• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

YOUTH ACTION: CALL THEM PUSHOUTS, NOT DROPOUTS

Written by CHRIS FARAONE Posted October 13, 2014 Filed Under: News, NEWS+OPINIONS

NWS_PushoutsNotDropouts

If you’re an adult who has been out of grade school for in excess of a decade, then you probably have no clue how much has been done this century to convert learning institutions into prisons. That goes double for people unfamiliar with communities of color, where students are disproportionately slapped with extreme penalties for small infractions. Next time you hear an old-timer talking about nuns swinging rulers, tell them that in America in 2014, kids are often beaten, tazed, and jailed for such minor offenses as insubordination.

Image via Dignity in Schools
Image via Dignity in Schools

 

And so with the state of Boston Public Schools being way less than adequate, and with students being policed on top of poor funding and the unfortunate hand they are already dealt, hundreds of young people plan to speak out this week in solidarity with youths across the country. Specifically, the National Week of Action Against School Pushout – an effort organized by the Los Angeles and New York-based Dignity in Schools coalition – will turn up in the Hub on Thursday afternoon at the Dudley Square, Ashmont, and Forest Hills T stations, with a follow-up group rally at Boston Police Department headquarters.

 

“The whole thing is about trying to end this idea of what we call the ‘school to prison pipeline,” says Najma Nazy’at, the director and lead organizer of the nonprofit Boston Youth Organizing Project (BYOP), which is the local force behind the protest. Nazy’at says so-called “zero tolerance” behavior policies are vestiges of former President George W. Bush’s notoriously punitive train wreck of an education act, No Child Left Behind, and reflects a tough-on-crime mentality left over from the Crack Era. She adds: “These young people are suspended for everything from chewing gum to talking back to teachers. We can start ending suspensions around the country just by showing the absurdity. A school is not a jail. It should be a loving place.”

 

The cruel and counterintuitive reality of modern school punishment is evident in any number of cases, statistical and anecdotal. In Texas, for example, a 2011 study of a million middle schoolers showed that only 3 percent of suspensions were for serious criminal offenses. Around here, while Boston Public Schools have improved in this regard in recent years, research by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting and the Center for Public Integrity show how this phenomenon has plagued the commonwealth …
 

In Massachusetts, more than 190,000 school days were lost to out-of-school suspensions and expulsions during the 2009-2010 school year … That’s about one school day for every five Bay State students or just over 10 percent of the 172 million school days logged annually by the state’s 955,563 elementary and secondary pupils.

Boston was more likely than other school systems to permanently expel students, primarily for violent drug or criminal activity, while Worcester students lost more than 5,000 days of class time more than any other school district in the state due to out-of-school suspensions.

Data shows that minority students are being expelled or suspended at disproportionately higher rates than their white counterparts. According to that 2006 federal data, the most current available figures show that black males are being expelled at six times that of white male students and at twice the rate of white male suspensions.

 

“When young people leave school, a lot of them don’t come back,” Nazy’at says. “We call it ‘pushout’ – we don’t call it ‘dropout.’ When schools don’t have resources, and students are over-tested, and then you’re being punished and criminalized and can go to jail, it’s a ‘pushout’ crisis. There are over 3 million young people in this country who have been pushed out.”

BYOP Oct 9 Flyer-page-001In line with organizing done in response to the controversial killings of young people of color like Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin, Nazy’at says Thursday’s actions will address a range of interwoven issues from police brutality to school policy. It’s not just for show; past demonstrations have led to BPS brass re-thinking punitive models, and to Boston schools reserving out-of-school suspensions for rare cases. That’s a good start; moving forward, though, Nazy’at hopes young Bostonians will help foster more “’restorative justice’ alternatives” that “build healthy school communities.” Just imagine students being made to do community service instead of being banished from campus.

 

“It shouldn’t be about punishing them,” Nazy’at says. “These young people aren’t criminals. They’re part of the community. People forget that.”

 


FURTHER READING

YOUTH ACTIVISTS OCCUPY OFFICE OF MASS DOT

THE DEARBORN HIJACK


CHRIS FARAONE

A Queens, NY native who came to New England in 2004 to earn his MA in journalism at Boston University, Chris Faraone is the editor and co-publisher of DigBoston and a co-founder of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. He has published several books including 99 Nights with the 99 Percent, and has written liner notes for hip-hop gods including Cypress Hill, Pete Rock, Nas, and various members of the Wu-Tang Clan.

Related posts
  • CHRIS FARAONE
    https://digboston.com/author/chris-faraone/
    June 22, 2022
    Reader Responses: "Unruly, Argumentative Governor's Council ..."
  • CHRIS FARAONE
    https://digboston.com/author/chris-faraone/
    June 16, 2022
    Meet the Phantom Behind Greater Boston’s Awesome Food Feed Everybody Gotta Eat
  • CHRIS FARAONE
    https://digboston.com/author/chris-faraone/
    June 16, 2022
    Former MIT Prof and Convicted Fraudster Is Poster Model for Privilege and Predation
  • CHRIS FARAONE
    https://digboston.com/author/chris-faraone/
    June 15, 2022
    Andy Husbands and Bountiful Farms Collaborate On Infused BBQ Sauce

Filed Under: News, NEWS+OPINIONS Tagged With: action, Activism, Boston, Boston Youth Organizing Project, BPS, BSOP, Dignity in Schools coalition, Dudley Square, George W. Bush, Najma Nazy'at, No Child Left Behind, school dropout, school pushout

WHAT’S NEW

A View of the Harvard Square Pit in June 2022. Photo by Jason Pramas. Copyright 2022 Jason Pramas

Why This Pit Kid Is Not Going to ‘Pit-A-Palooza’

Reader Responses: "Unruly, Argumentative Governor's Council ..."

Reader Responses: “Unruly, Argumentative Governor’s Council …”

Inbox: Legislation To Protect Vote for Eligible Incarcerated Voters on Baker’s Desk

Inbox: Legislation To Protect Vote for Eligible Incarcerated Voters on Baker’s Desk

Mental-Health Program Provides Alternative to Emergency-Room Boarding

Mental-Health Program Provides Alternative to Emergency-Room Boarding

Unruly, Argumentative Governor’s Council Inflames Parole Board Hearings

Unruly, Argumentative Governor’s Council Inflames Parole Board Hearings

Photos courtesy of CAIR-MA

Food, Folks … and Fear?

Primary Sidebar

Advertisement

FEATURED EVENT

Advertisement

Most Popular

  • Dig This: The Return Of the Boston Seafood Festival
  • No Smoking, No Thank You. Advocates Decry Cannabis Social Consumption Rules in Mass
  • Meet the Phantom Behind Greater Boston’s Awesome Food Feed Everybody Gotta Eat
  • Dig This: The Hot Dog Safari Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival
  • FOTOBOM: WILCO’S SOLID SOUND FESTIVAL

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]