Zero tolerance against school violence

Many readers have benefited from Professor Harvey Shapiro's book entitled Handbook on Violence in Education because of the rich insights that it brings. This blog lifts some insights on school shootings in America, as contributed by authors James Alan Fox and Emma E. Fridel.

Zero tolerance became the catchphrase when school shootings and gun violence were determined to be more commonplace than most people expected. In 1994, Congress enacted the Gun‐Free Schools Act of 1994, which required schools that receive federal aid to expel any student who was in possession of a firearm on school property for at least one year.

However, Professor Harvey Shapiro also explains that the zero tolerance approach has not been spared from its share of criticism, and this is for a good reason. While the approach has made a case for being a strong deterrent against the bringing of firearms and other weapons among students to their schools, it has also resulted in exaggerated punitive consequences.

In one instance, a 5‐year‐old Massachusetts kindergartener was suspended for bringing a souvenir toy gun to school. In another instance, a boy from Maryland was suspended after he nibbled away at his breakfast pastry until it took the shape of a gun. A Colorado girl was even punished because she mistakenly brought her mother's handbag, which contained a small paring knife packed for slicing an apple. In Chicago, a high school student was expelled, taken to jail, and charged with misdemeanor battery for shooting a

paper clip at a classmate that inadvertently struck a cafeteria worker instead.

It seems that laws and legislations, no matter how pure the intentions are behind their creation, need constant review and reassessment for violence in school to be addressed properly without taking away certain freedoms that are supposed to characterize the school environment.

Professor Harvey Shapiro teaches courses on sociopolitical contexts of education and the relationships among faith, ethics, and educational leadership in the Graduate School of Education of the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. For more related reading, visit this page.