Schools, Prisons, and Social Implications of Punishment: Rethinking Disciplinary Practices

Below are my annotations from the article Schools, Prisons, and Social Implications of Punishment: Rethinking Disciplinary Practices- by Pedro A. Noguera (can be read here)

Questions:

If the setting of the school is that of being in a low socioeconomically area, how can it be said that the “most” disadvantaged students are those that are “heavily” punished? Is there not a possibility that some of those considered the most disadvantaged are actually successful students?

If we are wanting to push progress into how a school is functioning, why are we holding schools to an ideology, cited from 1976, that segregate the students based on an assumption of what they will be in the future?

Reactions:

The author started off with a story of visiting a school in an “economically depressed” area of northern California. And makes a point of sharing that the assistant principal giving the tour points out a student that is habitually in trouble and says “…a prison cell in San Quentin waiting for him.” This statement is then used to polarize and politicize the authors cause, furthering that all who work in these underprivileged areas, with a majority of “urban” students, jump to conclusions and do not help students. As we see in the news with police, CEOs, Politicians, and even teachers there are and will always be bad apples. What a majority of this article is a modernization of muckraking.

The following statement by the author is very misleading to the reader.

“…examination of which students are most likely to be suspended, expelled, or removed from the classroom for punishment, reveals that minorities (especially Blacks and Latinos), males, and low achievers generally, are vastly overrepresented. “

The author cites that information from a source dated 1989 for an article published in 2003. What would be more creditable is if the author used statistics for the schools that they were currently addressing as having a problem. If it is a school with a student population that is predominantly “minority” then it would be accurate that the students that are “generally” and “vastly” represented by of a specific minority. While as those other students that are not of a discipline issue are also of the same specific minority.

If the events with the said assistant principal that is appalling and is something that would be addressed with the district or state education department for handling. For no student especially a 8-9 year old child regardless of their family circumstances be subjected to such assumptions that hinders their abilities to grow up to be anything other than what is being decided for them.

Connections:

During many of the class discussion we have, economically “depressed” schools are brought up very often, mainly because of the articles we read, and the high school Trevor Browne and been brought up many times and how those kids need a chance too. Well I went all four years of high school to Trevor Browne, I went both years to the middle school across the park from Trevor Browne and I went to an elementary school down the road from Trevor Browne. So I guess I have some experience in a “depressed” school. What I can also attest to from the article is that school mainly elementary do try to exclude and ostracize the students when the misbehave. From what I can remember of 1st grade I was sent to another teacher’s room at least 2-3 times a week. Why? Because I was not following the rules of the classroom. Did it work? Well like I said it was a few times per week.

I actually do agree with the author on the statement that we (the school system) are not finding out the root cause for the behavior. We are only reacting to the broken rule. If a student does not do their work, you ask why find that root problem. If they continue to not do their work, then that is on them. But if they disrupt others from doing their work then it becomes a discipline issue and does have to be handled. But what do you do if you do not have the support of the parents? How do you keep this student from hampering the learning of others?

Restatements:

“Not surprisingly, those most frequently targeted for punishment in school often look—in terms of race, gender, and socioeconomic status—a lot like smaller versions of adults who are most likely to be targeted for incarceration in society”

This is another statement by the author that is looking to make a racial divide between educator and student that does not exist. First off the term “targeted” is misused. Neither student or adults are targeted if they did not do anything wrong. What we also know to be true is that if the students that are “targeted” for punishment are liking in a low socioeconomic area then the rest of the student body is most likely also living in that same area and the school is not targeting the entire student body for punishment.

Applications:

A majority of the article I do not agree with regarding the idea of not addressing discipline problems that do disrupt the learning environment. But what I can agree with is that making assumptions of our students based on their economic status or race is a huge disservice for the student. Children are not born with the sin of their father, therefore we should not be categorizing them as such.