How the School to Prison Pipeline Affects Hispanic Students Essay Example

Decades of white privilege have led to a systemic superiority over minorities, who have been subjected to a contrasting school environment. Some of the most affected marginalized groups have been Hispanic students, who have displayed lower graduation rates than not only their white peers (4.8 percent) but Asian (2.4 percent) and Black ( 4.2 percent) students as well. Hispanic drop-out rates came in at an astounding 7.4 percent, almost twice as much as the other demographics. In 2020, the high school graduation rate for white ­students was 87 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. These graduation rates provide a stark contrast to the amount of Hispanic high school dropouts. There have been attempts to establish preventative measures against high school dropouts, such as increasing the legal age to drop out to 18. However, these attempts were in vain, and dropout numbers only dropped by a small amount. Besides that, there is no federal law that dictates what the dropout age should be, resulting in many states rejecting the request to raise the minimum age to drop out. Consequently, the U.S continues to maintain the dropout rate at a steady increase. Many factors affect the dropout rate, such as socioeconomic factors. External factors of a dropout may include race, gender, socioeconomic status, language status, special education status, giftedness, and suspension. The EDNC provides a graph containing data that elaborates on different percentages and rates within minority groups, using white people as the comparison group. 

The graph displays a horrific outlier: Hispanics. Hispanic students are 148% more likely to drop out of school than white people. When Hispanic students were surveyed about the reasons for dropout, there was a common response from most students: the choice of work over school and childcare needs. Many first and second-generation Hispanic students have been tasked with responsibilities that students cannot handle. Hispanic dominant communities often rely on the younger generations to provide for the household or care for their siblings, impeding them from devoting their full focus to their studies. Unfortunately, this is a reality for many people in this marginalized group, and prioritizing life in the United States over school is the norm for many of these Hispanic students. 

To continue elaborating on the last point, it is imperative that the school-to-prison pipeline is addressed. As stated by the ACLU, the school-to-prison pipeline is “a disturbing national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.” Often, the victims of this system are children with learning disabilities, histories of poverty, abuse, or neglect. Schools often have “zero-tolerance” policies, which, just like the prison system, penalize an individual for minor infractions. Instead of aiming to help these students and understanding their performance at school, these students are isolated, punished, and set apart from the students who are considered “successful.”