MacIntyre: The failed prison policy that is destroying American schools – By Auron MacIntyre (The Blaze) / April 26, 2023
The collapse of quality in American public education is no secret, and the causes are legion. Every year our public schools graduate students who can barely read or write and have no hope of finding any nation other than the United States on a map. Some of the factors involved in this degradation are beyond the control of the school system, but many are the result of deliberate policy choices implemented by administrators.
Due to a flurry of reporting and an overwhelming volume of video evidence, parents are increasingly aware of the nefarious racial and gender ideology now being taught in classrooms. But most parents are not aware that woke ideology has deeply impacted the discipline structure in public schools as well. A failed prison policy known as Restorative Justice has now become the standard discipline model in many American schools, even in deeply conservative states, and students are paying the price.
Restorative Justice began as a movement in the 1970s to offer a therapeutic alternative to incarceration. There is plenty of academic jargon layered on top of the process, but the theory was that by making criminals face their victims and talk through the impact of their actions, rehabilitation could be achieved with a reduction in, or complete abolition of, jail time. It does not take a rocket scientist to see the problem here: This means placing victims in contact with their abusers and subjecting them to additional trauma for the benefit of the criminal. The motivation for bureaucrats was never really reconciliation for the victims, but instead an overall reduction in incarceration.
