Our Horrible Children
Its a good sign that there seem to be an increasing number of opinion and editorial articles speaking ill of zero-tolerance: Zero tolerance makes zero sense. 
Abuses of enforcing zero tolerance abound. A Pinellas County senior who was suspended a few days before graduation because she took a sip of sangria while toasting a co-worker at an office party. Another Pinellas student who was suspended for bringing a butter knife in his lunch box. A student in Tampa who was sent to alternative school for handing a classmate two ordinary mints, but joked that it was the drug Ecstasy.
Abuses of enforcing zero tolerance abound. A Pinellas County senior who was suspended a few days before graduation because she took a sip of sangria while toasting a co-worker at an office party. Another Pinellas student who was suspended for bringing a butter knife in his lunch box. A student in Tampa who was sent to alternative school for handing a classmate two ordinary mints, but joked that it was the drug Ecstasy. But getting right-minded journalists to agree with me is one thing - school administrators is quite another. Heck, there's still some schools that paddle students for misbehavior. And judges seem to think its OK, There is no evidence that the defendant acted with any malicious or sadistic intent to cause harm to (the child). The defendant in this case being a school official who bent this child over and beat on his rear-end.
The sad part is that if this were an animal shelter worker who had paddled a puppy while it was in their care ... well, I think you all know how that outcome would differ from the above judge's statement.
# | August 28, 2001