Question

School to Prison Pipeline

More recently, scholars have began to focus on how students are pushed out of the educational system and pushed into the prison system. This phenomenon is referred to as the school to prison pipeline.  

Some of the points emphasized:

1) the criminalization of minor disciplinary infractions due to zero tolerance policies

2) increased police presence at schools

3) reliance of suspension and expulsion for minor infractions

4) defunding of schools, and massive growth of the prison system (Prison Industrial Complex)

5) racial disparities (African American and Latino youth are most impacted by the school to prison pipeline)

Link to detailed website: http://neatoday.org/2015/01/05/school-prison-pipeline-time-shut/

question:

This focus on unequal opportunities, and on the injustices within our social institutions, falls in line with which theoretical perspective?  

Answer 1

This focus on unequal opportunities, and on the injustices within our social institutions, falls in line with the theoritithe perspective of Conflict theory. The students pushed out of school belongs to the various marginalized sections of the society. According to this perspective unequal opportunities and injustices are promoted in the social institutions of which education is also a part, to maintain the unequal social structure that is beneficial to the dominant group. Because there is constant struggle for the limited resources the dominant group always try to oppress the minority or the marginalized and to keep the majority of the resources due to which conflict occurs. Conflict theory always focus on the unequal opportunities and on the injustices due to which conflict occurs in the society.