Zero Tolerance = Zero Sense?

“Common Sense” says it all. A juvenile detention center???? My god! What would that do to a six year old who obviously is not a problem child? He does not have problems now, but that type of punishment could really create a problem child. I sincerely hope that someone along the line says STOP! This is totally ridiculous! The kid has learned his lesson, get on with it!

How is there going to a Civilian Military force when our kids are being told there toys are weapons. How about if at 6 years old we train them on how to safely use a weapon, instead of making criminals out of them. This is ridiculous and I hope we get a solution. All in the name of trying to make the population weak.

“These are the people we depend upon to turn out students who are functionally illeterate, can’t find the United States on a globe, who have trouble adding one and one together to get two.”
j0112 | Oct 12, 2009 3:59:10 PM
Dude, your neighborhood sucks. All the ten year olds I know are literate, know where the US is on a globe and are stressing over getting their times table mastery down (timed recitation).

Why don’t the school officials spend their time doing something about the older kids who cuss the teachers out daily? Are they only brave enough to punish the little kids?

Where’s the common sense?
A back pack could be a weapon. How about a plastic fork or spoon that the cafeteria provides? How about shoe strings? You can tie them together and strangle somebody. How about a belt? You can swing it around and hit somebody or strangle them. How about a notebook? The coil that binds some of the notebooks together can be undone and used as a weapon.
See what I mean about zero tolerance?
Where do you really stop?
Common sense is indeed needed.

It seems to me, and I say this as a recently retired teacher, that a lawsuit claiming the school system is “throwing the book” at someone who is too young to understand the intricacy of the rules involved would scare the school system. Did the school system specifically say “Cub Scout Combos are a weapon and not allowed?”
The threat of the lawsuit alone might be enough to get these idiots to see common sense.
The courts tend to rule strongly on the parent-student side. When a teacher catches a student smoking the teacher will usually be asked, “Did you see him actually inhale or was he just holding a lit cigarette?” or when a student’s caught cheating: “Did you actually see him look at the cheat sheet or did you just find it under his test paper?”

Just think about why zero-tolerance had to be put in place. In the 1970s (before zero-tolerance), I attended an inner-city school that was made far worse by the idiots who kept giving “second chances” the thugs who that made it impossible for *any* of us to learn. The outrages that come about as a result of zero-tolerance are nothing compared to the outrages that would ensue if we put decision-making authority back into the hands people who don’t understand that the fifth or sixth (reported) offense don’t warrant a “second chance”, even when the perpetrator is more “disadvantaged” than the victim.

And zero tolerance policies haven’t done anything to prevent kids from shooting other kids at school, has it? the only thing that zero tolerance does is give parents the “illusion of safety” at their schools. The truth is if someone is hell bent on hurting somebody at a school, they will do it. They are not worried about violating a zero tolerance policy or the law.

The No Child Left Behind is a contradiction of the Zero Tolerance Act.

How is a fork a weapon? Heck – some kid stabbed another kid with a pen at my daughter’s school last year – should we outlaw pens at school?

My main concern is for Zachary and the lasting effect that the actions of the school and the school board will have on this impressionable young 6 year old. No wonder our schools and children are having so many problems when our educators can’t exercise even a small measure of common sense in dealing with a case such as this. It’s ludicrous to consider juvenile detention for Zachary. Send the school board trustees instead for acting like idiots!!!

What if another student got a hold of this fork, spoon, knife? I blame the parents for letting the poor child take it to school in the first place. Come on . . . has anyone heard of common sense? Again, with all that is happening in this world, the parents didn’t think . . what if another child got a hold of this?

It is considered a weapon and the child should not have brought it to school. As far as his punishment goes, I believe it is a little extreme, but they have a zero tolerance rule and they are enforcing it! How would you feel if your child was one potentially hurt by this and educators didn’t do anything to prevent this. They are only trying to prevent harm in the school system-

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL. This was not a plastic fork! It was a KNIFE with a sharp BLADE. That is an inappropriate item for a 6 yr old to be carrying without an adult. The parents should have taught him, this is for cub scouts only. Do NOT take to school or out of the house for that matter, without an ADULT! It is a weapon and I believe in ZERO tolerance. As a parent of a child with anger disorder, my child has been evaluated and is being treated for that diagnosis. At 6, no one new he had it. He was never allowed to take plastic sword or pretend gun to school, much less a real knife blade! Heaven help us!

What is this country coming to when they try to put a GOOD six year old child in a detention center for bringing utensils to school?? Have we all lost our minds??? This is something that as a cub scout he was proud of, so of course he wants to show it to his friends. All he was trying to do was eat with it, he did not threaten anyone or just take the knife out.This child is a good student and not a trouble maker. To hear him talk on TV you can tell how smart he is and had no intention of causing trouble.For heavens sake!!! What is wrong here???Are school officials losing their minds??? God forbid they should make a smart decision, and talk to the child first and see why he brought an eating utensil to school. THAT’S ALL IT WAS TO HIM.

A KNIFE IS A KNIFE. Even with the spoon and fork, it is still none the less a knife. While he did not pull the knife on another student, how can we pick and choose? Keep the knives at home parents!

The Christie parents should be sent to reform school to learn how to exercise common sense. Regardless of whether the boy had any “bad intentions” by bringing the knife to school ( and yes, folks, it is a knife, even though there are eating utensils attached to it ) his parents were stupid to think that it was ok. Would you want the airlines to allow this “eating utensil” on the planes? I am sure Zach is a real nice, decent kid but some kids aren’t. School officials don’t have time to decide who can be trusted with a weapon and who can’t. Zach’s parents should be embarrassed.

Parents should know their school’s policy and when gifting a child of 6 something as cool as that “tool”, they should have also explained the dangers of having the knife on it and that it is not to leave the house, except with mom and dad or his scout leader on camping trips. He’s a bright kid, I’m sure he would have understood and this whole controversy would have been avoided.

I am an Eagle Scout, and I am an Officer with the Department of Corrections. I can only say that this is yet another sign of no common since to back up the education that our teachers are supposed to be getting. For one, we are talking about a six year old boy. 2. This boy is part of a program that teaches good morals and gives guidance in the proper use of a tool like the one in question. 3.A six year old with the excitement of being part of an outdoor program like Scouting , that teaches way more then our school systems do today should be applauded. The parents of this child, I hope will continue to work with this young lad and keep him in scouting all the way trough to Eagle. I have had more doors open up to me because I am an Eagle Scout, not because of what I learned in school. The education I had only solidified the type of positions I have had over the years. What I am saying is that I have been told that I was put at the top of the list in several opportunities because of Scouting, not only my education! I say this only because there are so many out there that do not know what Scouting really offers. To condemn this child to the extreme that an adult is trying to enforce, makes me wonder what the mental age of this adult or adults really is! I can only say that it would be sad to give this child the feeling that he has committed a crime, when the crime here is stupidity on the educators part!!! The child has only committed an infraction, and only needs guidance. In this case though it seems that the adults need the guidance.

#1-OUTLAW factory schools; any new school, K-12, should again be a neighborhood school; urban sprawl suxx!
2K – 3K are waayy ttooo many children, too few teachers, not enough time to eat lunch; lunch is 11am to 1pm, do not start at 9am!
Stop rezoning; quit bussing; kids do not develop school pride when they do not “belong”.
Special Ed. should have own facilities with Special Ed. trained teachers.
Take some lessons from European school systems – evaluate children early to be able to train: smart factory employees, train them to understand current equipment/machines, able to be productive after grade 12; train others for college entry to become leaders of industry.
Most USA hi-schools let out graduates with no working skills and not really good for college.
Teach money management: saving, investing, buying wisely. Not knowing how money can help when used wisely is probably our one big downfall.
When minds are trained to be used correctly even average people will live better, happier lives. Our children’s virtual stumbling blindly through life is the result of our inferior educational environment.