well there are no words for the pain and damage those teachers and counselors inflicted upon me.

kuwisdelu said:

No, the real problem and the real cause is that there are multiple problems and multiple causes and they are complex and interrelated.

It's poverty and cultural expectations and self-reinforcing stereotypes and methods of communication and environment and. . .

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translation, the kids in these enviroments don't need just a good education they need a change of mindset. I know I did in order to rise up above what my parents and others expected of me. According to my parents expectations I should be living in an a burned out trailor in a trailor court living on welfare, and I'm anything but!!!

The secret, ok I give this credit to God, but for those of you who don't believe in prayer and God, it's the people who came into and out of my life (again I blame this on God) who held higher expectations for me, telling me all along that I could indeed achieve my goals but that the power was in "my" hands to do so.

Knowing others who had lifted themselves out of poverty and abuse along the way helped and tremendously!

Having the pastors wife ask me "you can't or you don't want to" gave me power like you would not believe or understand, suddenly I had the power to say NO!!! And believe me when I say my parents hated me when I started saying NO to their crazy abuse, etc.!!!

milkweed said:

translation, the kids in these enviroments don't need just a good education they need a change of mindset.

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And not only the kids. But the community and the educators and the Powers That Be.

Like I said earlier, I am not attributing ill-intent. We all harbor harmful assumptions and expectations, and they permeate the system and our collective psyche even when we mean well.

One of the fastest ways not to make any progress at all is to look for someone or something to blame and assume everything will be better once we get rid of that person or thing.

Changing the system without changing ourselves will only result in more of the same.

And it's a change that needs to happen both within and without the community.

Cyia said:

You also have to take into account that kids who grow up in poverty have dietary limitations that kids in wealthier homes do not.

They may be protein or vitamin deficient, or come from houses that have no food in the fridge or cupboards, meaning what they get at school is ALL they get. WIC only goes so far, and it only covers kids of a certain age. There's a large swath that fall through gaping cracks in the system.

They spend the day hungry, and so irritable, or foggy brained - especially after school breaks where they've had several days in a row of inconsistent meals.

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All I can think of is that insufferable Rand Paul speech about brown paper bags and feeding souls and stuff.

It seems to me that a big, really useful way that we could improve the education of our children would be funding the education system better - enough to provide food, competent teachers, and safe, well stocked classrooms.

That won't solve the endemic cultural problems that Kuwi and others have mentioned, but I'm pretty sure it'll be easier to reconsider ingrained cultural ideas while you are not starving.

Cyia said:

You also have to take into account that kids who grow up in poverty have dietary limitations that kids in wealthier homes do not.

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Actually I was a nanny to the oober rich back in the day and you'd be quite suprised! Land rich and cash poor comes to mind! One family I worked for the kids lunch every day was two chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, and a teeny tiney bit of feta cheese. This is what the three kids, and I, ate every day at lunch for a full year. NOW this may be more nutitious than eating chips and hotdogs for lunch, but not by much.