When does an administrator’s concern for security on a school campus overstep its boundaries on individual integrity? When does a penal code seeking to prevent gross atrocities in school settings come to grips with the fact that it perpetuates them in other ways? The case of first-grader Zachary Christie shows that, in areas of much grey matter, the black-and-white punishment of zero-tolerance weapons policies often deals more harm than good.
The question of school safety is certainly more relevant in recent times, given the high incidence of gun-related tragedies at high schools such at Columbine and universities such as Virginia Tech. While it is understandable that school board officials in high-risk areas seek to promote policies that secure the livelihood of the students entrusted to their care, the prevalence of zero-tolerance policies in districts across the country is simply counterintuitive. Such a policy tends to have an adverse effect on unintended violators and only exacerbates social problems for the students who knowingly bring weapons to school.
Across the country, zero-tolerance policies have overstepped their intended jurisdiction and instead crossed over into areas where punishment was never intended. Cases are clear across America: a first-grader suspended for using his Boy Scout all-in-one meal kit at lunch, a third-grader expelled for an academic year after her grandmother sent her a birthday cake complete with a knife to cut it, a middle-schooler asked to leave a school after using a utility knife for a project in her design class. These cases, and the many more that mirror them across the country, illustrate inherent flaws in a system that not only offends the dignity of individuals morally incapable of vicious crimes but also even distorts educational priorities. Faced with year-long suspensions or even expulsions, students who innocently break zero-tolerance codes are forced to disrupt their typical academic schedules (and the growth that they once exhibited both inside and outside the classroom setting) or, in the worst of cases, are asked to start all over again in a new, oftentimes foreign, educational environment. At their core, policies that provide uniform punishment for non-uniform actions hurt those offenders residing at the margin. Issues of school safety are no different: the students often left worst off are the very students such policies seek to protect.
Correcting the situation involves a look into intended security objectives and mechanisms by which to reach them. While no one would be so remiss as to argue that safety lies outside the realm of services schools are expected to provide, school boards do need to reconsider policies that have overextended their welcome. To correct the situation, school boards need be given greater discretion to issue punishment on a case-by-case basis as opposed to the current one-size-fits-all punitive system. Such measures would allow schools to meet their goals of both upholding campus safety and defending individual integrity.
The New York Times article detailing Zachary's unfortunate circumstance and that of many others under school safety regulations can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/education/12discipline.html?_r=1&ref=us
1 comment:
In the three examples you cite, I think the error is on the part of the parents (or grandparents) of the young children, not necessarily the children themselves. In these cases, the responsible parties (ie. not a nine year old boy) should be harshly punished.
I am very much in favor of zero tolerance for weapons in schools. While the cases you mention are very mundane, once you allow a child to bring his Swiss Army knife to class, then more and more kids bring their knives, and it is inevitable that something bad will happen. Twenty young children with knives in the classroom is a formula for disaster. And, the situation can snowball until students are bringing much more intense and harmful weapons into the classroom. Schools should supply any necessary tools for in class projects and not allow anything that could be used as a weapon to enter the school building.
I grew up in a city with one of the worst public school systems in the nation. As early as third grade, boys and girls were being recruited by gangs and given a plethora of weapons. If one of these weapons made it into a school, it poses a threat for every single person in that building. A school is a place to learn, and when one is constantly worried about weapons attacks, learning takes a back seat to personal safety.
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