Systemic Racism and the Role of Public Education. Jared R. Lancer, Ed.D.

The longstanding history of police brutality illustrated yet again in the horrific tragedy in the murder of George Floyd is rooted in the legacies of slavery and institutionalized racism embedded within the social structure of the United States. Mass protests and riots across America reflects the deep pain and anger over the great contradiction and hypocrisy of our nation and the desperate fight for freedom, equality and justice. National protests and riots call for accountability and justice for each of the officers responsible for the tragedy. Clearly, more enduring and lasting change is long past due. Many elected officials and concerned citizens are advancing proposals to reform law enforcement and the Justice System. However, an analysis of practice in public schools raises several questions. Namely, what role and responsibility does the public education system play in contributing to the George Floyd tragedy as reflected in so many seen and untold examples across this nation? And, what laws can be enacted to eliminate such a practice from reoccurring in the future?

Present Societal Conditions and the Role of Public Education

An analysis of the present conditions in the public education system points to interconnected factors that contribute to the culture and practice of law enforcement and other institutions responsible for the unconscionable death of George Floyd. This interconnection is reflected in: (1) A culture and tradition in public schools based upon obedience and the punishment of students in the absence of inquiry and reasoned discourse for understanding; and, (2) The organization of school and enactment of approaches that do not develop the literacy skills in the majority of public school students needed to fully participate in a democratic society.

A Culture and Tradition of Obedience and Punishment

It is widely known that the United States prison population is the largest in the world with a clear interconnectedness to the school-to-prison pipeline and well documented literacy crisis. Unpacking this pipeline reveals a deeply embedded culture in public schools promulgated by fostering obedience and punishing students. According to the 2015 most recent US Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection, consider that more than 90,000 students attending public schools still experience corporal punishment enforced by law; over 50,000 students became entangled in the legal system through school-related arrests, as well as more than 190,000 additional students were referred to law enforcement. And, over 2 million students were suspended from school, and an additional 98,000 students were expelled from school.

The criminalization of children and youth attending public schools was exacerbated by zero tolerance policies and the Three Strikes law enacted in 1994. However, this law and subsequent public school policies and practice have not increased safety, especially for students of color attending urban schools. In fact, based on observation over time, I cannot recall ever an instance in which a random mass shooting occurred inside an urban public school involving students of color. To the contrary, the evidence of mass school shootings has occurred in suburban schools involving white students. In practice, however, these laws have translated to a law enforcement presence viewed as commonplace and perceived as a necessity to maintaining order in public schools. Firsthand observation in public schools illustrates the struggles of many public school administrators who believe it is in fact their duty to enforce laws that punish children and youth with mandatory out-of-school suspensions, discretionary expulsions, issuing referrals to law enforcement or initiating school-related arrests.

However, this disturbing practice unfairly and unjustifiably ruins the lives of many children and youth, and sets them on a path and trajectory marred by entanglements with correctional facilities and the justice system based on education code. Reports of students being verbally and physically abused by professional staff and police officers should never occur under any circumstance. However, there are countless examples of students who endure verbal and physical abuse by professional staff and are suspended or expelled or referred to law enforcement and arrested for misbehaving or disturbing class, being disrespectful, defying authority figures, staying on campus after hours, or for even wearing dreadlocks in violation of some kind of dress code. These policies and practices must be outlawed from every school district and prosecuted where it exists.

Literacy Crisis

Furthermore, despite the primary charge of public schools to develop the literacy skills in all students in order to function as productive members of society, less than 50% of every student racial group, including students whose parents graduated from college, can read printed texts proficiently by 12th grade according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Indeed, the organization of public schools, and the approaches enacted, do not develop the literacy skills in the majority of students in order to fully participate as citizens in a democracy. Even more illustrative, according to the 2019 Programme for International Student Assessment and its publication, What Students Know and Can Do , approximately 14% of students in the United States are able to comprehend and interpret printed texts well enough to distinguish between fact and opinion. Notwithstanding, tens of thousands of children and youth each year are punished for this professional shortcoming, and are retained from entering the next grade level despite these data for all students.

Public schools must function as beacons of hope and opportunity and as safe havens to nurture the unlimited learning potential in all students. Accordingly, this is an opportunity to advance legislation to restore trust in public school institutions based upon mutual respect for families and advancing the growth and development of every child and all students. What laws can be enacted to change this trajectory?

Jared R. Lancer ? Copyright 2020