Episode Details
Back to EpisodesBuilding a Better Life out of Prison with Michael Santos (Part 2)
Description
Michael Santos, who served 26 years in prison and now teaches people to change, tells principals how to reach students who tune out authority. His answer: have students define their own values and success, then connect today's choices to it. He offers an incentive model in place of punishment, which speaks to the school to prison pipeline.
Santos lays out his straight A guide: attitude, aspiration, action, accountability, awareness, achievement and appreciation. He also describes Scandinavia's ombudsman panels, where community members meet an offender at the start of a sentence and set milestones that earn more liberty. He asks why educators could not offer students something similar.
What you'll learn
- Ask students to define what success means to them, then ask how today's choices connect to it, rather than telling them what to value.
- Use questions in the Socratic way so students reach their own realization instead of tuning out an authority figure.
- Give students a way to earn back a grade or privilege, as Santos suggests with the ombudsman idea, instead of relying on punishment alone.
- Share stories from people who made bad choices and came back, using webinars or video when a classroom visit is a hard sell for parents.
- Teach the first A of the straight A guide: attitude, meaning 100% commitment to success as the student defines it.
Chapters
- 0:00 Zero tolerance and the school to prison pipeline
- 3:09 Why students tune out authority figures
- 6:47 Letting students define their own success
- 15:17 Defining values and goals before any plan
- 17:29 The seven A's of the straight A guide
- 22:43 Why people turn to crime and how to change it
- 26:11 Why incentives beat punishment
- 30:46 Scandinavia's ombudsman panels and what schools can borrow
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Questions this episode answers
Why do students tune out when school staff talk about consequences?
Santos says students see an authority figure and stop listening, because they are running from that person. He remembers rejecting the message as a kid. His answer is to have students define their own values and success, so they work out the connection themselves.
What is the straight A guide?
Santos teaches seven steps after you define your values and goals: attitude, aspiration, action, accountability, awareness, achievement and appreciation. He says it works whether you are 12 or 50, and that attitude means 100% commitment to success as you define it.
What can schools do instead of punishment?
Santos says an incentive system that rewards a pursuit of excellence works better than punishment. He points to Scandinavian ombudsman panels and suggests students get a chance to earn a better grade or restore their standing, so they have a stake in their own success.
About Michael Santos
Former prisoner who spent 26 years in prison and now hosts a podcast that goes into the prison system to help people learn to change.
Links and resources