Last week I referenced the variation of class warfare Republicans accuse President Obama of practicing; targeting and attacking Americans who have amassed great wealth. After noting that mischaracterization, I went on to examine the way in which Rick Santorum flayed President Obama, calling him a snob, and accusing him of trying to indoctrinate and re-create college graduates in his own image. Even typing that again makes me cringe…but I digress.
Today’s post is designed to introduce, or heighten your familiarity with, yet a third strain of class warfare. This version is arguably more insidious than the others. It concerns a data stream that identifies a pattern of creating “schoolhouse to jailhouse” tracks for our students. This is and should be particularly alarming in the African American community because the data show a disproportionate number of those being shunted onto this path are black.
In 1995, Dr. Andrew Hacker published a critically acclaimed book entitled “Two Nations,” with the subtitle, “Black & White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal.” In his treatment of the then state of our nation, he asserts:
“Black Americans are Americans, yet they still subsist as aliens in the only land they know. Other groups may remain outside the mainstream-some religious sects, for example-but they do so voluntarily. In contrast, blacks must endure a segregation that is far from freely chosen. So America
It is with this penetratingly concise summation as a backdrop that I elicit your attention and concern about public school initiated incarceration. Public education is still the most readily available and commonly accessed portal of entry for American students to obtain kindergarten, primary, and secondary educational opportunities. While this trend is particularly onerous, as far as African Americans are concerned, make no mistake about it, this is bad news for all segments of Americans.
In essence, the institution most Americans rely upon to provide increasing levels of preparatory training for either higher education or work life, is becoming increasingly bent on funneling youth to juvenile and or criminal justice systems. This punitive approach results, not only in saddling current and future generations with staggering opportunity costs, but also fuels inordinate increases in jail and prison populations and costs.
These trends and patterns have aggravating consequences, much like part of Dr. Hacker’s subtitle; separate, hostile, and unequal. In his treatise, he noted:
“RACE HAS BEEN an American obsession since the first Europeans sighted "savages" on these shores. In time, those original inhabitants would be subdued or slaughtered, and finally sequestered out of view. But race in America
The last sentence in that quote resonates with a chilling echo. School administrators certainly eschew the notion of overt racism as a key factor in the decidedly inequitable numbers of students of color who are finding the classroom to be a gateway to incarceration rather than to scholarships. In fact, nothing in the data suggests that racism is the compelling basis for the numbers. But that last sentence is both potent and prophetic; “That Americans of African origin once wore the chains of chattels remains alive in the memory of both races and continues to separate them”
Whether this means some subconscious actions, behaviors, or practices are at play may be worth assessing at some point in time. However, that is not my intent in this post. Rather, I submit that at this moment, we should hasten to invest time, energy, ad especially critically creative thinking into developing and executing effective school reform techniques and policies that are designed to create positive school environments, support academic achievement, promote school safety, and protect the rights of students and parents.
Just as it is critical to develop, enhance, and leverage new and more advanced skill sets to rescue the American economy, it is essential to ensure that American students are transformed into a cadre of trained artisans, entrepreneurs, students, and other professionals, rather than into a group of dropouts, chain gangs, work crews, and jailbirds. If American primary and secondary education is to be rescued, this transformation must be elevated to Job #1.
The Advancement Group is a policy, communications, and legal action group committed to racial justice. It was founded in 1999 by a team of veteran civil rights attorneys. It frames its mission as:
"To develop, encourage, and widely disseminate innovative ideas, and pioneer models that inspire and mobilize a broad national racial justice movement to achieve universal opportunity and a just democracy!"
In an effort to foster the aforementioned transformation, the Advancement Group has formulated a 10-Component Model Discipline Policy. I list those components below, not as the be all end all of this discussion, but as a jump-off point to begin thinking about, and/or to start your own conversation on the matter. The components are:
- Non-punitive Approach, Emphasizing Prevention & Effective Intervention
- Limitations on the Use of Suspensions & Expulsions
- Limitations on the Use of Law Enforcement
- Emphasis of Elimination of Racial Disparities
- Emphasis on Protections for Students with Disabilities
- Strong Due Process Protections
- No Academic Penalties During Removal from School
- Limitations on Suspensions for Off-Campus Misconduct
- Parental Outreach, Including Translation & Distribution of Policies
- Data Collection & Monitoring
There are a number of large urban school districts across America (including Los Angeles, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Baltimore, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami-Dade, Montgomery County, Seattle, and New York City), that have implemented one or more of these components. Though no district has adopted the policy in its entirety; each of the participating systems has identified and implemented the component or group of components that it deemed to have made the district more effective at achieving its educational mission.
In the final analysis, it is important is that we all commit to battle and eliminate “Class Warfare: Racial Disparity in Public School Arrests!” I’m done; holla back!
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