SourceFifth-graders in California who adorned their mortarboards with tiny toy plastic soldiers last week to support troops in Iraq were forced to cut off their miniature weapons. A Utah boy was suspended for giving his cousin a cold pill prescribed to both students. In Rhode Island, a kindergartner was suspended for bringing a plastic knife to school so he could cut cookies.
As somebody who was once suspended for using a non-threatening turn of phrase, I can attest that Zero Tolerance is stuuuuuuuuuuupid. They amount to nothing more than a license for authoritarian social workers to act like the strict Law & Order gestapo they wish they were. Of course it's hardly existant here, but what I hear of happening over in your america is sometimes quite hilarious.
Is there any kind of necessity for zero tolerance against guns? Shouldn't tolerance for guns be determined case-by-case, and not actually require Zero Tolerance? One would think that bringing an actual gun to school, and not a water gun, is an unforgiveable offense zero policy or no.
Were you or have you been affected by zero tolerance in your own schools? How fast should this be gotten rid of?