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Randy Cassingham's BlogHistorical Details and Author's Notes from This is True®
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ZT: The Readers Argue
Four days after my editorial about the ridiculousness of ZT, two students at Columbine High School in Littleton (suburban Denver) -- just a half-hour from my house -- went on a shooting and bombing rampage at school. They kill 12 students and a teacher, and themselves.
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Diane, somewhere in The South, wondered "If one of YOUR children (or nieces or nephews or grandchildren) were one of the many killed in the recent Colorado shooting, would you be such a cavalier critic of the Zero Tolerance 'trend'?"
Absolutely yes, though my position is not "cavalier" but well thought out, which is why one event, as bad as it was, doesn't change my mind.
First, remember that I live in Colorado. Second, hundreds of thousands of Americans have died in wars to protect our freedoms. I have no interest in trading them away for the false security these silly rules provide.
Colorado is one of the leading states in "Zero Tolerance" -- about half of the stories on the "trend" I've run in True so far are in fact based in Colorado! Yet that sure didn't help the kids in Littleton, did it? As if I haven't said this enough already, such rules do little to solve the real problems of drugs and violence in the schools. It didn't work in Colorado, and it won't work elsewhere. Indeed, think of this: maybe there's a reason this shooting happened in Colorado. I can envision many scenarios that make such shootings more likely in "ZT" zones -- ZT may well be making things worse, not better, for school safety.
Lee, a reader in Texas, knows that such rules do get out of hand: "In Garland, Texas, about a year or so ago, a boy was suspended from school under a similar 'zero tolerance' policy -- for forming his hand in the shape of a pistol. The Gestapo, er uh, police said that he was 'engaging in terrorist activity.' This incident didn't make the papers, but it's no less ludicrous than your [recent] story." And the kid is going to be able to get a job as an adult with a police record that says that ...how? So he's going to suffer for life for a silly thing that children do; it's nothing but the criminalization of childhood.
"Zero Tolerance" means little more than "Zero Thought", and means "Zero Discretion" is given to the teachers and principals who we hired to educate our kids. And that's the last about this topic here ...until the next idiotic story appears in True. Unfortunately, I have little doubt that there will be another!
One columnist hit the nail on the head about the causes of Columbine; yet few have grasped it. Dan Savage's Fear the Geek is a must read for all parents, educators and politicians.
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Most Recent Comments
Posted by Sheila in Calgary, AB, Canada on April 1, 2008:
As the mother of a child who was bullied severely in school I totally agree with "Fear the Geek" - he graduated in 2006. I was also bullied and I graduated in 1978. It was not just the kids who bullied - his English teacher called him a liar when he came back from the bathroom on 9/11 to tell her what happened (janitor was watching the news). The teacher said he was lying and to sit down. When she found out during the next break it was true she did not apologize. He has a learning disability in English and she equated struggle with stupidity and troublemaker -- same teacher falsely accused him of causing a problem in Grade 9 and almost got him kicked out of school. School yard bullies grow up to be the tyrant / emotional / nasty bosses and co-workers.
Posted by Michael, Ontario Canada on May 27, 2009:
I tend to think that it's not always the Zero Tolerance rules that are the issue, but the way they are interpreted.
As someone who was affected as a child by a lot of abusive behavior in the schools, I wish there had been more in the way of the ZT rules at the time. I literally Cheered when I heard of rulings where bullying was deemed as criminal harassment.
As with all things however, a balance needs to be found. For example, I knew someone who was fired from their job for 'sexual assault' when all he did was grab the female co-worker's arm during a heated exchange. In no way was the gesture meant sexually, but everyone was paranoid about sexual assault at the time, so it got labeled as that, and the poor guy has to go through life on the sex offender list now.
It's the same with ZT. There is too much paranoia over lawsuits and all that rot. If it weren't for everybody and their dog lawyering up for a lawsuit at the drop of a hat, there would be a lot more breathing room within the situations.
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ZT and "balance" are opposite concepts, and are not compatible. You can either have ZT or you can have balance and discretion and nuance. You cannot have both. -rc
Posted by Allen - New Hampshire on November 28, 2009:
I just read "Fear the Geek" and can relate to the pressure that is put on "different" students. In September 1953. we moved from a small town in NH to a small city in MA. I start my freshman year as an outcast being neither Irish or Catholic. I never got beat up but suffered the taunts of those "who belonged". I'm 70 now and can still remember the pain I endured.
There is much talk about tolerance today but I see very little of it in life, especially in our politicians. If your views are different, you are put down for it by the so-called leadership. Until the “adults” start behaving, how can we expect our kids to behave?