The heart of the education crisis: the 'incarcerated class'?

April 7, 11:40 AMSF Education ExaminerCaroline Grannan

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I’ve asked the inflammatory question before:  

The reason is not, of course, that African-American males are "bad." Nor is it that teachers are racist. The sociological explanation is fairly straightforward, but it’s really hard for us as a culture and society to accept and cope with. All this is l entangled with the growth of “school reform” and its acceptance in the black community. This discussion can also apply to other low-income, high-crime communities, but so far mainly focuses on heavily African-American inner-city ghettos.

Now the Perimeter Primate blog explores the issues in depth, addressing the ““incarcerated class.”

By “incarcerated class” I mean those who are either pre-, currently, or post-incarcerated (many times a never-ending cycle), AND their offspring.

…[Iconic children’s advocate Marian Wright Edelman] says that “a poor Black boy born in 2001 has a one in three chance of going to prison.” However, a closer look would most likely reveal that it is something more like a 90%+ chance for a certain set of those boys, and much, much less for a different set of boys (depending if they are from a street/incarcerated class environment or from a decent one). The high-at-risk subgroup describes the incarcerated class. Parents in the community know exactly who is who.

The extreme numerical escalation of this group is what feeds the interest in charter schools. The non-I.C. parents who live in areas where members of this class are numerous are desperate to separate their kids from the offspring of the incarcerated class. For instance, read this recent, emotional  pro-charter opinion piece  in the New York Post and some of the response comments. One said, “A good kid going to school with kids that were not raised in a good household is like putting a kitten in the middle of a pack of wolves.” Now we're getting to the meat of things.

This discussion puts concerns about disproportionate discipline of students from different demographics in a new light. But of course discipline is not the solution. Nor are simplistic miracle “school reform” fads. Unfortunately, the true solution lies in sweeping, systemic social change.

More from the Perimeter Primate:

David Berliner’s recently issued report, “Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success,” describes the effect of family relations and stress on schooling, pages 24 to 29. It says:

"Children from families that suffer from violence, from whatever income group and race, often display social and emotional problems that manifest themselves in the schools they attend. Too often these children show higher rates of aggressive behavior, depression, anxiety, decreased social competence, and diminished academic performance."

He continues:

“…such families [the above described] are overrepresented among the poor and in the African American community, increasing the difficulty of the instructional and counseling missions of schools that serve those populations…the effects these troubled children exert on others in the classroom is strong.”

This large set of kids is tremendously difficult to manage and they make the school life miserable for everyone else. The teachers in the schools who aren't getting driven away are at risk for getting totally worn down -- thus the apathy which is sometimes described.

My guess is that our ongoing inability to acknowledge that this is occurring, legal arguments and important civil rights concerns have all restrained public schools from developing the strategies that would be necessary for dealing with large numbers of kids from this class. Unlike special education or English learning, there is no extra-funding offered to schools help manage large numbers of them. I believe this is something that could be considered as a disability of a social nature -- the behaviors and the symptoms are very extreme.

My educated guess is that charter schools don’t deal with too many of these kids. The parents in this social class are extremely alienated from any mainstream and aren’t as inclined to seek charters. If they happen to enter the charter school world (because a relative did, for instance), their children will be more likely to get kicked out for bad behavior and non-compliance.

Bad school climates are what drive parents away. Public schools will need a great deal of help to manage their increasing numbers of this most-difficult-to-educate population.