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A rational look at Zero Tolerance, from the Liberal side??

"...the schools are teaching our young people how to be obedient subjects in a totalitarian society." - John W. Whitehead

"Zero Tolerance Schools Discipline Without Wiggle Room:"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-wh ... 19594.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Elmo

Wow! And from the Huffington Post of all places. I'm amazed.

I suspect that very few school administration officials would give the article a second glance.

This particular author is directly involved through the Rutherford Institute with the "spitwad" incident that is the topic of this thread.

However, so-called liberals have been critical of regimentation in schools since the days of John Dewey.

We seem to oscillate as a society between enforced conformity and "anything goes" attitudes. Zero-tolerance policies and standardized testing are pushing the educational system toward regimentation now.

Even school uniforms and dress codes, which were nearly abolished in the 1970s, have come back.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:This particular author is directly involved through the Rutherford Institute with the "spitwad" incident that is the topic of this thread.

However, so-called liberals have been critical of regimentation in schools since the days of John Dewey.

We seem to oscillate as a society between enforced conformity and "anything goes" attitudes. Zero-tolerance policies and standardized testing are pushing the educational system toward regimentation now.

Even school uniforms and dress codes, which were nearly abolished in the 1970s, have come back.

- Jim

Right you are, Jim, as expected. I might note that John Whitehead is not just "directly involved" with the Rutherford Institute. As I am sure you know, he was its founder, along with his late wife, and is still, to the best of my knowledge, its president. As you also know, the Rutherford Institute has many of the same goals as does the ACLU, but its mode of operation differs.

As a casual aside, what is a "co-called liberal?"

Elmo
A so-called Liberal, with a capital "L"
Tempted to change his name to "Daniel," in this environment

As a casual aside, what is a "[s]o-called liberal?"

It is a caricature of everything that the person using it hates, from atheism to feminism to political correctness. It has become downright ludicrous, with terms like fifth-columnist, Manchurian candidate, communist, Nazi, Stalinist, and Maoist being thrown around. (Hint: no one can be a communist Nazi.)

- Jim

[quote="seamusTX"]As a casual aside, what is a "[s]o-called liberal?"
It is a caricature of everything that the person using it hates, from atheism to feminism to political correctness. It has become downright ludicrous, with terms like fifth-columnist, Manchurian candidate, communist, Nazi, Stalinist, and Maoist being thrown around. (Hint: no one can be a communist Nazi.)

- Jim[/quote
Enlightening. I'll have to remember that one, Jim. It deserves wide publication, not only here, but elsewhere.

How about a socialist Nazi? E.g., "National Socialist German Workers' Party?"

Elmo

Piney wrote:Might anyone have an insight into the cause of these reactionary decisions being made by educators (ok, ok-- educational administrators-- don't want to offend the general educator population) ?

I think it boils down to one thing:
A lot of teachers will tell you they do not feel in control of the classroom. Think of all the times you've heard of kids assaulting teachers & stuff like that.

I worked for an ALTERNATIVE "Alternative School" . . . meaning, these kids were already kicked out of in school suspension & AS. They were shipped to the psych hospital I worked at on an empty, but locked unit. We'd wand them for weapons & they're only other option was expulsion or jail. One day, this kid got all riled up & refused to follow directions. We had a "show of force" & he still refused to follow, so we had to lay hands on him & during the takedown, he went forehead first into the carpet, resulting in a pretty gnarly rug burn. We had to call his parents, send him home early. Later that night, I'm at the mall & who should I run into? Mr. Rug Burn. He wanted to pick a fight right there & then said, lets go outside to the parking lot. It gets defused, but next day at work, he walks in & says "lucky you didn't go out to the parking lot, you would've gotten shot."

He got a ride from the police that day.

seamusTX wrote:The reason that zero-tolerance policies were adopted is pretty well understood (even if it makes some people uncomfortable): There used to be two flavors of justice, one for the "chosen few" and another for everyone else.

I can understand treating everyone equally, but I can also sorta understand the measures schools take, but I don't necessarily agree with them all.