The existence of a school-to-prison pipeline for African-American students across the country has been well-documented by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and many others.  In fact, the largest educational sewer line is running right here in New York.   The LDF report on the problem says that "The New York City Department of Education's 'Impact Schools' program is among the most aggressive and explicit School-to-Prison Pipeline policies in the country.

Borrowing methodology from the New York City Police Department, schools perceived to have the highest levels of 'crime and violence' are labeled as 'Impact Schools'. A report by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy shows that the Impact Schools suffer from significant resource disparities, including severe overcrowding and lower per-pupil expenditures. Rather than address the educational inequities that contribute to negative student conduct, the policy floods these schools with police officers and surveillance equipment. As a result, an alarming number of students are removed from their schools and placed in suspension centers, alternative schools and juvenile detention facilities." These methods of social control originate in the slave codes and the overseer's whip.

A better path to a disciplined learning environment is one that winds its way from those who taught in secret, using a tree stump for a desk, and students with literally nothing except their passion to learn.  This is the wellspring of the recommendations in the reports the Commission on Students of African Descent issued between 1994 and 1998 to the New York City Board of Education.

We've reprinted this summary of the reports, because as this school year begins, we should be doing better than having our children taught only to the test and that done with armed guards walking the halls.  After the sacrifices they had made, our ancestors expected better of us.