Zero Tolerance 

 

For background information, read Tolerance as a Tool for Transformation

Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance - Ten Steps Toward Lifelong Behavior Modification

Expelled! No Intelligence Allowed

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August 2009

New Texas law seeks common sense instead of 'zero tolerance' in punishment of students: "A high school student is suspended for four days when school officials find a wooden bat in his vehicle. An honors student forgets to remove a kitchen knife from his car and is sent to an alternative-placement center for students with disciplinary problems. Under strict 'zero tolerance' discipline policies in some school districts, students can get severe punishment for weapons violations, assaults and drug offenses no matter what the circumstances were. In a fight, for example, it doesn't matter who threw the first punch or whether it is the student's first trip to the principal's office.... Under House Bill 171, school districts must take into account extenuating circumstances such as 'intent or lack of intent.'" See Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance - Ten Steps Toward Lifelong Behavior Modification

April 2009

Holocaust Remembrance Day [April 21]: A Question of "Tolerance"? "...around the world people will be stopping to remember the atrocities committed against six million Jews and around five million others, murdered because of the madness of one man - Adolph Hitler.... But this week, when we learned that the USHMM had asked Barack Obama to be the keynote speaker for this week's ceremony, we realized that the true message of Holocaust remembrance was being lost. That true message is being replaced with ideologies of tolerance, unification, globalism..."

May 2008

Silence on lock and load: "Crystal Geslak said her son, Bradley, was suspended for five days for bringing the shell casing to school. She said a uniformed veteran gave him two of the blank casings on Monday during a Memorial Day celebration at the GAR Park, across from the elementary school.... After a teacher saw him with the casing at school on Tuesday, school officials called his mother to inform her they were expelling him for five days.“ See Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance

 

Darwinians hysterical over 'Expelled': "Stein's critics fail to refute effectively anything in 'Expelled'; they just use epithets to ridicule it and hope they can make it go away....Stein merely shows the intolerance of the universities, the government, the courts, the grant-making foundations and the media.... The only question posed by the movie is why, oh why, is there such a deliberate, consistent, widespread, vindictive effort to silence all criticism of dogmatic Darwinism or discussion of alternate theories of the origin of life? ...

     "Liberals are particularly upset because the movie identifies Darwinism, rather than evolution, as the sacred word that must be isolated from criticism. But that semantic choice makes good sense because Darwinism is easily defined by Darwin's own writings, whereas the word evolution is subject to different and even contrary definitions. ...

     "The truly funny part of the movie is Stein's interview with Richard Dawkins... the world's premier atheist..... Under Stein's questioning, Dawkins finally said it is possible that life might have evolved on Earth after the arrival of a more highly developed being from another planet. ... And how was the other-planet alien created?... Stein's message is that the attack on freedom of inquiry is anti-science.... His dramatization should force the public, and maybe even academia, to address this extraordinary intolerance of diversity." See Expelled! No Intelligence Allowed

April 2005

Schools prepare pupils to accept a police state: "...in 2003 an honor student in Arizona... an eighth-grader with no disciplinary record, was strip-searched -- and I mean really strip-searched... in pursuit of nonprescription ibuprofen [like Advil] tablets.... Today, under the absurd 'no tolerance' drug policies in schools, no type of medication... is allowed unless it is ... dispensed by the nurse to the student. In other words, it is easier for a child to secure an abortion referral from a K-12 educational facility than it is to relieve a headache.... Like the aggravations suffered by law-abiding passengers at airports in the name of terrorism, schoolchildren are deemed automatically guilty until proven innocent....

      "...Savana's case went to court... and two of the three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals... decided that the degrading search did not violate the girl's Fourth Amendment rights.... But here's the clincher: The principal said he didn't think the strip search was a big deal--because they didn't find anything. ....

      "Whereas schools used to discourage 'tattling, today they encourage students to report on each other, even while denigrating the individual in favor of the collective. Surreptitious identification methods ensure that youngsters' opinions are tracked and monitored over time for political correctness." See Brainwashing in America

 

School bars T-shirt, but First Amendment-rights win out: "A high school student got in trouble with administrators for wearing a T-shirt that expressed her opposition to homosexual behavior.... The front of the T-shirt says 'tolerance is the virtue of believing in nothing,' and the back says 'truth is truth -- homosexuality is wrong.'...

     "'It is regrettable when parents have to choose which right their child will be deprived of -- free speech or a public education,' said Kevin Snider, chief counsel for PJI....

     "School officials, pointing to a policy based on 'tolerance and diversity,' explained a homosexual would be offended by a shirt that says 'homosexuality is a sin.' PJI's president, Brad Dacus, argued, however, 'One-way tolerance is not tolerance, but tyranny.' 'Intolerance of students with religious or moral convictions should have no place in public education." See Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance

October, 2004

The tyranny of 'tolerance': "One of the biggest battles we face concerns the way we use words. One of the most glaring examples is the word 'tolerance.'... The new definition of 'tolerance' makes the Christian claims to exclusivity 'intolerant,' which supposedly justifies much of the anti-Christianity in the media and the education system. But this argument is glaringly illogical and self-refuting....

      "The result is extreme intolerance towards Christianity from people who talk so much about tolerating all views. In short, they are intolerant of intolerance, so logically they should be intolerant of themselves!"

       But they are not, since they have learned to see themselves on the "right" side of the issue. Mark 13:10-12

July 2004

'Kill the president' e-mail prompts probe Santa Rosa teacher gave assignment: "A political science instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College is being investigated by the Secret Service for telling his students to compose an e-mail to an elected official that included the words 'kill the president, kill the president.'... Michael Ballou, a part-time lecturer who teaches an 'Introduction to U.S. Government' course at the college's Petaluma campus, intended the assignment to be an 'experiential exercise that would instill a sense of fear so they would have a better sense of why more people don't participate in the political process." Yet, elementary students are suspended for carrying plastic knives or nail clippers. See Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance

April 2004

Zero tolerance or zero common sense?  "A third-grader at O'Rourke Elementary School in Mobile, Ala., was given a five-day suspension for violating the substance abuse policy after classmates reported that he took a 'purple pill.' His offense was taking a multivitamin with his lunch.

      "At LaSalle Middle School in Greeley, Colo., three 13-year-old boys were given one-year suspensions because one of the students brought to school a key chain with a 2 1/2-inch laser pointer. The school called it a 'firearm facsimile' and sent one of the boys, a good student who had never before been in trouble, to an alternative program where he is taking classes with young criminals and juvenile delinquents in 'anger management,' 'conflict resolution' and gangs." See Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance

 

Boy sticks out tongue, is suspended: "Sal Santana II, a 12-year-old Magoffin Middle School student, said he stuck his tongue out at a girl who declined his invitation to be his girlfriend. School district administrators viewed the incident as sexual harassment, suspended him for three days and are considering placing him in an alternative school."

March 2004

Boy's mom questions suspension: "Mastering the skill of buttering bread with a plastic knife earned a 6-year-old first-grader 10 days out of school after educators accused him of carrying a weapon. A classmate spotted the plastic knife from the Struthers Elementary School cafeteria in the first-grader's book bag and told the teacher, said Donna Long, whose son, Kevin, was suspended Friday." See Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance

November 2003

 4th-grader suspended for gun shell in pocket: "When 9-year-old Jonathan Cross dressed up in his duck-hunting outfit for his school's Camouflage Day this week, he never dreamed his love for the sport would backfire on him. Covered from head to toe in his gear, the fourth-grader was 'a very happy camper,' according to his mother, excited to show off his new hunting boots, hat, mesh face mask, shirt, bib, pants and boots. But there was something in his pocket he had forgotten about -- a shotgun shell left over from an outing with his father and brothers last weekend."  See Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance

May 2003

Father who hit sons' drug dealer must pay him £250: A businessman who punched a man allegedly selling heroin to his sons has been ordered by a court to pay £250 compensation to the dealer. ...Dorrington, 48, whose two sons have been taking drugs since their teens, was trying to get them off their habit when the incident happened in June last year. He told Southampton Crown Court that he had caught the 24-year-old man with drugs at his home." See Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance and "New Politics of Hate," the first item in Yesterday's News.

 

Zero Tolerance' Sends a Strong Message, but Is It the Right One? "The notice of Johnson's suspension from Mellon Middle School in Mt. Lebanon, Pa., reached her home the same day that a letter announcing she'd been named to the honor roll arrived, her baffled parents said. They said they taught her to use writing and drawing as an outlet for frustration she might feel in situations such as the one she was in, having just received a 'D' on a vocabulary test....

      "The same week that Johnson was suspended for drawing stick figures of her teachers with arrows through their heads, a 17-year-old in Fayette County, Ga., was suspended and arrested when school officials found a machete he used in his part-time landscaping business in the back of his truck, which he'd driven to school. The boy and his father said he had worked late the evening before and simply forgot to take his tools out of the truck.

      "In April, a Madison, Wis., sixth-grader was suspended and told he would be expelled for a year when he brought a steak knife to school to dissect an onion for a class science project....

      "'Zero tolerance has become a one-size-fits-all solution to all the problems that schools confront. It has redefined students as criminals, with unfortunate consequences,' the ABA resolution said. One example noted in the ABA resolution was the case of a 12-year-old Louisiana boy who was turned over to police for telling the kids ahead of him in a lunchroom line, 'I'm going to get you,' if they took all the potatoes...." See Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance

Zero-Tolerance Policy Applied to Snacks: "Controlling kids has become a national priority for schools. Zero tolerance is the catch phrase for no lenience on students found with drugs, guns, and now candy and soft drinks. School officials in Texas have laid down the law on sugary snacks, banning so-called junk food from school cafeterias." Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance

Girl Suspended in Doodle of Teacher: "A school suspended an 11-year-old girl for drawing two teachers with arrows through their heads, saying the stick figures were more death threat than doodle. Becca Johnson, an honor-roll sixth-grader at Mellon Middle School, drew the picture on the back of a vocabulary test on which she had gotten a D. 'That's my way of saying I'm angry,' Becca said, adding she meant no harm to the teachers." This honor student had excelled in a model Pennsylvania school district. She was not a troublemaker. Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance

March 2002

Cops and Robbers? Not On This Playground: "From California to New Jersey, public schools are banning the children's game of 'cops and robbers' and threatening students with expulsion out of a fear that even imaginary weapons pose a threat.... In Sayreville, N.J., a 5-year-old boy was suspended for playing the game at recess. ...

      "Public schools have adopted a zero tolerance policy that allows school officials to suspend first and ask questions later, John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, said."

School Defends Decision to Expel Student After Bread Knife Found: "Hess' father said Tuesday the policy is misguided and leaves no room for extenuating circumstances. 'Zero tolerance doesn't mean zero judgment or rights,'... the Texas Education Code, Chapter 37, which outlines a series of actions for which a student 'shall be expelled', doesn't allow for much discretion by local officials."

Boy, 8, faces charges for pointing toy gun: "Even though the incident involved a toy gun, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office said, Tommy Davis' intent was to threaten and scare the other children. The boy, who was 7 at the time of the incident, has a hearing on three felonious assault charges next week in Washtenaw County Juvenile Court.... An adult resident driving by saw a child pull a gun 'from underneath his jacket and point it at the other children,' the report said. ... The witness, who went over to the children, said one was 'crying hysterically saying he was going to shoot us.'" See Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance

September 2001

Zero Tolerance. Zero Tolerance for Duck Sauce: "The police complaint reads like something out of "Monty Python's Flying Circus": The defendant "did within the jurisdiction of this court knowingly construct a fake bomb . . . specifically by wrapping up several packages of duck sauce and soy sauce inside tissue paper, taping it up with clear tape and writing on it Danger Warning Swanton Bomb, therefore in violation of NJS 2C:33-3." To make sense of this absurdity, read  Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance - Ten Steps Toward Lifelong Behavior Modification

May 2001

Chicken fingered! Grade 2 student suspended for pretending food was a pistol: "There are gun rules. But this wasn't a gun. It was a chicken finger, something that you eat. And kids do play. Especially an eight-year-old boy," said Billy's mother, Rhonda Barnes. Apparently, the suspension "goes on his permanent record."  See Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance

Suspended Student's Friends May Boycott Graduation: "Honor Student Banned After Kitchen Knife Found In Car." See Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance.

Honor Student Arrested Under Zero-Tolerance Policy. "A National Merit Scholar was sent to jail and will miss graduation after a kitchen knife was found in her car..." To understand why, read Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance. Remember, the Clinton-UNESCO education plan is being strengthened, not weakened, this year.

5th-grader handcuffed over weapons drawing: "our prime goal is to let those students know what is appropriate to say and what is not, and how to be angry and cute and funny without alarming people.'' See Using Teen Violence to Justify Government Control.

Boy hero appeals suspension: " School punished 8th-grader for taking knife from suicidal friend." See also Zero Tolerance For Non-Compliance - Clinton's Ten Steps Toward Lifelong Behavior Modification. The system he put in place is growing stronger.