The problem presented in this article is the school-prison connection. The explanation of the problem, a specific case, and a rebuttal will all be highlighted in this article. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To understand why something is a problem, you must first understand the problem. The school-to-prison pipeline refers to the process of systematically targeting at-risk youth by imposing harsh disciplinary policies (also known as zero-tolerance policies) within the school system. After these youth are disciplined by the school for the infraction they committed, they are often brought before law enforcement for further punishment. Before they know it, they are completely pushed out of the education system and into the criminal justice system. In the book The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Structuring Legal Reform, the “core” of the pipeline aspect of this problem is stated as being “the failure of public institutions to meet the educational and social developmental needs of a large segment of children whom they are charged to serve.” Overly crowded classrooms, socioeconomically and racially isolated environments, lack of constructive teachers, and inadequate funding are just some of the flaws that have been found to virtually “set students up for failure.” In light of this, we obtain statistical data and transform everything into figures. It should be noted that in the specific case highlighted in this article the victim is an African American male, so I will provide statistics involving African Americans to strengthen my point. Looking at the 33 years between 1973 and 2006, the percentage of U.S. public school students who were suspended at least once during the school year increased from 6% to 15%. This percentage has since doubled. Looking at racial discrepancies, the numbers are worse. 30 years ago, African American males were twice as likely to be suspended as their white peers. Today they are three times more likely. From 2002 to 2003, the risk of suspension for African American males was nearly 18%, while the risk of suspension for their White peers was only 7% (Kim, Losen, & Hewitt, 2010). Let's take a quick break from the numbers. Looking at this issue from a different perspective, this issue may not have interested you. Whether it's because of your race, your socioeconomic status, the area you lived in (although the South is mentioned as a specific area where it occurs, this problem is known to occur in many different states and regions in the States United) or even just because you managed to avoid being targeted by school administrators. Whatever the case may be, you may have been lucky enough not to have this problem on you. That said, this problem could easily become your problem if you have children. You see, this issue is pretty timeless. Timeless, in other words, means it's been a problem for a while now. The issue is not entirely urgent and obviously no one is working feverishly to find a solution. Therefore, as time goes by this problem is likely to continue to be an issue, and as mentioned above, just because it may have blown up for you doesn't mean it won't be a problem for your kids. Would you like your kids to have a sheet longer than they are before they even graduate from high school because of the relentless targeting of school officials who basically promised to do the best for them? If the answer to this question is no, but you have done nothing to look into this issue or investigate some of thepolicies at your child's public school that don't sit well with you, you are part of the problem. Now, let's get to know one of the many victims of this problem. Dontadrian Bruce is a young African American man: he was 15 years old at the time of this unfortunate event. He attended Olive Branch High, in Olive Branch, Mississippi. On the last day of January 2014, he was in biology class and working on a group project. Once he and his group finished, the teacher of that class asked Bruce and his classmates to take a group photo with their work. Bruce continued to smile and posed for the photo. Bruce's favorite pose; holding up three fingers. His three favorite fingers were the thumb, index finger and middle finger, with the hand facing forward. The teacher took the photo and moved on to the next group. The following Monday, Bruce was called out of his first class of the day, English, by Olive Branch High's vice principal, Todd Michaels. Michaels then explains to Bruce that he will be suspended for 3 days until the disciplinary hearing that will ultimately decide his fate at Olive Branch High. Why? Michaels walks over and shows Bruce the photo his biology teacher had taken of him the previous Friday and explains, "You're showing gang signs in this photo." Bruce very quickly tries to explain that the gesture he made in the photo was representative of his football shirt number, which is number 3. He also claims that all his teammates do it too and they had absolutely no idea that the gesture was a symbol of affiliation with the Vice Lords gang (we note that the presence of this gang is mainly 20 miles from Olive Branch). 3 days pass and Bruce's mother accompanies him to the hearing. The verdict? “Indefinite Suspension with Recommendation for Expulsion” (NBC News, 2014). With all the information provided it is safe to say that you have formed an opinion. Your opinion either argues that this is a problem or refutes it, it's really quite simple. For educator and author Robert Ward, the school-to-prison pipeline is a myth. To summarize his position, Ward believes that the School-to-Prison pathway is nothing more than a “scapegoat and a simplistic solution to complex educational issues.” He also believes that educators and schools “are not the problem.” The “real culprit” of why children in the public school system are funneled into the justice system is “political paternalism, poverty, the systematic weakening of schools and omnipresent media that also glamorize and normalize violence, materialism, 'hypersexuality, narcissism and anti-crime'. -intellectualism” (Ward, 2017). Ward makes a decent point, but have you ever heard the saying “nice try, but no cigar?”. First, his opinion on the topic will be biased due to the fact that he is actually an educator. This alone clouds his judgment and also makes him defensive. As an educator he probably feels understandably attacked, almost as if his character and reputation are being questioned. Despite this, you realistically cannot say “schools and educators are not the problem” unless you have been to every existing public school and studied them all in depth. He relies too much on what he saw in class and the fact that he has worked with “at-risk adolescents for 26 years.” This is a very closed opinion that has practically no basis. He attempts to provide statistics to support his point, but not enough to support his monumental claim. Furthermore, passing off the problem as complex political and social constructs doesn't help his cause either. If anything it seems like he's trying to make up for it. 2019].