Poor and minority high school students, particularly Black males, are often identified as being the most frequent recipients of the short end of the education "stick." Teachers and other school personnel have been cited most often for contributing to these students' academic downfalls by failing to adapt their instruction to these students' behavioral and learning needs. This failure to educate is then, in turn, cited as the chief cause of this group's representing only 17% of the U.S. population but 86% of all U.S. prisoners.

But is it really the American school system, or something else that causes this group to produce the lowest test scores, the most dropouts, and the most suspensions and expulsions from school? I decided to study this issue in a little more depth by analyzing the discipline records of one local Chicago-area urban high school for the 2005-06 school year. In this school of 900 students, over 75% claimed low-income status last year. The ethnic breakdown of the students during this period was 60% Black, 30% Hispanic, 5% White, and 5% Asian/Pacific or Multi-Racial. The gender breakdown was 55% males/45% females. The number of the school's teachers with graduate degrees is 55%, exceeding the State average, with the average number of teaching years being 14. Approximately 25% of the teachers are of minority descent.

Student discipline referrals to the school's Dean's Office were analyzed and grouped into similar categories, including Tardiness, Uncooperativeness, Destruction to Property, Excessive Rudeness and Disruption, Illegal Substance Use, Gang Activity, and Violence, including Use of a Weapon. Although Black males represented only 35% of all students, they accounted for the majority of all discipline referrals in every single category and sub-category, as well as representing the overwhelming majority of student gender/ethnicity groups that accrued more than 25 referrals in one year. Further, while males, overall, committed 63% of all offenses, the percentage of Black male offenders to all Black students outnumbered other ethnicities at a rate of 4 to 1, out-misbehaving all other male ethnicity groups.

Still, while there were approximately 50% fewer offenses logged for Black females than Black males, those Black females who did offend managed to out offend their non-Black female counterparts at a rate of approximately 4 to 1, as well. Hispanic males did accumulate a greater proportion of offenses within their gender in only one category, Tardy to School, which appeared to be due, in part, to greater family obligations, a subject for another article.

Forgetting tardiness and other non-malicious offenses, I then focused my attention on student violations of rules which are replicated by real world laws. I again found that 42% of all offenses logged for not following school rules, (including cutting class, cheating, and disobeying teacher directions), were committed by Black males. Destruction and damage to property by this group exceeded 65%. Gang activity by Black Males reached 73% of all student offenders. An alarming 75% of offenses for Disruptive and Disorderly Conduct, (including swearing, shouting, throwing things, and major classroom and bus disruptions) were committed by Black males. While there were surprisingly only 15 documented offenses for Drug Use, more than half of these, as well, were committed by Black males. Most significant, however, was the fact that over 82% of all acts of Violence were committed by Black males, including an astounding 199 Verbal or Physical Assaults to other students, and 179 Verbal or Physical Assaults to teachers and other school staff! (Teachers at this school apparently had a 1 in 3 chance of being assaulted.) Applying "typical" discipline consequences, including detentions and suspensions from school had little impact on reducing repeated behaviors.

Sadly, these are the very behaviors that will eventually land many of these student offenders in prison. Clearly, something else is at play here creating these high "crime" rates besides simply poor teaching. If that were the case, student behavior rates would be more similar across ethnicities, if not genders. Further, although not broken down by gender, over 65% of Black students tested at this school in 2005 failed to meet State standards in Reading , along with over 87% documented failures in Math, compared to over 60% of their non-Black peers who did. While this is only one school, I believe it is typical of many "poor-urban-minority" schools today. Yet, instead of recognizing these patterns and initiating programs to address these social/emotional needs, these students are merely passed along to a future of certain doom. The cost to imprison just our nation's Black male criminals is over $11.6 billion per year, while public aide and other costly services to the families of these individuals continue to mount, as well. As suggested by the above data, Black females now represent a growing percentage of incarcerated Americans as well. Sadly, our nation is losing all of the positive contributions by these mostly very bright but frustrated young people, as well as the loss of contributions of time and talent to their families and communities. Parents, community leaders, administrators, local police forces, and others must band together without further delay to identify these potential future inmates and take real and meaningful steps toward redirecting them onto a path of productive and lawful citizenship. America cannot afford to lose another generation of untapped potential to our penitentiary wasteland.