Zero Tolerance

[shmasmasnash]

I personally think that zero tolerance is one of the stupidest policies that I've ever heard. Seriously, shouldn't officials in schools be able to determine whether or not kids are doing something bad? Like, for instance, one of my sister's friends was suspended for a week for making Frodo's sword out of wood in art class right after the first Lord of the Rings movie was released. Here are a few articles:

http://www.thisistrue.com/zt.html
http://www.buildingblocksforyouth.org/is sues/zerotolerance/facts.html
http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/ze rotolreport.html

Discuss.

[SadisticMonkey]

They're pretty stupid, but what are you going to do about it.

[Musician]

I agree, but you can't blame people for paranoia after the events at Columbine and V-tech.

[EvilerBowser1001]

Well, yeah, it's a stupid policy that dosn't work, but they put it in place to allay parents fears about some nutter shooting the school.
You can't win in a reasonable arugument with a scared parent.

[Paradigms]

Yes, because water from a water gun is totally lethal, and tiny plastic keychain guns can also shoot and kill people!

[dELtaluca]

wait, i knew it was absolute bollocks, but:

An 11-year-old died of asthma because his school's zero tolerance policy prevented him from carrying an inhaler. The New York Times, November 19, 2002.

WTF?