In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis.
Black boys are a student demographic that has been and continues to be, misunderstood in public school classrooms. Black boys’ learning styles and social skills are often misconstrued as problems by educators. Those who have disadvantaged home lives are often accustomed to activity rather than sitting still, and to shouting and argument as a means of communication. These do not translate well to the classroom. The result is that black boys do not receive the most effective forms of discipline, lessons, and peer interaction opportunities. Many are slipping through the proverbial cracks and not learning at their potential levels. That lack of learning leads to higher school dropout levels, higher rates of poverty, and, ultimately, higher incarceration rates.
High-school dropouts in all demographics have a higher likelihood of incarceration at some point in their lives. The reasons are myriad; however, one of the main issues is economic. A black boy who drops out of high school simply does not have the educational background to land a high-paying job. He may wind up trying to make ends meet by engaging in petty crime. This may include thievery; it may include selling drugs. Increasingly, though, black boys are incarcerated for acts that should not have put them in prison: for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, for talking back to an officer, for being suspected of smoking marijuana. Or, like Kalief Browder, they are simply unjustly incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. All too often, this unjust punishment has a basis in racism.
The school-to-prison pipeline indicates that there is a relationship between minority young men who are disciplined in K-12 settings through suspensions and expulsions and those who end up incarcerated later in life. Here are the alarming statistics:
- Black students are nearly four times as likely to face suspensions as their white peers
- Suspensions of black high school students have increased eleven times more quickly than white peers since the 1970s
- Students suspended during their freshman year are two times as likely to end up dropping out of high school
- Nearly 68 percent of all men in federal prison never earned a high school diploma.
Breaking this down by state leads to more troubling statistics. In Indiana, 95 percent of all suspensions in 2002–2003 occurred as a result of minor offenses, such as disruptive behavior. In Colorado, one in every seven black students is disciplined in schools, though just one in every twenty-five white students faces the same disciplinary actions. A study published by the University of Pennsylvania reports that black students make up 39 percent of students suspended in Florida, though they only account for 23 percent of the public school population in the state. The study notes that black students are suspended and expelled more due to “unfair discipline practices” and appearing “disrespectful or threatening.”
Drilling down to the county level throws up even more dire statistics. In Orange County in central Florida, black students represent 51 percent of the students suspended, though they account for just 27 percent of the county’s public school population. And in the Chicago public school system, over a third of African-American boys were suspended at some point during the 2013–2014 school year.
Eighteen percent of the nation’s public school students are black, but an estimated 40 percent of all students that are expelled from US schools are black. This makes black students over three times more likely to face suspension or expulsion than their white peers. When you add in Latino numbers, 70 percent of all in-school arrests are black or Latino students. Match this to the 61 percent of the incarcerated population that is black or Latino—despite the fact that these groups only represent 30 percent of the US population when combined.
Approximately 250,000 teens are tried as adults every year, sometimes for minor offenses that stem from school scuffles. In North Carolina and New York, for example, all sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds are automatically tried as adults. Students led from school in handcuffs due to disruptive behavior are suddenly facing an adult record that puts them at risk of not getting into college or finding a stable job. Almost always, the problems that led to their arrest are better suited for mediation within the school walls—an issue we’ll look at later on in this series.
As noted earlier, students who drop out of high school have a much higher chance of ending up in prison. The fact that black students are suspended at much higher rates than their white peers points to a direct correlation between discipline in grade school and a place in a prison cell.
Given the above, the fact that the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world is no surprise. The road to lockup starts in the public school systems—and it starts with unfair punishment.
“Given the above, the fact that the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world is no surprise. The road to lockup starts in the public school systems”—and it starts with unfair punishment. I disagree! It starts at home with lack of or bad parenting to prepare the children for a school and learning environment. Having been married to and known many elementary school teachers; they all agree that it is not their job to raise our children. If the children have been raised properly and come to school ready to learn; they can teach them and help them reach their full potential as students. The gangs, backed by billions of dollars of drug money, is their biggest problem. That influence depends on keeping those kids barely educated and totally under their control. It’s not a 150 year old past history of slavery or entitled white people that is the problem. I went to school in the late 50’s and early 60’s with a lot of black kids in a small agricultural valley in California. Some of their parents, along with some white and latino parents; picked cotton, melons, lettuce, and worked in the packing sheds, not because they were slaves, but because that’s the only skills they had to earn a living and support their families. Because the parents wanted more and better for their children, they insisted that they do well in school. Most of those kids have done very well in life. Worked their way through college, got degrees or learned construction trades and became very successful financially and socially. Attorneys, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, a construction company owner, a very successful black jack dealer in Las Vegas, etc… They accomplished all of this during the social and civil rights era in this country because they knew what they needed to do and stayed focused to move on with their lives. I still have the honor to hang out with many of them at our high school reunions.
The belief boys should be strong allows aggressive treatment by parents teachers from infancy so they will be tough. There is much less mental/emotional support for fear of coddling. This creates high maintained layers average stress for boys new thought. These layers remain in mind taking away real mental energy leaving much less mental energy for academics; they have to work harder to receive the same mental reward. This treatment creates social/emotional distance from adults. The total treatment creates higher average stress hurting learning/motivation more activity not genetic high muscle tension hurting handwriting/motivation lower social vocabulary/com skills from less communication and social/emotional distance from fear. It creates lags in communication girls given daily. The total treatment hurts reading/motivation which requires high social vocabulary/knowledge of syntax and low average stress something boys through harsh treatment less support are weak in. The effect of false genetic models creates more failure and hopelessness. To make it tougher boys are given love honor self-worth only on condition of achievement. This was designed to keep Male esteem low and willing to give their lives in war for love honor from society. Males not achieving are given ridicule discipline to make them try harder. Support is not given for fear of coddling and false belief in genetics. Many boys failing turn their attention to sports video games for ounces of love honor not received in school. The belief boys should be strong and false belief in genetics create denial of the harsh treatment which is creating the low academics low esteem and other problems for boys. This is not about more openness from boys it is about society allowing aggressive treatment from infancy so boys feel much wariness toward parents teachers who freely use aggressive treatment for any sign of weakness. This is condoned by society. This problem is affecting all male children but the lower the socioeconomic bracket and time in lower areas much more amplified.
We as girls/women are given, from infancy, much support care by parents teachers. Since girls are given by different treatment, much mental social/emotional support verbal interaction and care this creates the opposite outcome for girls. We receive love honor simply for being girls. This creates all the good things: lower average stress for ease of learning: much accumulated social vocabulary/communication skills and much freedom of expression from much protection and so much more learned social skills from this treatment. This creates lower muscle tension for ease in writing motivation, and we enjoy much positive communication from parents teachers and support for weaknesses. This is creating a bonanza in the information age for many girls and women today. Now with girls women taking over many areas of society we are receiving more lavishing of love/honor while boys/men are now failing more and given more ridicule abuse by society.