Zero tolerance is not elementary

07-28-2011

Blog by Peter DeWitt/Education Week

[“]Public policy towards children has moved towards treating them more like adults and ways that increasingly mimic the adult criminal justice system. The most recent version of this movement is so-called "zero tolerance" in schools, where theories of punishment that were once directed to adult criminals are now applied to first graders (Martin, 2001).[”] When we think of zero tolerance in an elementary school, there are most likely many things that come to mind. Most elementary schools do not have to worry about students bringing weapons in an effort to hurt their peers, although we all understand that the potential for this to happen is always there. However, those of us who are elementary school administrators do have to worry about zero tolerance policies because we are bound to them in the same way that our middle and high school administrative colleagues are bound to them. (more...)

Document Actions

Send this
Print this

Personal tools

Sections

Zero tolerance is not elementary

Document Actions