http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_tolerance_(schools)
Something that I've decided to focus on. Apparently the last poll on this subject was more than six years ago, so, might as well start a new one.
For me, HP (D) for a myriad of reasons. First there is virtually no evidence that they are effective at reducing bad behavior in schools. Second, instead of focusing on making punishment proportional to offenses (which is what
should be done), these policies remove any and all judgement from evaluating offenses, and end up treating minor ones the same way that they would treat very serious ones - with suspension or expulsion. Third, the extremely broad interpretation of these policies has also resulted in school districts punishing things
that shouldn't even be considered offenses in the first place. Among these have been idiotic incidents such as (to name a few examples from the link), suspending a girl for having a knife to cut a birthday cake, suspending a boy for making a gun
with his hand, and suspending another boy for biting into a pop-tart in a way
that made it look like a gun. And fourth, these policies have also been used to disproportionately target minority groups. In short, they're a counter-productive waste of time and resources that need to be smashed.
Poll
