“When our kids spend eight hours a day in a system that is looking for reasons
to punish them, remove them, criminalize them -- our kids do not get to be kids.”
-- Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race
___________
Seminar Description:
This inter-disciplinary upper-level seminar will explore the complex school policies, teacher instructional decisions, as well as historical, political, social, economic, cultural, and structural forces that have given rise to the documented reality of the “school-to-prison pipeline.” More specifically, what policies and practices within a school’s learning environment push students out of the education system and into the juvenile and adult criminal legal systems? Why do the consequences fall so heavily and disproportionately on minority and low-income students? What is the impact on childhood and learning “joy?” What is the role of law enforcement? Are there other stakeholders whose involvement exacerbates the school-to-prison pipeline? What is the impact on family structure, upward mobility, and neighborhood stability? And finally, what can educators and other stakeholders do to prevent and disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline?
Over the course of the semester, we will critically examine the issue of the school-to-prison pipeline” as it relates to the neighboring urban communities of Philadelphia and Chester, PA; and in each weekly Discussion, we also will critically examine the role of place/neighborhood context. We conclude by exploring the possibility of reform and/or abolition of the juvenile legal system.
Finally, we will be joined by several key stakeholders (i.e., teachers, school administrators and post-secondary educators, prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement personnel; take a tour of one of the local Philadelphia jails; and visit Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site.
to punish them, remove them, criminalize them -- our kids do not get to be kids.”
-- Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race
___________
Seminar Description:
This inter-disciplinary upper-level seminar will explore the complex school policies, teacher instructional decisions, as well as historical, political, social, economic, cultural, and structural forces that have given rise to the documented reality of the “school-to-prison pipeline.” More specifically, what policies and practices within a school’s learning environment push students out of the education system and into the juvenile and adult criminal legal systems? Why do the consequences fall so heavily and disproportionately on minority and low-income students? What is the impact on childhood and learning “joy?” What is the role of law enforcement? Are there other stakeholders whose involvement exacerbates the school-to-prison pipeline? What is the impact on family structure, upward mobility, and neighborhood stability? And finally, what can educators and other stakeholders do to prevent and disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline?
Over the course of the semester, we will critically examine the issue of the school-to-prison pipeline” as it relates to the neighboring urban communities of Philadelphia and Chester, PA; and in each weekly Discussion, we also will critically examine the role of place/neighborhood context. We conclude by exploring the possibility of reform and/or abolition of the juvenile legal system.
Finally, we will be joined by several key stakeholders (i.e., teachers, school administrators and post-secondary educators, prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement personnel; take a tour of one of the local Philadelphia jails; and visit Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site.
- Teacher: Keith Reeves