Schools and Jails
"Why bother giving youth an education when we can just lock them up?"
By Ursula Mehl
 I’m
not proud of the fact that I go to a California public high school. For one
thing, California schools are ranked near the very bottom in terms of money
spent per student. That’s bad on its own, but it gets worse: while our
schools have no money, it seems our jails have plenty. The state of California
ranks number one in the nation for prison spending, but number 43 for public
education.
I’ve known that fact for a long time, but the reality didn’t
hit home until several months ago. That was when I learned that Alameda County
is planning to build a “super jail” for incarcerated youth. It would
be one of the largest facilities in the country, per capita, despite the fact
that youth crime has been steadily declining.
They’re not building it to house the people who are in jail
now, they’re building it to house the people who are going to be in jail
five years from now. Let’s stop and think for a minute. What kind of a
message is being sent here? Our schools are in various states of disrepair,
most school districts are several million dollars in debt and you want to build
a jail? That makes no sense. Or it makes perfect sense. Why bother giving youth
an education when we can just lock them up?
You can’t raise children telling them that they can be whatever
they want as long as they work hard and do well in school, then turn around
a build a giant jail just for them. The whole we-believe-in-you-but-not-enough-to-think-you’ll-stay-out-of-jail
mentality is completely hypocritical.
California should spend its money on education not incarceration.
— 17-year-old Ursula Mehl attends Albany High School.
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