EWA National Seminar: Stopping the School-to-Prison Pipeline
Racist people are no longer a problem in the American education
system, but racism still is, according to an Education Writers
Association seminar panelist.
It’s racism that’s implicit, not explicit, that plays a big
factor in so many black children being sent from the schoolhouse
to the jailhouse, Philip Goff, an assistant professor of social
psychology at UCLA, told attendees.
“No longer is it the case where a large segment of the population
will tell you, ‘I don’t like this group of people,’ and it’s not
that people are learning to hide their feelings,” said Goff, who
was speaking from his office via Skype. “Prejudice is going away.
Unfortunately, inequality is not.”
He said people have learned stereotypes over the years about
different groups of people. For example, he said people associate
Hispanics with undocumented immigrants, gay men with predators
and black men with crime. He said the media should play a role in
helping to humanize groups that have been marginalized.
Another panelist, Susan Ferriss, a journalist with the Center for
American Integrity, documented cases of bias against young black
men in her series
“Punishing Numbers,” which won first prize for investigative
reporting in EWA’s annual contest.
Ferriss discovered law enforcement in Los Angeles conducted
sweeps in minority neighborhoods to catch students who were not
only truant, but tardy. About 10,000 students a year,
disproportionately black males, were receiving criminal citations
for a variety of seemingly minor offenses, including possessing
cigarettes or disturbing the peace, according to data she
collected. Students were being handcuffed and fingerprinted to
help law enforcement establish a database of potential gang
members, Ferriss said.
“It really seemed to people this is a system that had spiraled
out of control without much look at the consequences,” Ferriss
said. “It turned out juvenile court judges were getting very
concerned because so many kids were ending up in court.”
There is work being done to address the school to jail pipeline,
and a program called Elev8 Oakland was cited as a success
story.
The program, part of the non-profit Oakland group Safe Passages,
works closely with city and county policymakers, educators,
families and community partners to help improve the academic and
family lives of low-income, low performing students.
“Educators are not traditionally trained to deal with
socioeconomic factors or challenges of our communities, so it’s
not just an education solution, it’s a multidisciplinary
approach,” said Josefina Alvarado-Mena, CEO of Safe Passages.
Social workers see if families need food, healthcare, counseling
or legal help. The Oakland program has been able to build food
pantries and persuade the school district to build five
school-based health centers, she said.
“The model has been very successful at reengaging students who
have been disconnected,” Avarado-Mena said.
Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.
Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Contact Emily Richmond. Follow her on Twitter @EWAEmily.