The Zero Tolerance Policy

School represents many things to many different people. Some people see it as a place of opportunity and learning, while others see it as a place of torture and dread. Either way, it is our right and requirement as American citizens to attend school until at least 16 or 17 years old, depending on the state. For many of us, what we do now impacts how we proceed on with the future. Colleges look at clubs we participate in, grades, test scores, community involvement, etc. when they decide if we get accepted into the school of our dreams or not. Unfortunately for some, schools also look at whether a student had to be disciplined while attending high school. One incident can erase years of being on Student Council, volunteering every month at a …show more content…
What would get a student suspended or expelled then were crimes such as violence and bringing weapons to school. Needless to say, the concept has grown into something that it was never meant to be. Under the Zero-Tolerance policy now, administrators and teachers can just pick and choose what misdemeanors fall under the category of needing to be reprimanded. Rahsaan Ison was 15 years old when he enrolled at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. Just a freshman who had only started high school a few months prior, he desperately wished to make a good impression. This included not showing up late to school. So on one freezing January morning, when faced with the choice of either crossing train tracks with a parked train resting on them or arriving late to school, Rahsaan chose the former. Although he knew that passing the train was against school rules, he had never walked to school before and made a harmless, spur-of-the-moment decision in order to arrive on time. Unfortunately, that decision forced him to make a life-changing choice: either face expulsion, which would go on his school record, or withdraw from the school. This time, he chose the latter. Rahsaan was lucky; he at least had a choice. Millions of kids every year don’t even get the options that Rahsaan was presented with. Around 3.5 million students get suspended every year, and over 100,000 face expulsion …show more content…
When Padro Noguera toured a California school in 2003, all he was looking to do was inquire about a grant the school was receiving that would be focused on enlarging the social service benefits for students coming from destitute communities. In Noguera’s opinion, this school was extending a helping hand. However, he was astonished when the principal pointed out a kid, less than 10 years old, standing outside the office. After Noguera’s attention was directed to this student, the principal went on to explain that the student was waiting to be told that he was to be put on indefinite out-of-school suspension. When questions of the purpose of this arose, the principal explained that the boy’s father, brother, and uncle were all in prison (Noguera). Sadly, this little boy was acting out, and the school felt as though he was a distraction to other students and dismissed as a lost casue. Without even a chance to defend himself, his family members in prison received a better defense than this juvenile boy ever did. America’s education system failed the day it chose to see criminals as innocent until proven guilty while seeing students as guilty without the chance of being proven