Introduction
School safety is based on how teens interact with people in the school environment and whether they get help when they make mistakes. Educational standards do not always include minority groups in their innovations, so some students are not safe from mistakes. Punishments for misbehavior lead to even more deviant behavior, and school resource officers do not find new ways to help these children. This suggests that the school environment is not developing its potential for safety and does not seek to cover all social groups of students.
Disproportionate Minority Contact
Not all schools successfully integrate educational changes dictated by the state or nationally. There are specific categories of students who continue to face challenges in primary and secondary education, including students of color and lower socioeconomic status (May & Stokes, 2014, 137). In particular, one of the problems for them is disproportionate minority contact, expressed in a high frequency of encounters with the legal system (Padgaonkar et al., 2021). The reasons for these interactions are low socioeconomic status, misunderstandings with teachers and classmates, and the lack of parental role in educational processes (May & Stokes, 2014).
Children of color are thought to be more often embarrassed by their affluence because of stereotypes, and the lack of an adequate system of fines and punishments exacerbates misunderstandings with individuals in the school environment. Spencer (2018) suggests that the ratio of teens of color receiving punishments is higher than whites, which should consider the problem of racism in schools. Consequently, adolescents in these categories do not feel protected in school and see no point in following school discipline.
The lack of protection for these adolescents leads to a school environment that actively discriminates against them and deprives them of safety. It is considered common, and no one is willing to confront the problem (Padgaonkar et al., 2021). Once in the juvenile legal system, adolescents of color are less likely to receive a rational and fair assessment from the school.
This leads to the question that schools cannot address the prevalence of juvenile delinquency because they are unwilling or unable to imagine its magnitude (May & Stokes, 2014). Schools need to change their behavior model, intelligently collect data, and direct education to ensure equity in the classroom and student safety.
Changes in school policy should affect the same system of composing and shaping educational processes. Schools should consider the reasons why their students do not feel comfortable, for example, whether all of their teachers are competent and whether students are not making false claims of wrongdoing.
In addition, school environments should integrate equitable education, considering each group’s needs. This means that if students of color feel suppressed and discriminated against, then the school has a responsibility to make up for the confidence of those students. Without safety and the ability to protect themselves, including from incompetent staff, vulnerable students will continue to be exposed to incidents of minority contact.
Suspensions
Every school, in one way or another, has some system of penalties and punishments applied to students when they violate the rules of conduct. Among the most common, regardless of age, is out-of-school suspension, which has been shown to have a negative impact on students (May et al., 2014). The low effectiveness and impact on student delinquency make this practice irrelevant at this time. Instead, it is recommended that more humane and rational methods be employed to help the child overcome the difficulties and conflicts that lead to the appearance of a fine on their record.
Community service work programs are related to emotional intelligence training among adolescents. May et al. (2014) noted that integrating such programs would manage adolescents’ behavior and help them correct their mental state. In addition, the programs help change their perceptions of society and their role, encouraging adolescents to be empathic and helpful to others. By allowing teens to help people, even if they have violated something, they can reflect on their mistakes in fulfilling a socially valuable role.
Of course, punishments are an extra burden on students, which can make them see it simply as a penalty rather than a way to change and become a better person. This is why punishments should also combine counseling or conversations with psychologists or behavioral specialists who can help teens refuse to break the rules (Brooks, 2022). Punishment should not only penalize teens and restrict them from doing something but also show them that they are not insurmountable obstacles to them.
Conclusion
Thus, the school policy that is formed must consider its students’ characteristics if the school is to create a safe and comfortable environment. Failure to protect students from false allegations or acts of discrimination against them results in vulnerable groups ceasing to trust the school and continuing to violate the rules systematically.
As a consequence, inadequate punishment policies only exacerbate the already complex nature of the interaction between the student and the school environment. Arguably, introducing new and rational ways of imposing punishment and building relationships with students can help overcome unequal classroom attitudes. School policy changes must be comprehensive and responsive to student needs to make schools safe.
References
Brooks, J. (2022). A case study analysis of alternative out-of-school suspension strategies used in Title I elementary schools in a large urban school district. (2022). Doctoral dissertation: Gardner-Webb University. Web.
May, D. C., & Stokes, E. (2014). Reducing disproportionate minority contact in schools: Stemming the school to prison pipeline. School safety in the United States: A reasoned look at the rhetoric. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press (137–156).
May, D. C., Elrod, P., & Lowe, N. (2014a). School resource officers. School safety in the United States: A reasoned look at the rhetoric. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press (29–49).
May, D. C., Stokes, E., Oliver, A., & McClure, T. (2014). Exploring alternatives to out-of-school suspension: A quasi-experimental study examining the effectiveness of community service work. School safety in the United States: A reasoned look at the rhetoric. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press (157).
Padgaonkar, N. T., Baker, A. E., Dapretto, M., Galván, A., Frick, P. J., Steinberg, L., & Cauffman, E. (2021). Exploring disproportionate minority contact in the juvenile justice system over the year following first arrest. Journal of Research on Adolescence: The Official Journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence, 31(2), 317–334. Web.
Spence, D. H. (2018). Measuring disproportionate minority contact in West Virginia’s juvenile justice system. Statistical Analysis Center Special Projects Series. Web.