Happy Holidays

The message is simple! You are loved, regardless of what mistakes you have made. Your are loved regardless of how think you look. You matter and it may seem at times you are alone, but you are not. People may not going around announcing, but it is Simple we are all in this together. I hope on this day, you feel loved, loved your self and always try your best to get out their and start Loving One Another !!!

Cure the Disease not the Symptom

In recent weeks I have come across many articles talking about Florida and its prison population and most of the articles showed a direct correlation between failing students and youth in prison.  Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy discussed how students who were doing poorly in school would be funneled into the prison system, “Schools indirectly drive children into the juvenile justice system by criminalizing a wide variety of student behavior, including behavior as minor as tardiness, absences, noncompliance, and disrespect” (Castillo). Most of this minor behavior will evolve into a life time of crime, but if we establish better policies in school we can stop this trend of turning students into prisoners.

The prison industrial complex in the United States continues to grow and expand, not because of a growing rate of criminals but because a growing rate of repeat offenders. “More than fifty percent of prisoners will be arrested again just after sixteen months of their release” (Barret). This statistic shows that the prison industrial complex is not resolving the psychological issues of our inmates. After years of incarceration, inmates become well-adjusted to the prison life style and cannot assimilate back to the civilian life style. In order to resolve this growing problem we must start reforming our schools because it is often delinquent children who grow into offending adults. In Florida it seems like a trend that the students go directly from the school system into the prison industrial complex. Most of the repeat violent offenders have a history of violence that trails back to their childhood. If we started providing counseling and alternative methods of discipline for our at risk youth, we will be able to control the rising prison population. “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men” (Frederick Douglass).

Some schools in Florida look at all students acting out in a black and white manor allowing no room for a shade of grey. Regardless of what is going in in the child’s life, the child is at fault and needs to be punished. Many examples were found, in a one example, “a six year old was handcuffed, arrested, and driven away from school after throwing a tantrum in her kindergarten class. Because of her small stature, the handcuffs were placed around her biceps. She was subsequently taken to county jail, fingerprinted, had a mug shot taken, and was charged with a felony and two misdemeanors” (Walter, S., Lambie, G. & Ngazimbi, E.). Regardless of the child’s age or reason for acting out, the 6 six year old was severely punished. In other cases children were placed in jail, with criminals. Regardless of if the child gets his or her record expunged at the age of 18, the child will have to live with the trauma of being incarcerated. In addition to that, the child will only have more resentment towards the school and this will cause more out breaks. For some children the school is the only safe place they know they can get a full meal and be safe.

Not all students are bad, most students who act out have not been taught proper way of managing their emotions. In many cases, children acting out were showing symptoms of child abuse. The scholarly journal A Choice Theory Counseling Group Succeeds with Middle School Students Who Displayed Disciplinary Problems exposes how school may be the child’s last safe place and chastising a student may push that child into the dark. Some other methods of disciplining students have shown great promise such as Reality Therapy, “Reality Therapy may be seen as the implementation of Choice Theory, where the educator teaches students the basic tenet of Choice Theory: the only person I can control is myself” (Walter, S., Lambie, G. & Ngazimbi, E.) After taking these lessons a student is better fit for the rigors of life and can adjust better to the school environment.  Students have strengths and weaknesses across the board when it comes to school, but when it comes to emotional health the school disciplinary system is blind to this. Not all students have the same emotional capabilities, so it is unfair to judge with the same rules as regular students. Some student come from unstable homes, “We must understand their needs. In addition to their physical needs - food, clothing, and shelter - kids need fun, freedom, power, and a sense of belonging. If these needs aren't met in positive ways, problems develop” (Diana Browning Wright). The main problem with the school system is its consistent failure to flag down students who show signs of learning difficulties at an early age. Once a child is discovered as an at risk youth, the school should be notified that this student should be viewed under special conditions. Children are resilient but only if they have the tools .Teaching students that they have control over their own live is an empowering experience for the students.

The issue of school policies and its disciplinary methods being indifferent toward the plight of all students is as relevant today as it was in the past. We must all come together to ensure the student have the power to develop their own wellbeing psychologically. A poem that resonates with me and this topic is Invictus by William Ernest Henley because everyone deserves the right tools, to make sound judgment. Every student deserves a chance and a part of this poem expresses that we are all in charge of our lives “Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the Horror of the shade, and yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”(Henley)

Works Cited

Barret, D. “Prison Firm CCA Seeks to Reduce Number of Repeat Offenders.” Wall Street

Journal. 12 Sep. 2014. http://online.wsj.com/articles/prison-firm-cca-seeks-to-reduce-number-of-repeat-offenders-1410561176

Castillo, Jennifer. "Tolerance in Schools for Latino Students: Dismantling the School-to-Prison

Pipeline." Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy 26 (2014): 43-58. ProQuest. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

 http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.saintleo.edu/docview/1618349164?accountid=4870

Walter, S., Lambie, G. & Ngazimbi, E. “A Choice Theory Counseling Group Succeeds with

Middle School Students Who Displayed Disciplinary Problems.” Middle School Journal, 40(2), 4-12. Nov. 2008. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.saintleo.edu/docview/217441116?accountid=4870

Wright, B, Diana. “Changing Children's Behavior in School” Great Schools. Web.2012

http://www.greatschools.org/parenting/behavior-discipline/711-helping-change-behavior.gs

Henley, W, William. “Invictus” Poetry Foundation. Web. 1888

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/182194