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Randy Cassingham's BlogHistorical Details and Author's Notes from This is True®
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Zero Tolerance and the 800-lb Gorilla
The New York Times had an article today on a ridiculous zero tolerance situation: a kid in Delaware who was so excited to get his Cub Scouts camping utensil -- a fork, knife and spoon combo -- that he took it to school to eat his lunch with. Yeah, a Cub Scout: Zachary Christie is just 6 years old. Wait: it had a dull, kid-appropriate knife included? Why, knives are weapons! Run in circles! Pull out your hair! Scream like a little girl!
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You guessed it: Zachary is out of there -- suspended, and he must spend 45 days in reform school before he can return to classes with his friends. And they had the frigging gall to say they "had to" suspend him because knives are banned "regardless of the possessor's intent."
Sigh
There was a case in Delaware awhile back when a third-grade girl was expelled -- thrown out of school, not just suspended -- when her grandmother sent a birthday cake to school with the girl ...with a knife to cut it. The teacher called the principal in ...but only after she used the knife to cut the cake up, since she had no other way to serve it to the kids! Yep, that's the mentality behind this garbage!
State legislators were outraged by this and introduced a law -- which passed -- to allow school boards to, "on a case-by-case basis, modify the terms of the expulsion." But that doesn't help Zachary: he's not expelled, he's "just" suspended and sentenced to a term in reform school.
The boy's mom apparently rejected the reform school garbage: she's home-schooling him while trying to get the punishment overturned. She has set up a web site appealing for help -- and is trying to get legislators to modify the state's zero tolerance law yet again to make it rational in all discipline cases, not just expulsions. Imagine that! They again have to address rationality and force schools to be reasonable in punishing kids, rather than terrorize them, screwing them up for life over minor transgressions! The previous law even acknowledges, right within the law's text, that "the American Psychological Association recently reported that zero tolerance policies do not effectively improve school safety."
When will this madness end? But at least I'm not the only one beating on this drum anymore (and I started on it in February 1997!) This story was on the front page of the New York Times today. After nearly 13 years, it's finally getting major national news treatment. Welcome aboard this issue, NYT. Glad to have the 800-lb gorilla behind me at last.
Zero tolerance is destroying children under the guise of helping them. It's causing more harm than good. It's not time for state laws to be adjusted to address the outrage of ZT. It's time for changes in federal law.
Updates
- The New York Times has published an editorial on the subject. "'Use Common Sense' should be at the top of the list for the state -- and for the Christina district," it concludes. And, showing that it truly grasps the problem, adds, "If teachers and administrators don’t follow that rule, how can they expect children to?"
- "The school board made a hasty change to its code of conduct," reports NBC's Today Show. "The seven-member board voted unanimously to reduce the punishment for kindergartners and first-graders who bring weapons to school or commit other violent offenses to a suspension ranging from three to five days." Well, it's a start: kindergartners and first-graders get the benefit of common sense; second-graders up don't. Law rewrites are still desperately needed.
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Most Recent Comments
Posted by Antonio, Zurich, Switzerland on November 4, 2009:
Ginny wrote: "Spanking is outright illegal in many European countries, but I don't see widespread complaints about children's behavior from my European friends the way I do from other Americans (or from my own experiences in public)."
As someone who currently lives in what is supposedly one of the most civilized countries in the world, which happens to be in Europe, I can give another view on this.
Certainly, Europeans do not complain about kids' behavior: they rightfully recognize "kids being kids", like we used to in USA.
But the flip side is that Europeans totally coddle their youth, to the point of tolerating some behaviors (like littering and vandalism) that I consider outrageous. These kids also grow up feeling very entitled, having experienced significant preferential treatment during adolescence.
Alas, Europe is dutifully following in the USA's footsteps and beginning with fear-based policies exactly like what led to ZT in USA. There has been talk here in Switzerland of weapons bans and metal detectors, despite the fact that significant school violence is as rare here as it is in USA. (And I say this as someone who was a constant victim of bullying in school in USA and Switzerland... but that's another matter.)
Common sense is long gone, and the media, in its endless quest for numbers thanks to sensationalism, has people believing that our world is more dangerous than ever, when in fact, there's never been a better time to be human.
Posted by Mike from Dallas on November 7, 2009:
The problem is nothing new. That it's now codified as Zero Tolerance is relatively recent, but the trend has been around since at least the 1930's as far as I've been able to track it. It's not about purpose; it's not about logic; it's not even about manageability. It's all about shuffling the blame for not thinking.
How many of you have heard the mantra, "It's just our policy"? A mantra that removes the need to think, removes the need to apply rational intelligence to the situation at hand, and shuffles the blame to the nameless (and unreachable) Powers That Be.
I said it before in private; I'll say it again in public:
Them that can, DO.
Them that can't, TEACH.
Them that can't teach, TEACH TEACHERS.
And them that can't teach teachers, BECOME SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS.
Posted by Ray, Colorado on February 11, 2010:
This is an interesting discussion, one that I have followed from the beginning. I do have one concern, however.
My wife and I have raised five children. Over the years we've gotten to know many teachers, principals and school board members. (Or, if you'd like, "educators and administrators," but I prefer the plain language.) Not only that, but my wife is a teacher, I was a teacher for a few years, one of our daughters is a teacher, and we've therefore gotten to know many teachers and principals as professional colleagues.
We've seen our share of worthless (by any measure) teachers, principals, vice-principals and school board members, but the vast majority of the education professionals that we know are not the kind of people I read about in these ZT stories. I have a great deal of respect for them. Please don't tar all teachers with the same brush in your comments on this forum.
The person who quoted the old saw, "Those who can't, TEACH," has never met my daughter, me, or any of the teachers that I know and respect. Teachers don't teach for the money - at least not in this state. Many teachers teach the subjects they choose because they are passionate about them, find great joy in them, and want to awake that joy and passion in the next generation.
(Oh, and the next line of that old saw should read, "Those who can't teach, find a better-paying job in the business world.")
I know this comment may seem off-topic, but I just got tired of reading yet another comment slamming teachers in general, and needed to say something.