Suspended for Toy Cap Gun

* It seems that schools have become a bit overused these days.

We, as a society, ask schools to perform too many tasks and then criticize them for not doing a good job in all areas. I would think that if society as a whole did as good a job as our schools, we’d be doing better.

As for kids bringing little weapons or key-chain toys to school, I think the best place for a student’s collection of toys is at home.

Schools are meant to be places of learning. Do standardized tests measure how well schools are performing in allowing the children to interact with one another? Do they measure share-time? Or lack of parent involvement? I doubt it.

Sure, “zero tolerance” is a bit ridiculous, but let some kid get shot by a small .22-caliber gun and see how loud the community yells for metal detectors and guards and fences. Laws are guidelines. And they should be flexible to allow for some sane judgment. It’s just that not all humans see all others’ sane judgments as such.

MARTIN GREER

Garden Grove

* As an educator for many years I could not help but shake my head in dismay about Principal Patricia Griggs of Viejo Elementary School suspending a third-grader for having a miniature cap pistol on a key chain (April 2). It seems we educators never do anything with moderation.

As a former chair of a high school English department in the ‘60s and ‘70s, I found it difficult getting the administration to discipline students for offenses far more serious. The same applied to student dress.

Now the pendulum has swung to the other extreme: The most minor infraction, even when it occurs off-campus after school hours, warrants severe penalties.

Administrators must learn that not all “crimes” deserve the same punishment; the punishment must fit the crime. After all, suspending students for bringing aspirin to school or expelling a 12-year-old for having nail clippers is the epitome of overkill--and stupidity.

Such actions will not instill a respect for rules and for law; rather they will foster even greater attempts at subterfuge.

Administrators and school boards must review their “zero tolerance” policies and adjust them to take mitigating circumstances into account if they want to teach students respect for rules and law.

HARRY TEITELBAUM

Professor of English

Saddleback College

* Capistrano Unified School District wins this case hands (guns) down!

KATHLEEN BUCKLEY

Dana Point

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