Fostering a Healthier Learning Environment by Niomi

Fostering a Healthier Learning Environment by Niomi - July 2022 Scholarship Essay

At the early stages of a child's life, a healthy education system is very essential. It serves as the foundation upon which parents and teachers build, and it must simultaneously educate and make children feel comfortable and safe. However, many African-American children, like Kaia Rolle, do not experience this. Kaia Rolle, a 6-year-old girl who verbally could not express her feelings, was thrown in the back of a police car. After the assistant principal refused to give Kaia her sunglasses, she threw a tantrum, and instead of handling the situation appropriately, the police were called on the young girl. According to the New York Talk data, African-Americans and Latinos account for almost 70% of all in-school arrests in American schools. Today, the young girl deals with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. To avoid this, teachers should use behavior reinforcement techniques instead of suspending or arresting students for minor incidents. The Washington Post expresses, "If a child commits harm against the community, let’s do the work of helping that child understand the harm that was done. Instead of dismissing and suspending, use mistakes as opportunities for the entire school community to learn and grow."

Over the next ten years, education must focus on its aim of fostering a welcoming environment and effectively preparing students for the workforce through the teaching of practical skills and trades. Many black and brown students start the school year off very well, and by the end of the year, they have accumulated a record. How come? Systems like the "school to prison pipeline" and the “third-strike rule”, were put in place as a strategy to regulate "troubled" youth's behavior. Vox reports that the methods only, "push students into the juvenile justice system — often by having students arrested at school by School Resource Officers."
Not only are students afraid of the police, but they also avoid going to school. According to the Education Department Office for Civil Rights, black students are three times more likely to be suspended or expelled than white students. Research in Texas found students who have been suspended are more likely to be held back a grade and drop out of school entirely. The numbers have only skyrocketed since 2015 up until the present.

Educators should recommend misbehaving students to the guidance counselors office to refocus their attention. Its a guidance counselors job to guide the youth and allow them to express their feelings to find the root of their misbehavior. When children are engaged in deep, vigorous learning that activates their entire brain, they will do everything to uplift their school environment." Others must understand that prescriptions or jail time aren't going to cure rowdy or distracted children, you must engage with them and meet them where their at to make a positive impact on their minds. The overall goal is to avoid jail or arresting the children, not to push them into the system at such a young age. As the Washington Post quotes, "the school-to-prison pipeline — the disproportionality that exists in handing out school discipline in schools to Black and Brown students for simple infractions — pushes kids out of classrooms and into our ever-growing system of mass incarceration." The system must acknowledge that there is a pipeline and have more conversations so others may know that this does exist. The circumstances will not change unless we change it as a whole; it starts with our community and what principles we instill with our children.