I think somebody said it in class: It’s about survival of the fittest.  There’s opportunity in some students, but not for the little ghetto poor kids in public schools, or should I say the Black students in public schools.  Although it seemed a little far-fetched earlier, but I bet there are some students that are suspended for wearing a hat.  They probably make little rules like that because they know that students feel that its stupid and rebel by consistently wearing hats to school. To me, this is a very sneaky way of targeting certain students and setting them up for failure.  School was designed to produce the same kind of people that have all jacked up in the first place: designed for middle class people to learn the rules of society and be successful.  We all know that middle class is totally different from living in poor and poverty stricken enviornment.  Further, some children have realized (most of the time, kids are smarter than we give them credit for, even the poor Black ones that most people think know absolutely nothing) that school is not designed for their culture, but rather for a culture that seems so far away and untouchable.  Therefore, the mentality that “this isn’t for me” comes about.  Then comes the domino effect: they start being disruptive in class and engaging in attention-seeking behavior.  This is their coping skill for a stressful and somewhat uncomfortable situation.  Breaking rules is a prime example of the “this ain’t for me” mentality; children feel that if Im not getting something realistive out of this, why should I follow these rules I think are stupid anyway.  Soon enough, they are suspended, sent to ISS, or expelled: Pushed away from the learning enviornment and safety that schools have for kids.  Where else can a child who doesn’t have support from many different angles of their life end up but prison.  I believe that school is set up to get rid of all the “rotten apples” as there are sub-consciously referred to before they hit mainstream society, hopefully.  If we get them out of school and in the streets, they’ll end up in prison making one less ”bad” person in society; Those who fit the what and where society wants them to be, and those who have the resources to do so are able to survive.  But those who don’t fit in, must vanish.  Why not start early?  My mission is to help each and every one of my students “fit in” so they can survive out here, because so many people don’t think they will.