Hurrah for Zero Tolerance!

My son was suspended from school for a day. When the teacher informed me about the reason by phone, she said that he "kicked a kid on the face". Naturally, I was both concerned and surprised. Concerned because I have not taught my son to be violent. I always tell him to be nice, and I have modeled for him a purely kind behavior. Surprised because my 6 year old son doesn't have a "high kick", or any kind of kick, in his less than remarkable list of fighting moves. So when I got to the school, I asked about the situation. "Well, he didn't really kick anyone", the teacher said, "but technically he did".

How can you "technically" kick someone while at the same time not kicking them? The teacher explained. My son was in gym class. The class went by without major incident. At the end of the class, the teacher asked the students to get in line to go back to the classroom. All kids got in line, except one kid. My son walked up to him and, as the teacher explained, "he gently tapped the kid on the back of the head with his shoe and said "the teacher said to go back in line", so I had to suspend him".



If this sounds like a ridiculous situation, it's because it is. The administration, in all its wisdom, suspended my son for trying to help the teacher. This is a symptom of ridiculous "zero tolerance" policies which I have previously commented on. These policies take all human judgment out of decision making. They take events that should be treated differently and, without any consideration or human judgment, glump them into single overly broad categories. When this happens, playing becomes "physical assault", teasing becomes "bullying", and nudging someone forward becomes "kicking someone on the face".

These policies are ridiculous and counterproductive. They do nothing to improve the quality of education or the security of the students while creating lazy, disengaged administrators. Yes, there should be sensible regulation to deal with behavior issues, but glumping together well intentioned kids with violent ones or suggesting that minor incidents deserve disproportionate punishments is ridiculous.

As an educator, I encourage parents to engage their schools in discussions regarding these policies and push for change and sensible policies. As a parent, I will certainly be doing as much in my son's school.