Educational Equity, Discipline, and the School to Prison Pipeline
This weeks readings Messy, Butch, and Queer: LGBTQ Youth and the School-to-Prison
Pipeline (Snapp, Hoenig, Fields, and Russell, 2015) and Smoking Guns or Smoke & Mirrors?: Schools and the Policing of Latino Boys (Rios, Galicia, 2013) both focus on issues of equity and discipline among students of marginalized populations, LGBTQ and Latino students respectively. 
In Messy, Butch, and Queer, Snapp and colleagues interviewed LGBTQ-identifying students, adult advocates, and one straight ally, primarily choosing to interview participants who identified as minorities to capture intersecting identities. Through interviews, the researchers discovered that students who exhibited gender or sexuality identity outside the norm faced discrimination not only from students, but faculty and administrators as well. Students reported selective enfocement of PDA (public display of affection) among same-sex students, in comparison to the larger percentage of opposite-sex students who engaged in acts of PDA in greater number and magnitude than the LGBTQ students. (p. 65)The youth in the article discussed several occasions in which they had experienced bullying from other students, but educators and administrators failed to support the reporting LGBTQ students by diminishing the acts against them, "It wasn't meant to be like that...you're ebing a princess." (p.64) And should LGBTQ students defend themselves or each other, they are maore likely to receive stiffer disciplinary action than the bullies. (p.69) Reading through the participant stories, I was filled with such anger that people who would consider themselves educators would treat students in this manner. It was, therefore, unsurprising to me to discover that students who identify as LGBTQ are at greater risk of being pushed out of their education and more likely to be incarcerated.
Smoking Guns or Smoke and Mirrors uses the critical framework of Anyon's social stratification reproduction and applies it to a post-manufacturing economy. Rios and Galicia examine the public education experiences of Latino youth living in zero-tolerance schools, in the school to prison pipeline. Apart from the participant interviews, the realest statement of the article stated
"Since schools have the power
to package, construct, label, and deem students as troublemakers and
offenders, they often become a launching pad from which young people are
catapulted into the criminal justice system. Schools have the power to determine
the life-course outcomes of marginalized young people." (p. 57)
The underlying issue Latino students expressed are implicit biases. Their teachers, educational administrators, and the police, have treated the participant students as though they have already done something wrong. Although the students haven't engaged in criminal actions, they are being disciplined by school officials at greater rates for minor infractions, and treated by police officers as if they have already transgressed the law. (p.59) I found the usage of threats by school administrators to report undocumented students to ICE, as well as eliminating students' ability to use the Boys and Girls Club after school reprehensible. These actions further contributed to the participants' forced removal from their community, and greatly incresed the risk that these students face incarceration. (p. 60)
This week's readings made me incredibly angry on behalf of the students. That feeling of marginalization experienced by students of color and LGBTQ students is something that educators should strive to educate non-marginalized students about in order to eliminate or reduce discriminative behaviors. In the case of discrimination by faculty or administrators, I strongly believe it is necessary that any laws supporting and protecting the students should be fully enforced, by litigation of necessary. However, under the current administration, I cannot imagine such litigation will make much of a difference. Moving forward, it might be the responsibility of the individual communities to support marginalized students, but what can those students do if their communities do not support them?
Additional Works Cited
1. https://www.glad.org/post/not-imagination-lgbtq-youth-disproportionately-punished-school/
2. https://www.aclu.org/podcast/criminalizing-schoolkids-ep-11
I am really looking forward to sitting down with the resource officer at my school to ask him about the types of interactions he is legally allowed to have with the students. I am seeing a lot of feedback - and you link to ACLU acknowledged this too, that the officers are arresting students and criminalizing trivial acts. I had heard (or thought I heard) that our SRO couldn't even do searches on the school campus - as if the SRO is there, but really not able to do much legally on campus. Anyone else have an SRO and heard similar? Or do yours make arrest etc... on campus?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on your anger on educators who treat their student unfairly. I feel to be an educator you need to have compassion for all students, make them feel like you are always their ally because they may not get it at home too. There needs to be more support from teachers, family and the community.
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