More on Zero Tolerance in Schools
Mike Gallagher
June 11, 2001
As I expected, I received a lot of flak for my NewsMax.com column about the
need for "zero tolerance" weapons policies in schools. You may recall this
had to do with the story of a Florida high school honors student who was
found to have a kitchen knife with a 5-and-a-half-inch blade in her car in
the school parking lot. She was suspended, per the school policy, and forced
to miss her graduation ceremony.
I certainly understand the reason behind the e-mails of protest I received
from Americans who think this is a case that went too far. It sure was a
shame that this high-schooler, by all accounts a great student and fine young
lady, had to miss the excitement of her commencement ceremony. But I argued
that rules are rules, and zero-tolerance weapons policies were created
because of parents' demands that schools be safe. Perhaps a tragic story
from Japan serves to illustrate my point.
Last week, some madman went on a murderous rampage in Japan and killed eight
tiny 6- and 7-year-old children in a school. He stabbed many other children
and adults until school administrators finally wrestled him to the ground.
His weapon of death? A kitchen knife with a 6-inch blade. Sound familiar?
The Florida student's knife was a kitchen knife with a 5-and-a-half-inch
blade. Hmmm.
Naturally, we don't have any history of unstable people going berserk and
killing people here in America, right? This must be a Japanese thing. Yeah,
right. Of course a kitchen knife with either a 5-and-a-half- or 6-inch
blade can be a weapon used to kill innocent people, either in Japan, the
U.S., or Timbuktu.
I'm not suggesting for one moment that the young lady from Florida intended
to harm anyone with her 5-and-a-half-inch kitchen knife. But can't you
see how expecting the school to make value judgments about a weapon found in
a student's possession defeats the whole purpose of a zero-tolerance
policy?
We're funny about the way we want others to make value judgments about our
kids. When schools hand out condoms, we (rightfully) howl in protest,
demanding to know why the school would make such a value judgment. When a
teacher prevents a youngster from bringing a Bible to class, we (rightfully)
insist that the teacher has no right to impose that kind of a value judgment
upon that child.
But when a school finds a knife in a student's car,
practically the exact same type of knife that was used to kill a group of
children, we suddenly expect the school administrators to use all the
judgment they can muster and consider all the mitigating circumstances. A
value judgment.
I wish we'd make up our minds. I kind of like the philosophy that schools
should be making fewer value judgments, not more.
Mike Gallagher's nationally syndicated radio show is heard on over 200
stations, including WBAP/Dallas and KRLA/Los Angeles.
