NOT THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: Zero Tolerance For Zero Tolerance
It looks as though "zero tolerance" policies at public schools – often applied by school administrators using zero common sense – are finally starting to go the way of sentence diagramming.
A 1997 U.S. Department of Education survey of 1,200 public schools found that 94 percent had adopted zero-tolerance policies against firearms, 91 percent against other weapons, 88 percent against drugs, and 79 percent against violence.
These not-open-to-interpretation rules were adopted after a series of fatal school shootings. Violators – or perceived violators – were often punished severely, in some cases with school suspensions as long as one year. The Associated Press cites these recent examples of overzealous application of zero tolerance rules:
† Last week, several CA 5th-graders who placed small plastic soldiers on their mortarboards to support troops in Iraq were forced to cut off the miniature weapons the toy soldiers were holding.
† A UT boy was suspended after giving his cousin a cold pill that had been prescribed to both of them.
† A RI kindergartner was suspended for bringing a plastic knife to school so he could cut cookies.
The American Bar Association wants an end to zero-tolerance policies, while the American Psychological Association wants the rules eased.
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