School To Prison Pipeline, Friend or Foe?

Story by Amir Ford Photo Courtesy of Thenation.com.

Have you ever wondered why students are getting arrested? It’s because of the school to prison pipeline. The school to prison pipeline involves when a zero-tolerance rule is broken and harsh action is taken. 

This practice removes students from educational environments, leading to increased dropout rates and greater likelihood of involvement in the justice system. This also increases the chances of students getting more involved in illegal activities such as drugs, gun violence, trafficking, etc. Students may feel emotional distress and have suicidal thoughts due to the harsh conditions they have endured. 

Students that have endured such experiences may become traumatized, psychotic, and feel the need to harm others because of the conditions they have been put into. A person who used to work at the White House reported that she witnessed two six year olds getting handcuffed and put into the back of a police car on the spot because of incidents in their first-grade classroom. The officer was later reprimanded and arrested but, does that really solve the problem? The kids went through immense trauma and were robbed of their childhoods just because of one incident. 

Schools need to take action and eradicate harsh punishments for zero-tolerance rules. Schools should create consequence strategies with boundaries instead, or students won’t have a chance of a solid future. 

Amir Ford is a 6th grade scholar at Friendship Southeast Middle.