Scan barcode
A review by archytas
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique Morris
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Our goal is to develop schools that our girls don't describe as "jail" or "prisons". This terminology has become so ingrained in their consciousness and experiences that it can be difficult for them to consider what a school which is not governed by discipline looks and feels like … for a large number of girls the fear of violence is greater than the actual demonstration of it".
Pushout is a great, if often terrifying, exploration of the reasons that African American girls are pushed out of schooling. Morris uses a combination of published and original research to explore the world of girls beset by racism, gendered violence, sexual trafficking and criminalization in their quest for an education. The combination works, as the book has both the rigor of a study, but also rings powerfully with the voices of those young women that Morris works with.
Some of the images I won't be able to get out of my head include the eight-year-old detained in a police car for two hours following a tantrum at school; the 11-year-old who introduces herself as a ho; and the way the girls describe the resident police officers at their school stirring up fights for entertainment. This paints a devastating portrait of schools so prisonised that conflict becomes impossible to diffuse, and teachers assess their success by their control, not their educational impact.
In particular I found the insights into the intersection of trauma, exploitation and ability to engage with highly rigid schooling thought provoking.
Pushout is a great, if often terrifying, exploration of the reasons that African American girls are pushed out of schooling. Morris uses a combination of published and original research to explore the world of girls beset by racism, gendered violence, sexual trafficking and criminalization in their quest for an education. The combination works, as the book has both the rigor of a study, but also rings powerfully with the voices of those young women that Morris works with.
Some of the images I won't be able to get out of my head include the eight-year-old detained in a police car for two hours following a tantrum at school; the 11-year-old who introduces herself as a ho; and the way the girls describe the resident police officers at their school stirring up fights for entertainment. This paints a devastating portrait of schools so prisonised that conflict becomes impossible to diffuse, and teachers assess their success by their control, not their educational impact.
In particular I found the insights into the intersection of trauma, exploitation and ability to engage with highly rigid schooling thought provoking.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Trafficking, Sexual violence, and Child abuse