From a young age, children learn that they must graduate from high school and go to college. They are told that education is the key to success in this world and that it will be much more difficult to get a good job without a degree. What they are not taught is that if a person is a minority, their quest to further their education will become more difficult as time passes. Black and brown teens graduate from high school at a disproportionate rate compared to their counterparts. Unfortunately, this number continues to increase. Rather than focusing on schoolwork, these teens enter the school-to-prison pipeline system. The school-to-prison pipeline is a system that involves students in low-income neighborhoods entering a lifestyle of incarceration and continued hardship. The education system has an important role in this transition. Teachers and administration play a crucial role in whether students become immersed in the school-to-prison pipeline due to a lack of minority teachers, biases, and behavioral reinforcements . Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Lack of minority teachers plays a critical role in students entering the school-to-prison pipeline .Currently, the K-12 education system is predominantly made up of white males. and women with fewer than 10% teachers of color. Students learn better from teachers who look like them and experience fewer behavioral infractions. Black teachers and other teachers of color play an important role in the achievement and social outcomes of students of color, despite research studies and recommendations to diversify teacher education. Additionally, K-12 public schools also do not make special efforts to recruit, hire, and retain a more diverse teaching population. This perpetuates the systematic school-to-prison cycle because it leaves room for racism and prejudice. By trying to hire more minority faculty and staff, students will be much more likely to succeed after high school because they will have seen people who reflect themselves in a position other than in prison. Black and brown students will also be able to gain insight from minority adults who may have been in the same situation as teenagers, giving them a better understanding of how to avoid prison and the pipeline system as a whole. . Prejudice within the school community is very significant. important question. Educational biases can appear as early as kindergarten, but will become much more prevalent during the transition from middle school to high school. Students of color constantly face bias from faculty and administration, whether intellectual or behavioral. Many teachers already have a hidden stigma against black and brown students. They are more likely to believe that a student of color will not excel academically or will automatically be a criminal. From a personal experience during my freshman year of high school, my Afrocentric honors English teacher asked us all, “So who is the drug dealer?” "I had one of the biggest drug dealers in my high school class when I taught at Hayward High." Mrs. Beck automatically thought that someone must be adrug dealer just because we were black. There were no signs among us that indicated drugs or other criminal behavior. Teachers also have the misconception that students of color do not receive adequate support at home like other races do. Additionally, in this same Afrocentric classroom, Ms. Beck implemented “Black School Week” with the help of the school administration. It was a two-day program in which students received extra credit for bringing their parents to school. Parents had to come on a block day where there were only three classes and stay the whole time. She believed that our parents were not involved in our education and that we were suffering academically. Ms. Beck and the administration were mistaken in their judgment based on skin color. They let their own biases reflect our abilities before we can show them ourselves. Bias also manifests itself among students of color who go unrecognized when they have disabilities such as ADHD. ADHD is a disability that affects a person's behavior. Students with this disability suffer from hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity. As Moody stated, "These children are at greater risk of committing delinquent behavior as adolescents and criminal activity as adults, and they are at greater risk for substance abuse at a young age." Teachers do not recognize this deficiency because it affects a student's behavior. Additionally, ADHD is underdiagnosed in the Black and Latino community, complicating teachers' actions. Additionally, students with disabilities have a higher school-to-prison retention rate: “On average, 33 to 40 percent of students in juvenile incarceration have been identified as having a disability. » Faculty and staff ignore the educational disadvantages of these students rather than helping them. Alternatively, they let their biases affect a student's learning. Prejudices created inside and outside the classroom help create a system of harsh punishments. As a result of bias, behavioral reinforcements implemented by the administration play an important role in students' entry into the school-to-prison pipeline. The school administration has implemented a zero tolerance policy. Zero tolerance policies have been developed to effectively enforce the rules and prevent further behavioral problems. As a result of this policy, students are suspended or expelled for minor infractions such as noncompliance and defiance. Teachers are now quick to dismiss students for inconsequential reasons, especially black and brown students. In an interview with Franco, a junior at Castro Valley High School, he said he was suspended for three days from art class due to tardiness. This suspension caused a downward spiral of negative effects that caused him to fail the class with a D. The zero tolerance policy negatively affects students' educational studies, causing them to fall behind. When students fall behind, it becomes difficult and frustrating to get back on track. This will result in poor grades, failures, or early dropping out. Additionally, the zero-tolerance policy is known to be biased against students of color, with suspension and expulsion rates being three times higher than those of other races. As Benjamin Justice stated, “[….] Combined with aggressive policing and dead-end juvenile justice alternatives, this would set the stage for increasingly negative and disparate effects., 85(3), 403-424.