Zero Tolerance is hurting and damaging our children.
According to Merriam-Webster, zero tolerance is a policy of giving the most severe punishment possible to every person who commits a crime or breaks a rule, and after three years of teaching, I had enough of the school’s zero-tolerance policy; therefore, I am no longer teaching.
To enforce a zero-tolerance policy in schools, administrators are obligated to administer consistent and specific consequences for specific behaviors that occur on campus. Students are typically subjected to severe repercussions, including suspension or expulsion, even when the misconduct is relatively minor. It is an outcome that applies regardless of the circumstances or the reasons for the behavior, including actions taken in self-defense.
Self-Defense
“Innocent until proven guilty”—whatever happened to that? A major complaint leveled against zero-tolerance policies is that they do not take incident-specific factors into account. A zero-tolerance policy must incorporate common sense, but unfortunately, these rules often lead to an overreaction by the adults involved. For example, it is asinine to punish an individual, regardless of whether they are a student or not, without providing them with the opportunity to defend themselves and/or confront the accused.
An Aspirin Leads to Suspension
When is an aspirin not okay?
An immoral attempt to control individuals has evolved into a zero-tolerance policy. Its misuse has led to some bizarre outcomes. For example, a first-grade child was expelled for having an aspirin because of zero-tolerance drug rules. A zero-tolerance drug policy is comprehended; however, naturally, aspirin has been used to treat minor aches and pains for over 100 years. Suspending this child due to their possession of aspirin is an inexplicable act of insanity.
Japanese Maple Leaf
The suspicion that an 11-year-old Virginia boy was bringing a marijuana leaf to school led to a one-year suspension. The student was a part of the gifted and talented program in the district. The assistant principal took disciplinary action after discovering the leaf in his backpack. The leaf was tested three times for marijuana, and it was negative for each incident.
There is No Consistency
The validity of zero-tolerance policies, according to their proponents, lies in the predictability of this response, which allows them to effectively enforce school discipline. We all know that humans are imperfect, so the only problem with that viewpoint is that it demands perfection from us. A Delaware third grader is an excellent example of this disadvantage. Her school district suspended her for a year because she brought a weapon to school.
Birthday Cake Knife
Here’s what happened: the girl’s grandmother sent a birthday cake to the school to celebrate her special day. Grandma included a knife to help cut it. Then the witless teacher used that knife to cut and serve the cake to the rest of the class… before turning the student in for bringing the weapon to school. In this situation, the expulsion was eventually overturned.
