A. Barton Hinkle on How Zero Tolerance Hurts Kids and Ruins Schools
Virginia Beach sixth-grader Adrionna Harris took a razor away from a troubled student who was cutting himself and threw it in the trash. When school administrators found out, they gave her a certificate of merit for helping a classmate.
Ha, ha! Of course they didn't, writes A. Barton Hinkle. They gave her a 10-day suspension, with a recommendation that she be expelled. For three or four seconds there, she was in possession of a dangerous object. It's the latest example, Hinkle explains, of how zero tolerance policies are hurting kids and ruining schools.