(Individual Paper writen by Mischa R. 10-7-03)

    The idea of zero tolerance is to keep schools as free from drugs, weapons, and any other kind of violent device as possible. Students who break the rules by bringing any sort of contraband to school, or who are aggressive, will be dealt with in a swift, immediate fashion. But some people believe that many schools who believe in the zero tolerance policy are taking it much too far, and are unjustly punishing young and innocent students. The newspaper of the University of California, Santa Barbara, contained an article entitled 'Zero Tolerance' Policies Becoming Sticky Webs by a professor of education named Gail Morrison. In the article, she states: "In some schools zero tolerance policies have broadened to lesser offenses and are applied in an inflexible manner, with little thought about whether or not school exclusion is likely to help the student improve his or her behavior." She goes on to explain how many students who come from poor families become trapped by zero tolerance when its policies are extended to lesser offenses, such as certain kinds of misbehavior. Zero tolerance is a policy that has good intentions, but seems to favor suspending the students violating it instead of offering help.

Zero tolerance has kept drugs and weapons out of many schools across the nation by suspending students who bring such items to school. This doesn't really teach students anything, however, because many students who are suspended go back as soon as they can and get in trouble again, and not always intentionally. Many teachers and government officials believe that more attention needs to be paid to juveniles who violate the zero tolerance policies instead of merely suspending them and assuming they will learn their lesson from it. An article titled School Suspensions Rise Steeply With 'Zero Tolerance' Policies by The Associate Press of ABC Eyewitness News says, "Rules governing suspensions are made at the school-district level by administrators and school boards. In most districts, aggressive behavior is the most frequent reason given for suspensions of any length, according to the state's analysis." Aggressive behavior can be a variety of things, and many students, especially those from less favored living environments, have a hard time handling school situations.

Zero tolerance is an example of a policy that is meant to keep schools safe and drug free, and it can be said that this policy succeeds at that goal, even if there are casualties along the way to safety.

Sources

Internet

93106, University of California, Santa Barbara. 'Zero Tolerance.' Policies Becoming Sticky by Gail Morrison, professor of education.  http://www.instadv.uscb.edu/93106/2003/May12/zero.html

Eyewitness News 11, ABC, by The Associated Press, School Suspensions Rise Steeply with 'Zero-Tolerance' Policies http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/news/081703_APlocal_suspensions.html

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