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[Scenic Sounds]

Another great column, Cathryn. The hits just keep on coming!! ;-)

[Wolfie]

"Zero Tolerance". Another Drug War chicken come home to roost.

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[trebb]

"Zero Tolerance" is descriptive of the left-wing "Party of Tolerance" - They can't hide their aspirations for a totalitarian oligarchy; it spews from their mouths daily and people are starting to wake up...

[Odyssey-x]

The whole reason for zero tolerance is so that principals could take action against violent gangs without being called racist. They could just say they were merely carrying out administrative procedures.

[jimkress]

The problems with 'zero tolerance' can be traced to one thing, malicious compliance by the Left.

Incensed that their constituency (the criminal class) was being selectively targeted, the Left decided to maliciously apply the 'zero tolerance' edict to everyone. They did this to destroy its effectiveness at dealing with known criminals and trouble makers, to perpetuate their program of allowing criminals to escape punishment, and perpetuate violence and fear in the schools.

The Left does want not education. An educated electorate will reject the Left's genitally driven, emotional hegemony.

By perpetuating a climate of fear in the schools, education
is eliminated and a new generation of ignorant slaves is produced - thus perpetuating Liberal domination of society.

[Libertina]

The public schools strike again - running for their lives from predatory lawyers and sue-happy parents. Coupled with their NEA indoctrinated brains - it makes for the indefensible actions we read about in this article. Not to worry - they ALL will defend these nonsensical decisions as needed.

[kesg]

[Blood of Tyrants]

now has a criminal felony on her record. Is this the ultimate aim of zero tolerance?

Yes, ultimately a 7 year old who brings a toy gun to school will be denied permission to own a real gun as an adult.

[jimt]

"Zero tolerance" and criminalizing pocket knives are obvious idiocies. That said, there's a little something on the side of discipline as well.

At my wife's school there are little delinquents classified as "developmentally disabled". That means they can do virtually ANYTHING with impunity, from assaulting other students, to assaulting teachers, to cussing teachers out, to refusing to do any work, yada, yada - and they can't be expelled.

The presence of "bad actors" in classes means the good kids can't get the education they deserve - and that we are all paying for.

Dump zero tolerance, repeal all these asinine laws, and then get administrators who'll enforce the rules and discipline the bad actors. My high school principal didn't hesitate to suspend me from school when I and a friend were caught off school grounds. Of course, he didn't have "zero tolerance" either. He appropriately exercised his judgement and authority.

Which is what we need today.

[Dan from Michigan]

Once, long ago, there was legitimate reasoning behind the zero tolerance policy in our public schools that could be fathomed

I can't think of any.....

Originally, zero tolerance measures were aimed at dangerous kids who brought guns and drugs to school.

Disagree. They were there so the school boards and admins (nothing more than politicians) can look good and say. "See, we are doing something!!!"

There is zero tolerance for weapons - what is a weapon? Is it a butter knife, a laser pointer, a beeper?

A pencil or a pen can be used as a weapon.

The same question applies to drugs. Is a children’s multi-vitamin a drug? What about an inhaler? Certs? Mouthwash?

Caffine.....

What about zero tolerance for “disrespect” or “insubordination”?

I'm glad I'm out of school......

Is that simply whatever the administrator of the school deems it to be? For example - in Mississippi, there is a law that allows students older than 13 to be expelled if they are “disruptive” in class three times over the course of the school year.

That's ridiculous. Disruptive is whatever a teacher or admin says it is.

“deal with” them. What qualifies as a disruption? Is that chewing gum in class or passing notes or using profanity - or pulling out a gun and threatening the teacher with it?

Or speaking my mind.....

Consider the case of the 17 year old honors student from Arkansas that was sentenced to 45 days in alternative school because his father accidentally left a scraper and pocketknife in the car the weekend before.

A pocket knife is a TOOL.

Despite the pleas from the father, the school system refused to budge on the inviolate “weapons possession” punishment.

Time to recall or vote out their school board.

Then there was the 18 year old girl who was arrested and charged with a felony for having a kitchen knife in her car that she had been using to open boxes. She was denied her right to graduate and she now has a criminal felony on her record. Is this the ultimate aim of zero tolerance?

But it's for your safety.

Hardly. On the contrary, it fosters an attitude of resentment, disrespect, and deep anger towards authority.

It sure does. I'll just say that I'm glad I graduated before Columbine. That was the final nail in the coffin of freedom.

t also leaves no room for a positive relationship between children and teachers – there is, for the child, always a fear of punishment for the slightest unintended wrongdoing.

I'm glad most teachers I had didn't like to fill out paperwork and had some sort of common sense. I was in the office enough as it is. Luckily I only got suspended once.

It leads to a form of self-censorship that is representative of life under dictatorships.

Or is could lead to rebellion???

Do we really want the cookie-cutter kids that zero tolerance strives to create, devoid of fire and passion and intelligence and creativity? Do we want kids that are always afraid to speak their own mind and stand up for themselves for fear of disrupting a classroom and being suspended or expelled for it?

I don't, but I think most people do. The dems sure do. The unions sure do. "Shut the hell up and follow orders."

Perhaps the only positive aspect of zero tolerance is the likelihood that the children who had to endure it will be the ones who are likely to change it.

I sure hope so.

There was a thread on here about Zero Tolerance. A 15 year old asthmatic lent his inhalor to his girl who was having an attack. Now he's charged with drug dealing and busted by the school. This kid should get a medal, and he's getting screwed over. That one hits close to home for me. I'm an asthmatic and I've lent my inhalor out before. I could have been in the same situation and busted if some dumb schmuck wanted to go on an authority trip.

[hopespringseternal]

My children will never set foot in a public school. I won't have some pinheaded bureaucrat on a power trip ruining their lives and sabotaging their education while they are at it.

[pray4liberty]

Don't forget "possesssion of an explosive device" for a 1 inch firecracker or being arrested for "verbal assault."

Read what happened to Alex Smith here! Sorry, but this one time, Bill O'Reilly didn't get it right!

http://homepage.mac.com/alex_smith/