In recent years schools have been more-or-less forced to adopt "zero tolerance" policies regarding students having anything in school that might be used as a weapon, or any type of medicine.
This can take ridiculous forms, as this article in today's NY Times illustrates. I know I can't send my children to school with an ibuprofen or a cough drop in their pockets, and last week I made sure to e-mail the high school principal to get permission to bring two craft knives to school (after hours) for Nina to complete a group project for her math class.
Do schools need more discretion in cases like these? Is there room for "common sense" to prevail, or is zero tolerance the only way to go in these times? Whom do we trust to make these "common sense" decisions?
It seems that these policies and disciplinary decisions should be fairly easy. Most fall into the realm of common sense. However, I think most of your readers will agree, common sense is not so common. Strict policies are probably the best way to go, as they help to eliminate poor decision making on the part of parents and students alike. However, discipline for violations of these policies should be up to the individual school districts. I don't think there should be a zero tolerance policy. That is basically equivilent to saying our school administrators are too inept to govern their student bodies. There is always an appeal process if parents do not agree with the decisions made.
ReplyDeleteUpdate: The case in the Times article I linked to in the post has been resolved, with the boy being allowed to return to his regular classroom. Common sense prevails ... after a few days of nuttiness: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/14/AR2009101400152.html?hpid=artslot
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