John Whitehead's Commentary
Zero Tolerance and the Never-Ending Lockdown in America's Public Schools
It's a scene replayed day after day across America.
"I'm gonna get you, robber," one kid yells, chasing his friend across the playground. The other boy turns and points his finger before racing away. The cops are in hot pursuit. "Bang, bang, you're dead," one shouts. "No! Bang, bang, you're dead!" the other cries, before both melodramatically fall to the ground. Thus goes a game played by boys from time immemorial.
In a new wrinkle in an old game, however, it's not the cop who gets the bad guy. Now, the game ends when school officials summon real cops--who arrest the kindergartners for engaging in juvenile crime. That happened at a New Jersey school, from which four little boys were suspended for pretending their fingers were guns.
At another school, an 8-year-old boy was arrested and charged with terrorism for pointing a paper gun at classmates and announcing, "I'm going to kill you all."
Officials at a California elementary school called police when a little boy was caught playing cops and robbers at recess. The principal told the child's parents their child was a terrorist.
Unwittingly, the principal was right on target: These are acts of terrorism. The culprits here, though, are not overactive schoolchildren; those guilty of terrorizing young children and parents nationwide are school officials who--in an effort to enforce zero tolerance policies against violence, weapons and drugs--have moved our schools into a lockdown mentality.
It seems school officials are attempting to eradicate freedom from the schools. Two cases, among many, illustrate the point. In Texas, a 15-year-old girl who left her asthma inhaler at home was having trouble breathing when her boyfriend let her use his inhaler and was charged with violating a zero tolerance policy against drugs. He was suspended and threatened with being sent to a juvenile detention center on drug charges.
Also in Texas, a zero tolerance dress code has led to more than 800 suspensions--most for shirts being untucked--since the school year began. One student was cited when he came back from the bathroom with his shirt untucked. He had made a mistake, but, as school officials explained, zero tolerance is zero tolerance, and there are no exceptions.
Partly because of the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, school officials understandably have been working to make schools safer and to prevent further violence and tragedy. Instead of common-sense policies aimed at educating students about violence, however, some school officials have nearly turned schools into juvenile prisons. Security checkpoints, metal detectors, drug-sniffing dogs and police officers walking the hallways are just some of the steps being taken to make schools safer. School officials have begun treating young people like suspects and criminals.
The courts, instead of correcting school officials, too often have added to the problem. For example, in the New Jersey case involving the finger-pointing boys, the federal district court and the appeals court held that schools have total discretion in enforcing zero-tolerance policies--even negating constitutional rights of students and parents. That case is now on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The list of incidents in which zero tolerance policies have targeted students for "crimes" is growing at an alarming rate and becoming increasingly absurd. Moreover, calling the police when an 8-year-old waves a paper gun is not going to stop a misguided teenager from pulling a gun on his classmates. Taking the time to teach children respect for life and right from wrong might yield better results.
Finally, the imposition of draconian zero tolerance penalties teaches our young people a very bad political science lesson: that government authorities have total power and can violate constitutional rights on a whim. To those who are concerned with the erection of a police state in America, such policies should be causing alarm bells to go off.
Common sense, compassion and moral strength--not fear and anxiety--should shape our policies and guide our reactions to threats of violence and chaos. School administrators devoid of a common-sense understanding of the difference between child's play and truly threatening behavior should stop acting like prison wardens in a totalitarian state and start acting like role models of a democratic society.
"I'm gonna get you, robber," one kid yells, chasing his friend across the playground. The other boy turns and points his finger before racing away. The cops are in hot pursuit. "Bang, bang, you're dead," one shouts. "No! Bang, bang, you're dead!" the other cries, before both melodramatically fall to the ground. Thus goes a game played by boys from time immemorial.
In a new wrinkle in an old game, however, it's not the cop who gets the bad guy. Now, the game ends when school officials summon real cops--who arrest the kindergartners for engaging in juvenile crime. That happened at a New Jersey school, from which four little boys were suspended for pretending their fingers were guns.
At another school, an 8-year-old boy was arrested and charged with terrorism for pointing a paper gun at classmates and announcing, "I'm going to kill you all."
Officials at a California elementary school called police when a little boy was caught playing cops and robbers at recess. The principal told the child's parents their child was a terrorist.
Unwittingly, the principal was right on target: These are acts of terrorism. The culprits here, though, are not overactive schoolchildren; those guilty of terrorizing young children and parents nationwide are school officials who--in an effort to enforce zero tolerance policies against violence, weapons and drugs--have moved our schools into a lockdown mentality.
It seems school officials are attempting to eradicate freedom from the schools. Two cases, among many, illustrate the point. In Texas, a 15-year-old girl who left her asthma inhaler at home was having trouble breathing when her boyfriend let her use his inhaler and was charged with violating a zero tolerance policy against drugs. He was suspended and threatened with being sent to a juvenile detention center on drug charges.
Also in Texas, a zero tolerance dress code has led to more than 800 suspensions--most for shirts being untucked--since the school year began. One student was cited when he came back from the bathroom with his shirt untucked. He had made a mistake, but, as school officials explained, zero tolerance is zero tolerance, and there are no exceptions.
Partly because of the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, school officials understandably have been working to make schools safer and to prevent further violence and tragedy. Instead of common-sense policies aimed at educating students about violence, however, some school officials have nearly turned schools into juvenile prisons. Security checkpoints, metal detectors, drug-sniffing dogs and police officers walking the hallways are just some of the steps being taken to make schools safer. School officials have begun treating young people like suspects and criminals.
The courts, instead of correcting school officials, too often have added to the problem. For example, in the New Jersey case involving the finger-pointing boys, the federal district court and the appeals court held that schools have total discretion in enforcing zero-tolerance policies--even negating constitutional rights of students and parents. That case is now on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The list of incidents in which zero tolerance policies have targeted students for "crimes" is growing at an alarming rate and becoming increasingly absurd. Moreover, calling the police when an 8-year-old waves a paper gun is not going to stop a misguided teenager from pulling a gun on his classmates. Taking the time to teach children respect for life and right from wrong might yield better results.
Finally, the imposition of draconian zero tolerance penalties teaches our young people a very bad political science lesson: that government authorities have total power and can violate constitutional rights on a whim. To those who are concerned with the erection of a police state in America, such policies should be causing alarm bells to go off.
Common sense, compassion and moral strength--not fear and anxiety--should shape our policies and guide our reactions to threats of violence and chaos. School administrators devoid of a common-sense understanding of the difference between child's play and truly threatening behavior should stop acting like prison wardens in a totalitarian state and start acting like role models of a democratic society.
ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
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