Ed Week, April 6, 2011: Zero Tolerance

Gara LaMarche raises many valid concerns about the Zero Tolerance policies that have taken over our schools in his opinion piece "The Time is Right To End 'Zero Tolerance'".  Here are just a few statistics:  Nationwide suspension and expulsion rates:  3.3 million students were suspended or expelled in 2006!  This amounts to 1 in 14 students.  Less than 1 in 10 of these suspensions or expulsions were for violent offenses.  Apparently most of these were for things like tardiness, disrespect, or violating dress codes.  It is even more alarming that in 2006 15% of black students, 7% of Hispanic students, and only 5% of white students were suspended or expelled. These numbers reveal that these suspensions are particularly unfair towards students of color.  In New York City, a recent study showed that there has been a 76% increase of suspensions of children 4-10 years old since 2003. Schools are increasingly calling on the police and juvenile courts to handle school-based misbehavior.  This leads to things like the anecdote reported in the article where two friends horsing around in a school in Colorado were charged with felony mischief and third-degree assault for denting a locker.  According to LaMarche many of these suspensions and excessive punishments reflect the tactics used in the adult criminal-justice system.  But haven't we been learning in our MAT courses that children and students are not developmentally the same as adults?  Shouldn't young people be given a chance to learn from their mistaken behavior before the police and courts get involved?  The Zero Tolerance policies have gone too far.  I would say it is time for some common sense and the pendulum to swing back towards reason.