Open Eyes 011 Zero Tolerance Policies

 

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There is a LOT of bull surrounding the issue of Zero Tolerance Policies, with people that are power hungry bullies taking the forefront of it all.

School systems are getting out of control in their heavy-handed, foolish tactics, and it is ALL FOR A REASON.

Listen to this episode to hear what is going on with these policies, and the reason why we think it is happening in the first place.

 

The following are the show notes used in the recording of this episode.  They are here for your reference and convenience.

 

Zero Tolerance Policies

Almost all school districts in America have zero tolerance policies, including ones regarding weapons, drugs, bullying, fighting and so on.

While these may look good on paper, in practice, they suck in more ways than can be counted.

For those that don’t know, zero tolerance policies ake it so that if a student is guilty of violating whatever policy is in place, they are immediately suspended or expelled from school, with little hope of fighting the issue.

This is due to the fact that the Supreme Court has consistently avoided taking any cases involving zero tolerance policies, leaving it up to the states to have the final say on what happens in their districts.

 

The Foolishness of it all

Let’s be frank.  There ARE pros and cons to this issue…

On one hand, ZTP’s DO make it plain that safety is of the utmost importance for our kids while they are in school.

On the other hand, there is a lot of nonsense flowing around the issue.

Let’s take some cases in point here…

5 Year Old Kindergarten Student Forced To Sign Contract For Crayon

A 5 year old was forced to sign a contract (without her mother present, mind you, and before 18 years of age, the legal age that one must be in order to be held to a contract…) that she would not kill anyone else or herself…

… for drawing a picture “resembling a gun” and pointing her crayon at someone and saying “pew pew pew.”

A crayon.

What the freak, people?

Another case in point…

Threatening a Teaching with a Rubber Band

A 13 year old student is suspended for threatening a teacher with a weapon.  The weapon? A rubber band.  The way they threatended them? By tossing it on the desk when they were asked to remove it from their wrist.

 

How about another one?

 

Two Students Charged With Felonies

“Two boys, ages 9 and 10, were charged with felonies and taken away from school in handcuffs, accused of making violent drawings of stick figures.“

“The boys were arrested Monday on charges of making a written threat to kill or harm another person, a second-degree felony. The special education students used pencil and red crayon to draw primitive stick figure scenes on scrap paper that showed a 10-year-old classmate being stabbed and hung, police said.”

How about…

Terrorist threat” criminal charges were filed against two 8-year-olds in Irvington, N.J., for “playing cops and robbers with a paper gun.”

There are, literally, hundreds of cases and stories about this type of thing happening.

 

It’s not new

The sad fact is, it’s not new.  This stuff has been going on for decades, but it’s just getting worse.

When are people in America going to actually wake up and say, “Look, this stuff has GOT to be stopped”?

It makes our schools look stupid, it makes our politicians look even stupider than they already are (just proving a point, I guess), and it makes US look stupid as a nation.

As individuals, we have to stand up for those that can’t stand up for themselves.  Remember how I always talk about the phrase, “for the children?” Well, this is one case where I would say it’s safe to use it for good, for once.

 

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