NationStates Jolt Archive

And hyper-sensativety combined w/ knee-jerk reactions rears it's ugly head.

Edit: in ur thread, 'jackin your OP.

More zero tolerance silliness -- Some of it inspired by the VA Tech shootings and some by the same people that bring us so many of these episodes -- public school administrators.

1. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20070424_Students_shooting_animation_sets_off_alarm_at_high_school.html)on more silly overreaction to the Virginia Tech massacre:

It was a crude animation of one stick figure shooting another created for a school graphics class in Gloucester County last week.

But during the same week of a shooting massacre at Virginia Tech, officials at Williamstown High School in Monroe found nothing innocent about the sketch. As a result, the student says a vice principal told him he would not be allowed to attend classes again until he passes a mental-health evaluation. . . .

2. Sanity has more or less prevailed at Yale, however, where the Yale Daily News reports (http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/20913)administrators have rescinded their ban on fake weapons in stage productions. But those producing such plays will be required to warn their audiences that they may see objects that look like weapons.

3. Best for last. But the Associated Press reports (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070423/ap_on_re_us/professor_fired)that a Boston college has declared itself a pointing-free zone:

An adjunct professor was fired after leading a classroom discussion about the Virginia Tech shootings in which he pointed a marker at some students and said "pow."


Another east coast paper said it best. "Campuses Cope With Irrationality Every Day," reads (http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070423/NEWS/704230367/1006/NEWS)a headline in the News Journal of Wilmington, Del. You can say that again!

Around the same time that some places are employing zero tolerance, the province of Ontario is loosening its current zero-tolerance policy to be more mindful of all factors involved in each case instead of using a 'one-size fits all' solution.

Clicky (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/04/17/safeschools.html)

Not all administrators are cut up the zero tolerance craze; some are re-evaluating current policies to make changes to match the severity of the offence, so weapons and bullying have a stronger sentence than simple delinquency.

Someone will always overreact to any given situation. Always have, always will.