School to Prison Pipeline

Is there some truth behind the theory that our public schools are nothing more than pipelines to prison?  It is believed to be like the underground railroad but in reverse.  Where the underground railroad was an intricate system of people who, by covert measures, helped enslaved people escape from bondage to freedom, the school to prison pipeline disguises the means to free education in a manner that mimics the penal system.

During the 1980s, there was a crime explosion because of increased drugs on the streets. As a result, many schools around the nation armed themselves with security guards and metal detectors. Sometime during the 1990s, some schools employed police officers and bestowed them with the title “School Resource Officer.” Exactly which resources are they providing? No longer can students enter and make a beeline to their locker before class.  They must be searched first before entering to learn. These tactics create a space where a child is more vulnerable to being treated like a prisoner instead of a student. 

The question is then raised, “How else are we to protect the education process?” Such a loaded question sparks varied responses, many of which have nothing to do with school.  This is because the school system is one of the pillars of the community.  As we have seen with covid-19, if you infect a community with toxicity that includes poor housing, food deserts, poor medical care, lack of resources, high unemployment, underpaid jobs, and drugs, it will spread.  Sure, the current measures protect students and faculty from outside intruders on an immediate level. It does not address how a community toxification can metastasize within the walls of our schools. Therefore, the exact solutions that fill prisons are, in turn, the problems that empty the halls of our schools, whether intentional or not.

There are other aspects of the pipeline that are less discussed but also mirror the prison-style treatment.  In some prisons, yard time is restricted to one hour per day, their only outlet to breathe fresh air and stretch their limbs.  One of the biggest complaints in recent years for public schools is the reduction of playtime for elementary school and the lack of gym classes for secondary school.  An outlet such as this is necessary when you have students packed in together all day sitting behind desks. Additionally, mealtime in prison is set to a rigid structure.  If the rules are not followed, you will not eat.  Similarly, I have seen first-hand a teacher throwing away a middle school student’s food because he ran out of time to eat.  This was after his class arrived late to the cafeteria for disciplinary measures.

When it comes to classroom size compared to prison overcrowding, the prison has received more attention. Over the past twenty years, there has been a push to build more prisons to handle the overflow of prisoners.  On the contrary, very little attention or funding has been used to correct classroom overcrowding. Naturally, with the students sitting on top of each other, there will be more behavioral problems that could be a gateway to prison.  

Finally, prison is supposed to be a means for rehabilitation.  At one time, a prisoner could obtain his GED, get licensed in a trade, and possibly acquire a college degree.  Today, some of these advantages are restricted.  The same holds true for many school districts nationwide.  For example, during the 1950s and 1960s, New York City was one of the highest-ranking school districts in the country.  Known for their specialized trades in multiple disciplines like nursing, mechanics, welding, and cosmetology, students graduated with certificates enabling them to begin working in these areas immediately upon graduation.  Somewhere along the line, funding was cut. Many of these programs are no longer existent.

Today, many of our students graduate without any direction like non-rehabilitated prisoners.   These are just a few similarities that have been discussed ad nauseum by educators, scholars, and politicians. Yet, many more issues flowing through the pipeline have not been addressed.  If the system continues in its present form, it is almost certain that the subtleties and covert practices will be erased only to yield no distinction between the school and prison