As incarceration rates are rising, test scores in the inner school systems are plummeting and crime rates

in those communities are soaring. Leaders and members of these communities suggest that the politicians should make better efforts to improve the education system so that their children can live their lives freely pass the age of 21. In the past 20 years researchers have linked poor education systems with full prisons stating that children with poor literacy skills are likelier to commit a crime or need special attention. Researchers have also found that the average inmate reads on a third grade level, linking education to the prison system. Since the late 90s, studies have shown that poor education systems and low test scores have been some of the biggest contributions to inner city crimes. Studying the statistics, looking at different states educational systems, and their crime rates will prove if that statement is true. The first attempt to make education better for inner city children was the No Child Left Behind Act in 1965. The purpose of the No Child Left Behind Act was to make federal government spend money on public school systems. Although this act was put in place to ensure that each student had an equal opportunity no matter what background the student were from, the inner city school systems still got the less funding than the better neighborhoods. Many revisions have been over the years

to the act to make sure that inner city schools had the same advantages one of the major revision to the ct happened in 1994. In 1994 key standards were put in place to hold the federal government accountable for their spending. As the years went by since the 1994 revision of the act, different programs such as 21st Century community learning systems, the Safe Drug Free School programs and etc. have been added to the act.(New America Foundation) Its no secret that Americas education system falls third ranked in the world and that the country also have one of the biggest incarnation rate. Some taxpayers say that more money should be spent on kids education instead of everything else like wars and oil. Studies have shown that states like Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New Hemisphere, and Vermont spend the most money on education and also has the highest test scores and also the lowest crime rates. Whereas states like Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, West Virginia, and Alabama spend the least amount of money on education and the highest crime rates along with the highest incarceration rates up to date. (Thomas C. Frohlich) Most members of inner city communities with the higher crime rates and low budget education systems reside in states like Mississippi and Louisiana where they are called the U.S prison capital and the worlds prison capital. At

one point in time these states education system was once compared to an undeveloped country education system. (Chang) So who is really the blame for Americas mediocre school which leads to the rise in criminal activity and potential incarceration? Governor of Mississippi, Phil Bryant blames working mothers and the rise in feminism for Americas mediocre education system, stating that many years ago women werent able to be doctors and lawyers and the only job that was able for women who were college graduates were teaching jobs. Hes that back then there were plenty of female teachers and stay- at home moms which meant at least one parent was around versus both parents being on the workforce. Although Governor Phil Bryant points out the fact not having two parents at home make affect the childs behavior there are not many case that can prove that. (Brice.) On the other hand, statistics show that 10 out of

35 males who drop out of high school end up in jail and working below the poverty because of the poor education system. With numbers like these it leaves the question, how does one stop the school to pipeline epidemic that sends many inner city children to jail? ACLU says instead of replacing kids incarnating kids and making different laws against them, schools should try to give the kids extra help and be a little more understanding. ACLU states that many of the targets that do end up in the system come from impoverished homes, have been abused or, have

been neglected. ACLU says these case are especially prevalent in communities of color and claims that people of color are sometimes the main targets of this trend. Education and exposing kids to positive things other than the negativity in their neighborhood could instill some pride and hope in them according to ACLU. ("School-to-Prison Pipeline") Besides the ACLU, the NAACP is also start to examine the school to pipeline trend stating the trend has starting way before high school. The NAACP says that Most politicians beg to differ and say that more laws and law enforcement is needed to fight the war on crime and that education has nothing to do with reducing crime. Others say that legalizing drugs and bigger crack down on criminals will help reduce the crime rate. Doing all of these would reduce crime but the big picture is education, once the criminals are caught they are still being put in the system. Bo Lozoff has come up with seven ways that the government should handle the problem. Out of the seven ways to reduce the crime and incarnation in America the three important things he pointed out was education, getting the community involved, and encouraging the public to get involved in the justice system. (Lozoff) Bo just like ACLU, agrees that giving kids a literature book instead of a jumpsuit

can improve sociality and our and education system but giving them a chance at life just like more privileged kids. According to Carl Tomas from fox news, more reform on crime is the answer and conservatives should stick to the strategies that they have been doing. He claims that if the punishment on criminals were harsher it would motivate them to stay in school and, also says that rehabilitation in jail could help criminals in jail. Other politicians disagree with this statement and say that funding the school systems especially the public school system because of it failing test scores and also argue that charter schools are not the answer. (Cal Tomas.) A study conducted at Berkley University, studied the relationship between education and crime back in 2003 and found that people who live in the inner city have a higher risk of being incarcerated because of the poor education. In the study, the data not only said that raising the budget for education was a must but also, the amount of jobs that were available after school. In this study, Lochner and Moretti suggest that it requires less money to convict a less educated person versus someone that is educated to further explain they point out the labor system in jail. In jail, inmates are required to do some sort of manual labor which they get paid for and just like jobs pay people based on the amount of education they have so does the jail system. Based on the study, white collar criminals get

paid more money than a blue collar doing time in jail based on the study inmates could be just another cash cow for private business owners. Lochner and Moretti also say that the more educated a person is the lesser chance they have in committing a crime, in their study they look at the type of crimes that are committed the most and the level of education for the average person who commits the crime. In the conclusion of the case study, Lochner and Moretti learned that if America raised the budget for high school education by even 1% that the country can save 1.4 billion dollars a year. (Lochner, and Moretti) In North Carolina a study was conducted by