Zero Tolerance = Zero Sense
Posted By Russ Emerson on October 13, 2009 at 5:35 pm
While “zero tolerance” sounds like a good idea, in practice it all too often turns into the sheerest lunacy, viz.:
Zero tolerance policies do nothing but allow schools and school districts a way to avoid using proper judgment in settling issues on campuses. If one needed any more proof of this, look no further than the six-year-old boy who may spend 45 days in reform school for bringing a Cub Scout camping utensil tool to school. Yes, it contains a knife … and a fork … and a spoon.
Zero tolerance policies serve primarily to protect those in positions of power at schools — teachers and admins — from risking injury by exercising their brains. “Policy” has been made to substitute for “judgement.”
I have more trust in the average Cub Scout with a knife than in the average teacher with a piece of chalk.
Heck, I’d trust an Eagle Scout with any firearm before I’d trust the average school administrator with a pen.