Schools everywhere are stuck in the Paleolithic Era after past history of high school attacks. Sandy High, Colombine and more have pushed schools into enforcing the “zero-tolerance policy.”
The zero-tolerance policy is exactly what it says. On school property, weapons are not allowed to be present to the extent that it is a state and a federal crime.
Any student caught with a weapon is taken for punishment and seen as a threat to the student body.
Honesty is a trait and virtue long forgotten in this policy, and even students who realize they brought a weapon on accident are suspended and even expelled for being brave enough to take responsibility for their mistake.
In September, David Schaffner III of Fox Chapel turned in a weapon he had brought to a football game on accident, forgetting it was still in his bag from his hunting trip. He was removed from the game later on and faced a 10-day suspension for this.
This is only one of many cases of weapons brought to schools accidentally, and it happens in all educational levels, from college to even elementary schools, such as the case of a third grader in Huntersville, N.C.
The zero-tolerance policy is flawed in a way that it doesn’t allow for leniency at all. It doesn’t reward students for their truth or the responsibility they take for their actions.
Fighting for Schaffner’s case, attorney Phil DiLucente helped to prevent the expulsion of this student, and wants to fight the severity of the tolerance policy in an effort to make it fair; an act that should have been taken long ago and will be tough to fight after the more recent shootings and attacks.
Faculty and school board members argue that the policy should remain enforced, saying that it “protects students from danger.” Survivors of school shootings also agree that this should be followed to prevent further tragedies from occurring.
However, none of these groups of people consider what the zero-tolerance policy actually causes in its reign of terror over schools and colleges everywhere. Seemingly driven by fear, the punishments that this policy enforces actually cause students to be dishonest.
Why would any intelligent student who brought a weapon to school on accident turn it in if they knew how severely they would be reprimanded? This causes the alumni to instead hide the weapon until the school lets out and they are able to return it home in fear of expulsion or suspension.
The policy affects students in such a negative way, with there being no way to fairly win against the system that is set up simply to destroy them, and permanently leaves a mark on their record about how shameful it was that they acted honestly.
While the rest of the world is able to look at life in grayscale and see how right and wrong can blend together, schools refuse to see anything except for extreme right and wrong. They don’t know how to handle a gray area.