Many contemporary theorists seem to be of the view that the school to prison pipeline is designed mainly for blacks, and that it is a specific matter of racial injustice. More sensitive viewers have often seen that school is designed in many ways like a low-security prison (or at least it used to be a low-security prison in the past, things have changed over the last few decades to make it a higher-security one), with people organized by their age in highly regimented time largely doing things that they would rather not do, with indifferent food and limited time for play and recess where a heavy amount of indoctrination takes place. Those who are able to endure this process and take it fairly well are deemed to be acceptable to enter other, slightly less regimented educational offerings if they are sufficiently able (and willing to acquire large amounts of debt in so doing), those who are sufficiently disciplined but not academically inclined are encouraged to get into some sort of physical trade or do some other sort of work, and those who are not cut out for the discipline required for the school or working world tend to drift towards the world of imprisonment and institutionalization, where they serve as slave labor at the direction of the state.

We do not often wonder enough about why this selection process takes place as it does. There are, to be sure, alternatives to public school, but all of them involve at least similar processes. There is no question, for example, when a kid goes to a private school that there is some degree of education going on that is not merely academic in nature, but is meant to inculcate into people a certain respect for institutions like long-lasting private schools, military academies, or religious schools that are often attached to churches and other religious institutions. In home schooling, it is generally understood that parents who homeschool there kids are interested in passing along to their children their own value system, which may very well be in conflict with the state. All of this is to be expected, and entirely proper. When we think of school, we tend to focus on the education, or lack thereof, which is being provided, but there is always a something else going on besides the process of education that appears to be fundamental to the whole practice but not often discussed on its own. We may call it something like socialization, if we mean by that not only being able to get along with peers but also being able to get along in life.

Getting along in life typically means being able to deal gracefully with people who fancy themselves to be our betters and who often delight in lording it over us. No matter how one chooses to live one’s life, one always has to deal with people who possess power of some kind, and the way we deal with it can determine how successful and how long of a life we live. This process begins early in the home, as children have to deal with their parents, teachers, and other adult authority figures. To be sure, some of these figures may be kind, some may be strict, some may use their power openly and others may be more subtle and gracious about how they operate, but we have to deal with them however they are and make the best of it. This same is true in the adult world, whether we continue in the world of academia or have to deal with the bureaucracies of companies or governments. We must all, to some extent, crucify our own personal feelings in dealing with these often clueless and abusive authorities, doing our best to stay out of uncomfortable and unpleasant situations and not draw enough attention that the bad sort of authorities would be interested in spending much time and effort looking for us and seeking to deal with us. To the extent that we can direct the course of our own behavior with minimal supervision and maximum reward to ourselves, we will often seek out such options so as to do more of what we want to do in life and less of what we have to do and may in fact hate to do.

One of the key mistakes we can make while dealing with this sort of coercive world that is all around us is to believe that it is in some way personal. This is not to say that there are not ways that having kinder people in positions of authority, those who are more gracious and understanding in their dealings, cannot make a huge difference in our lives in making them easier and a great deal less unpleasant. The mistake is in believing that the coercive aspects of our existence are personal. If we think that we suffer because someone has it out to get us personally or is hostile to us on some sort of identity ground, that is generally not the case. The system is potentially coercive to anyone and everyone. It fires at any target that presents itself to be resistant to its operation. It is a universal hammer that smashes all nails that stick out until they are all flattened alike. It does not care about one’s race or gender, but really only about one’s behavior and especially one’s attitude. And though we think of it as largely a prison for the people at the bottom, everyone involved in the system is a prisoner to it, because all are dependent on how the system operates for the things that are necessary for survival, not only material goods–which come through wages, sales, or the generosity of others–but for dignity and the gratification of our pride as well. No one, no matter how wealthy or powerful, can escape the system’s operations, even if for various reasons at various times people may find themselves to have privileged places within that system and therefore some reason to wish for their own sake that it may continue.