(no subject)
Not mine, but very true:
http://tinyurl.com/2tl6yf
We need no-tolerance policy on no-tolerance nonsense
June 22, 2007 12:35 am
How many times have I heard this statement?
"We have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to that issue!"
Zero tolerance! Boy! Does that sound impressive! And, oh, so tough!
Zero tolerance came to the forefront again this week when an elementary school forced children to cut the weapons off miniature soldiers that were being displayed during a military-appreciation celebration.
In schools, zero-tolerance policies long ago passed through the realm of common sense and into that of the utterly ridiculous.
Students have been expelled for bringing plastic knives and other innocent objects to school, all in the name of "our zero-tolerance policy."
You would think that a teacher or school administrator would have brains enough to figure out that a plastic knife used to spread butter on bread at lunch is not a weapon.
I guess not. Maybe a teaching certification doesn't cover that.
So, some innocent little kid is frightened half to death and treated like a criminal because he didn't understand that a plastic knife, a utensil he might well be given to eat with at Bible school or a birthday party, turns into a dangerous weapon when carried into a public school.
Oh, but we have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to weapons!
You know what a zero-tolerance policy really is? It is a "covering-my-butt" policy and covering one's butt has become America's national pastime.
Nobody wants to take responsibility anymore and even if someone did, the higher-ups wouldn't allow them to do so. Just go with a zero-tolerance policy and don't worry about it.
As for common sense, hey, that vanished a long time ago.
If it's a plastic knife it must be a weapon because the word knife is involved.
How ridiculous! I can't believe that grown people with college educations could make such a statement. But they do.
When school administrators talk about their zero tolerance for violence and weapons on school grounds they are doing nothing more than blowing smoke.
You can beat someone's brains out with an aluminum baseball bat or kill by throwing a baseball at someone's head. Do schools prohibit baseballs and bats under their sacred zero-tolerance policies?
A high-school girl could remove her thong and easily strangle somebody with it. Are thongs dangerous weapons that call for expulsion under the zero-tolerance policy? And who is going to check high school girls for these hidden weapons?
When you come right down to it, you can put someone's eye out with a toothpick or maim a student by slamming his head against a classroom wall. Are toothpicks and walls covered under the zero-tolerance policy?
As for violence, well, when they take football out of schools they can start talking about their zero-tolerance policy against violence.
I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard a football coach scream, "If you don't hurt that guy on the other side of the line your butt is going to be sitting on the bench Friday night!"
Oh, but that's different! That's controlled violence. Yeah? Well, so is war!
We give students baseball bats but we expel them for bringing plastic knives to the lunch table. We make junior ROTC classes part of school curriculum yet we force kids to cut the guns off their toy soldiers on military appreciation day.
Man! That makes a lot of sense!
I once sat quietly and listened to a pompous school official boast of his firm belief in the zero-tolerance policy.
When his speech was finished I went up to the guy and said, "You know, I've only known three groups that really had a zero-tolerance policy--the Nazis, the communists and the Ku Klux Klan. To which of those groups do you belong?"
He put down his plastic knife.
http://tinyurl.com/2tl6yf
We need no-tolerance policy on no-tolerance nonsense
June 22, 2007 12:35 am
How many times have I heard this statement?
"We have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to that issue!"
Zero tolerance! Boy! Does that sound impressive! And, oh, so tough!
Zero tolerance came to the forefront again this week when an elementary school forced children to cut the weapons off miniature soldiers that were being displayed during a military-appreciation celebration.
In schools, zero-tolerance policies long ago passed through the realm of common sense and into that of the utterly ridiculous.
Students have been expelled for bringing plastic knives and other innocent objects to school, all in the name of "our zero-tolerance policy."
You would think that a teacher or school administrator would have brains enough to figure out that a plastic knife used to spread butter on bread at lunch is not a weapon.
I guess not. Maybe a teaching certification doesn't cover that.
So, some innocent little kid is frightened half to death and treated like a criminal because he didn't understand that a plastic knife, a utensil he might well be given to eat with at Bible school or a birthday party, turns into a dangerous weapon when carried into a public school.
Oh, but we have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to weapons!
You know what a zero-tolerance policy really is? It is a "covering-my-butt" policy and covering one's butt has become America's national pastime.
Nobody wants to take responsibility anymore and even if someone did, the higher-ups wouldn't allow them to do so. Just go with a zero-tolerance policy and don't worry about it.
As for common sense, hey, that vanished a long time ago.
If it's a plastic knife it must be a weapon because the word knife is involved.
How ridiculous! I can't believe that grown people with college educations could make such a statement. But they do.
When school administrators talk about their zero tolerance for violence and weapons on school grounds they are doing nothing more than blowing smoke.
You can beat someone's brains out with an aluminum baseball bat or kill by throwing a baseball at someone's head. Do schools prohibit baseballs and bats under their sacred zero-tolerance policies?
A high-school girl could remove her thong and easily strangle somebody with it. Are thongs dangerous weapons that call for expulsion under the zero-tolerance policy? And who is going to check high school girls for these hidden weapons?
When you come right down to it, you can put someone's eye out with a toothpick or maim a student by slamming his head against a classroom wall. Are toothpicks and walls covered under the zero-tolerance policy?
As for violence, well, when they take football out of schools they can start talking about their zero-tolerance policy against violence.
I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard a football coach scream, "If you don't hurt that guy on the other side of the line your butt is going to be sitting on the bench Friday night!"
Oh, but that's different! That's controlled violence. Yeah? Well, so is war!
We give students baseball bats but we expel them for bringing plastic knives to the lunch table. We make junior ROTC classes part of school curriculum yet we force kids to cut the guns off their toy soldiers on military appreciation day.
Man! That makes a lot of sense!
I once sat quietly and listened to a pompous school official boast of his firm belief in the zero-tolerance policy.
When his speech was finished I went up to the guy and said, "You know, I've only known three groups that really had a zero-tolerance policy--the Nazis, the communists and the Ku Klux Klan. To which of those groups do you belong?"
He put down his plastic knife.