The news seems to be full of children assaulting or threatening teachers.  Teachers and administrators are seriously having to consider the safety of their classrooms from disturbed children and their parents.  Was Columbine the end of schools as safe sanctuaries or did it start before that?  What should administrators do to provide a safe environment for all children?  It seems that “zero tolerance” is the answer many districts have come up with.

Zero tolerance means that a child will be punished for certain offenses regardless of their age.  Kindergarteners have been suspended for kissing their friends—do we really believe this is sexual assault or is it curiosity?!  Recently a young friend of mine was made to spend his day with the principal for karate chopping his friend below the waist.  Granted, he did not make a good choice, but the zero tolerance rule sends him to the principal for touching his friend’s privates.  I have to wonder if he might have learned the consequences of his actions better if he was made to attend to that child all day.  The young man was probably in pain which made walking uncomfortable, so my friend should have been made to take care of him all day, waiting on him since he was the one who had inflicted the pain.  One day in the principal’s office, while boring, is only inconvenient. 

There are serious consequences for bad choices that we make in life—if you karate chop someone on the street you can go to jail for assault, if you touch someones private areas uninvited, you can go to jail for sexual assault.  It stands to reason that we educate young children with appropriate consequences instead of expelling them or sending them to “principal office jail”.  Perhaps children in middle and high school would think twice before they assault someone if they had been made to take care of people they hurt in elementary school.  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is age old advice when dealing with children–our administrators and teachers would be wise to utilize this instead of having zero tolerance.  I, too, have zero tolerance, but it’s for stupid adults.