Being Bad: My Baby Brother and the School-to-Prison Pipeline

by Crystal T. Laura

Being Bad will change the way you think about the social and academic worlds of Black boys. In a poignant and harrowing journey from systems of education to systems of criminal justice, the author follows her brother, Chris, who has been designated a “bad kid” by his school, a “person of interest” by the police, and a “gangster” by society. Readers first meet Chris in a Chicago jail, where he is being held in connection with a string of street robberies. We then learn about Chris through insiders’ accounts that stretch across time to reveal key events preceding this tragic moment. Together, these stories explore such timely issues as the under-education of Black males, the place and importance of scapegoats in our culture, the on-the-ground reality of zero tolerance, the role of mainstream media in constructing Black masculinity, and the critical relationships between schools and prisons. No other book combines rigorous research, personal narrative, and compelling storytelling to examine the educational experiences of young Black males.

Book Features:

The natural history of an African American teenager navigating a labyrinth of social worlds. A detailed, concrete example of the school-to-prison pipeline phenomenon. Rare insightsof an African American family making sense of, and healing from, school wounds. Suggested resources of reliable places where educators can learn and do more.

“Other books have focusedon the school-to-prison pipeline or the educational experiences of young African American males, but I know of none that bring the combination of rigorous research, up-close personal vantage point, and skilled storytelling provided by Laura in Being Bad.”
—Gregory Michie, chicago public school teacher, author of Holler If You Hear Me, senior research associate at the Center for Policy Studies and Social Justice, Concordia University Chicago

“Refusing to separate the threads that bind the oppressive fabric of contemporary urban life, Laura has crafted a story that is at once astutely critical, funny, engaging, tearful, dialogue-filled, profoundly theoretical, despairing, and filled with hope. Being Bad is a challenge and a gift to students, families, policymakers, soon-to-be teachers, social workers, and ethnographers.”
—Michelle Fine, distinguished professor, Graduate Center, CUNY

"Perhaps more than any other study on this topic, this book brings to life the complicated, fleshed, lived experience of those most directly and collaterally impacted by the politics of schooling and its relationship to our growing prison nation.”
—Garrett Albert Duncan, associate professor of Education and African & African-American Studies, Washington University in St. Louis

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 26, 2014

Reviews

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The context Laura provides regarding how her own views on schools and particularly special education has become coded language for re-segregating schools along lines not seen since the 1940s and 50s. The reality is that so much of what we see in school perpetuates a mentality from outside the walls within which we teach. The problem is larger than any major city, Laura would argue, as minority (read: Black youth) youth, particularly males are more likely than any other group in the United States to be punished in schools, typically through some form of exclusion--and special education services are no different here.

Her case even extends to the nature of suspensions as a tool for effective discipline and how when we track the suspensions of students over the course of their K-12 education, not only do we see a stark reality regarding particularly Black boys, but we also we the contrasting lens through which teachers support and reinforce notions of middle-class/white privilege. The normalizing of certain behaviors and therefore the criminalizing of the "other" as seen in minority youth inevitably leads to the biases so pervasive in our teaching and interactions.

Black boys, in particular, are refracted through cultural images of Black males as both dangerous and endangered, and their transgressions are framed as different from those of other students...

There is so much work to be done, and Laura's presentation of her brother as a case-study in this work is fearless and respectable. Her vulnerability in how a single incident at school involving a phone, after a series what are best described as the proverbial "red flags," are eye-opening and forces any educator to re-evaluate their past interactions with students as to what cues have they missed that should not have been. I applaud her choice to highlight this in a most personal nature and recommend this work to any educator, not just those providing special education services.

[Xiaojie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the honor to meet Dr. Laura in class and never thought would meet Chris, the main character from the book, and listen to him commenting on the book and his story.

That class was full of emotion, inspiration, and love. I am so grateful to be a part of it and so glad that I read the book.

While reading the book, I cannot help but keep thinking about my own students - those I have taught and those I am teaching. Have I failed any of them? Did I miss the chance that I could have helped them but I just let it skip? What have I overlooked or what excuses I gave to myself to ignore something could be important? The teachers from Chris’s schools, like most of the hardworking teachers around us, are overwhelmed by the number of students they have in class, work, assignments, lesson plans, state standards, evaluation, and certificates. I never doubted their intention of helping every student be successful and getting them prepared for the world out there after graduation. I also admire their knowledge of their content and classroom management strategies they came up with from all the years of teaching. But why are there students who just do not play along with the teachers and school systems, why teachers draw the conlcusion that they should not be in school and they are incapable of learning? Are these conclusions also from all the years of experience? Just like how kids are so easily being diagnosed with ADHD nowadays and being labeled as “disable”. Chris was diagnosed at a young age - 4th grade, because his teacher thought he was not a “regular” kid like others - hard to concentrate, got distracted, moved around too much. I was so confused and surprised while reading this part because in my opinion, how is it abnormal for a kid to be active, creative, thinking outside the box, and being unique? I think if my kid was quiet, obedient, and well-behaved the whole time in class, I will take her to the doctor to be checked. How can a teacher not see a kid’s specialty and creativity when they are trying to get your attention in their own ways? It is true that some kids do have learning disabilities, and special education needs to be involved to help them learn. However, how to implant IEP should be closely aligned with the student’s needs, and there are so many school lack such resources or specialists to do so.
Is the school system failing the kids? If not, how do we explain the school-to-prison pipeline, how to we interpret the data of school drop-out among the minority groups?

While growing up, I always considered the word “school” as a strong word full of possibilities and opportunities for kids. School is the place where brings students from different background together to learn, explore, and figure out what the world means to them and what they mean to the world. It should be a place where ideas collide with sparks and it is safe and free. But since when, it became the track that could lead you to prison. Who should be responsible for kids who have unsuccessful and unpleasant experiences at school? It is certainly not pushing the blame from one side to another, and it could be multi-facets. Like what Chris said to the educators during the class meeting, something small from you could be everything for the students. It is so true that, as people said, students “do not care what you know until they know what you care”. Only if we educators could shift our focus from “how to teach according to the curriculum” to “how to know our students and teach align with their personality and needs”. Generate dialogues and engage them in the learning process through empathy, and try to really listen to their voices. One mistake that I, or other educators probably, will make unintentionally is to teach students the way we are taught and assume that is how we should teach and how students should learn. By doing so, we are being blind to what students really are and what is really happening in our classroom.

Back to freedom and the questions - how do we teach freedom at school? I do not have an answer that I could confidently claim “I got it”, but the words of wisdom from Crystal Laura’s book give a way to approach - love, justice, and joy. We show up with great care and a sense of creativity; pay attention to what we have in order to figure out what we serve. When I heard about Nozick’s theory about freedom and the “free market”, the first question that popped in my head is “what about humanity”? These words about freedom sound pale and unreliable to me because they are just cold words like a business. What about taking people and people’s feelings into consideration? Freedom does not come in a vacuum and cannot be talked about without people. Like Dr. Laura stated, we need to educate with conscience and accept people as “the whole human”.

[Roselyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed. And learned a lot. Many props to Crystal Laura for telling the very vulnerable and personal story of her brother Chris’ experience with the criminal justice system and the school to prison pipeline while highlighting so many systemic issues at the same time.

I read this book for a class called “Youth Ethnographies: Confinement, Constraint, and Resistance” which, among many things, explores how young people experience the systems of control and authority in and around their life as they grow. One class unit focused on how young Black boys experience disability, justice, and police encounters. This book was really moving because it’s the authors’ own family. She uses his story to shine light on broader issues that start when kids are elementary school age. Through three different metaphors for the school to prison pipeline, she discusses how the narratives of danger, fear, and failure are used to label youth and how that creates a trajectory into incarceration.

This book is very readable. And simultaneously educational and personal.

[Deyon Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book "Being Bad: My Baby Brother and the School-to-Prison Pipeline" by Crystal T. Laura is a stirring and intimate account of her encounters with the disturbing school-to-prison pipeline, in which students of color—particularly Black and Latino boys—are subjected to disproportionately harsh punishment and criminalization. It offers a realistic and sad account of the impact on families and communities and is based on Laura's experiences with her younger brother, who was caught in the pipeline. Reading "Being Bad" is very interesting and crucial. The school-to-prison pipeline is a real problem, and Laura's personal experiences and moving storytelling outlines the devastating effects on communities of color and families. The work is thoroughly researched and illuminates a pressing topic that demands more consideration.

[Rob Blackwell]

I'm certainly not the demographic for this book. It is, I assume, a very helpful educational tool. It is written with teachers in mind. I am not a teacher, but simply an interested civilian. Because of that, I think some of the book's academia is lost on me. That being said, the narrative elements and core of the story are moving and important. For a layman, they worked to challenge my perceptions of education and schooling. It pushed me to try to understand a child like Chris. I liked my time with the work and I hope Chris is doing ok.

[Kaela Still · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hard read because of the content. It told a good story but I think that having the caters split between factual and the real story made it kind of confusing. Also there was many references to other books which was nice but make it difficult to follow in some places. Overall a good read and it made for an easy assignment for college. 10/10 recommend it as a personal reading book for a class.

[Dana Vance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal narrative of Dr. Laura's brother and how he wound up staring down five felony charges at age 21. Schools in Chicago failed him many times over. It's a complex question: there were many many points where someone could have done something differently and perhaps the outcome for Chris could have been different. This book addresses the school to prison pipeline in a very personal way.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good. As an educator, there are so many things I see broken with our education system on a daily basis. The author's brother showed many examples of these problems, and the way she portrays them in this book is heartbreaking but important.

[Andi S · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Long Academic Essay

This book was assigned for a class and I did not like that it read like one long academic essay. Otherwise, great message and commentary on the school-to-prison pipeline

[Rebecca Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye opening, and too relatable.

[booksandpaiges · Rating 4 out of 5]

fantastic. everything I hoped it would be. if you are an educator, I am begging you to pick up this book.

[Jessie Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

{Another grad school read}

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting account of a young man's life gone wrong. I thought it suffered slightly from a combination of two styles of the account. The author is presenting this as a dissertation, complete with numerous references and footnotes, and also as a memoir of her personal experience with her brother. I thought both were insightful, but to me they dragged each other down. I also didn't see how she connected her research about the unfair effects of school and legal punishments of minorities with the specific circumstances of her brother. While I feel some sympathy for what happens to him, I also feel he could have made choices throughout his life that would have changed things enormously. The fact that he was arrested for stealing jeans from a roommate was tragic, but his many earlier transgressions led in part to that event. I feel this is a book that educators could benefit from reading, but I personally would have enjoyed it more if it had been more focused on the memoir approach to the story.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three aspects of Dr. Laura's book stick out to me as radical and worthy:
1) Her argument for the place of love in education. In an environment in which "rigor" appears valued above all else, the message of love is much needed. She suggests that it may have made a difference for her brother.
2) Her argument for personal narrative as a valid form of academic research and writing. Especially in education, what constitutes research has become increasingly narrow. And meaningless. There is research to support every position, and then opponents break down the problems in methodology in each other's research. Meanwhile, there are real people working with real kids. Dr. Laura's personal approach injects some authenticity into the conversation.
3) Her explanation of the school to prison pipeline. This phrase is ubiquitous, but rarely defined. She looks at it from several angles. I still am not sure what to make of it as a metaphor, but her analysis adds nuance to the conversation.
A short read, and worthwhile.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Upon reading the synopsis of Being Bad, I had high expectations for the book. Unfortunately, chapter after chapter my expectations were let down. Yet despite the let down I would still recommend the book because the story, the content, and the information is unique. Where Being Bad fell short is in providing clear, concise descriptions of events, expanding on the facts, and weakness in the overall argument that Chris Smith was a product of the school-to-prison pipeline. Read the rest of my review here: http://inspiredbookie.com/book-review...

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an important topic that more people need to investigate. The author brought up so many value points about the surge in young black males who are matriculating from school to prison. The personal perspective makes it all the more riveting.

[Gabriel Huddleston · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read especially given events in Baltimore. Highly recommend for everyone to read.