Zero Tolerance
One Spring morning in 2002 Adrianne innocently went to school with a Tweety bird chain around her neck. She was eager to show her friends her new prized possession. Little did she or her parents know that wearing this would lead to such trouble. The school deemed the chain as contraband and by the end of the day, the little girl had been suspended for 2 weeks. Educators cited the Zero Tolerance Policy to blame; the school had no choice but to activate the suspension.(Wald). Has the system gone too far? The current extremes in which the Zero Tolerance Policy is carried out takes the human factor out of child discipline and replaces it with discipline that falsely calms society, but neglects the child.All over America school systems have adopted a "Zero Tolerance" policy for discipline. According to Johanna Wald, "At its most extreme, zero tolerance has resulted in an 11-year-old being hauled off in a police van for packing a plastic knife in her lunchbox to cut chicken and a 6-year-old cited for "sexual harassment" for running out of the bath naked in his own home to tell the bus driver to wait for him." Educators have adopted an "all or nothing" attitude for discipline in the public school system. The Zero Tolerance
It also provides substantial data showing that school suspensions and expulsions are associated with a number of negative outcomes for schools and students. Where do we draw the line in deciding what to send to the principals' office or to the police station? Too many examples show that we don't make that distinction very well. We tell them with each unnecessary expulsion that there is no difference between doing illegal drugs and taking Tylenol for a headache. " (Associated Press)So, what happens next? We are teaching children that there is no accountability in life. According to a Linda Starr article in Education-World. "It sounds impressive to say that we're taking a tough stand against misbehavior, but the data say it simply hasn't been effective in improving student behavior or ensuring school safety. The emotional and educational fallout from those suspensions and expulsions, however, reach into adulthood. "Analysis: Zero Tolerance in Schools.
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