Law Commons^™

Countering Criminalization: Toward A Youth Development Approach To School Searches., Sarah Jane Forman

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Public schools are supposed to be the foundation for American students’ civic education. Students do not only gain this education through the curriculum but also through extra-curricular political and legal socialization occurring in schools. Large metropolitan school districts face a myriad of serious challenges, including inadequate funding low literacy, high dropout rates, teen pregnancy, and legitimate school safety concerns. Instead of being educated in the manners of civility, students are treated as threats to public safety the minute they walk through the metal detector at the schoolhouse door. Citizen education devolves into ghetto education when schools adopt a prison-like culture. …