Promise Boys

The school-to-prison nexus (sometimes called “pipeline”) is the idea that schools for minoritized students, specifically Black and Brown students, disproportionately prepare students for life in prison. Because of the perception of these students as inherently unruly or dangerous, they are treated more harshly and placed in prison-like environments in school, creating a narrative where they are on a “pipeline” toward prison from birth. In these schools, the “approach to discipline dominate[s] the educational experiences of students and staff,” serving to “creat[e] a repressive culture founded on mistrust” (Kautz, Matthew B. “Past, Present, and Future: Making and Unmaking the School-Prison Nexus.” PRRAC, 25 July 2023). School uniforms, police presence, exclusionary policies like suspension or expulsion for minor infractions, and strict no-talking and formation policies are just some of the tactics of coercion and control that can foster an adversarial relationship between a school and its students.

Promise Boys centers around Urban Promise Prep School, a preparatory school whose policies mirror the real-life schools that contribute to this phenomenon. As the novel explores the days around Principal Moore’s death, the reader is introduced to the “Moore Method,” a strict, zero-tolerance system at Promise designed to control every aspect of the students’ lives. Students at Promise are forced to wear perfect uniforms, with Principal Moore and Dean Hicks issuing demerits for missing belts, incorrectly fitting pants, wrongly tied ties, and more. The students are forced to walk down the halls following a blue line in the center, treated “like an army platoon” in class (31), and prohibited from engaging from any conversation at all throughout the day—even during break periods and lunchtime.

Through his novel, Brooks explores the impact that policies like these can have on students. By using a first-person point of view that shifts between J.B., Ramón, and Trey, he provides perspective for students who undergo the carceral policies implemented by schools like Promise. These students are forced into isolation, rarely comingling and building no relationships with their teachers except those based on fear and punishment. They are under constant pressure to perform, with Trey facing violent repercussions at home and Ramón doing his best to use the school to escape the cycles of violence and poverty within his family. Most importantly, the students come to believe that they are inherently in need of strict supervision and control, damaging their self-esteem and convincing them that they are incapable of a “typical” education given to white students at other schools throughout the country.

In the novel’s end, when Mrs. Hall takes over as principal, she eliminates the Moore Method and most of the staff that supported it. Instead, she imagines a school that focuses on mental health, provides a sensory room for breaks and stress relief, and has a “student-led Research Committee” to explore “the measures a truly successful school environment requires” (291). Although there is no easy answer to combatting the school-to-prison nexus, Promise Boys brings attention to the idea, gives voice to those experiencing it, and considers alternatives to addressing this complex issue.