Zero Tolerance and Responsibility

Re “ ‘Zero Tolerance’ Is No Substitute For Judgment,” Valley Perspective, Oct. 15.

David Crowley has provided a real-life and personal example of why the zero tolerance policies that currently exist in many of our schools need to be ended. Administrators and politicians enact these policies under the guise of taking responsibility for the actions of their students, when in fact they are doing the opposite. These rules do not focus on helping children; instead they only exist so that if a school shooting or bombing were to take place, the administrators could point the finger away from themselves and say, “It can’t be our fault; we have a zero tolerance policy.”

These rules are just another example of the post-Columbine hysteria that has gripped those who run our schools. These days, they appear to be spending all their time obsessed with “crimes” committed, such as having a firecracker for two minutes in the case of David Crowley’s son. Wouldn’t it be better if they were to focus on how to help children, and not how to punish them?

JONATHAN BRENT

Tarzana