Saturday, January 9, 2010

The School to Prison Pipeline Game

The School to Prison Pipeline Game


The School to Prison Pipeline Game

Change.org | January 8th, 2010 at 6:37 pm

Here's a hypothetical:
You're in high school. You keep a cell phone on you for family emergencies even though you know it's against the rules. You're caught and threatened with suspension? What do you do?
A new online game from the ACLU uses situations like this to show that the school-to-prison pipeline is more than a hypothetical. There's a slippery slope that can -- and does -- lead from one institution to another.
See for yourself. Play the game here.
People of color and students from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be suspended or expelled than other students, and suspension is the first step on the path toward incarceration. Manyschools have zero tolerance policies for students who break the rules, even when the rules are subjective. Even the American Bar Association has come down against zero tolerance policies in schools, comparing them to mandatory minimums in our courts.