The Pros And Cons Of Zero Tolerance Policies

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Elementary students in Indianola, Mississippi were unfairly arrested when caught talking during a school assembly. Schools in the U.S. have gotten way too strict when it comes to discipline. The causes and effects of these situations may be enough to ruin the high school careers of most of these students or even produce a bigger issue. Students are being robbed of their respect and dignity when punished and accused of being potential criminals. Notice, students in these schools either don’t care or aren’t getting any better. Zero tolerance policies in U.S. schools are highly unnecessary. U.S. schools establish unreasonable punishments towards students who break their policies. A study published in 2011 proved that about 60% were either expelled or suspended at some point in middle or high school. Also, these punishments were barely scraping the surface of being justified. “The majority of those suspensions and expulsions appear to be for offenses that did not involve behaviors that …show more content…

Only 35% of public schools and 13% of private schools are making an effort to enforce zero tolerance policies. It is true that students will have a better understanding of how to behave with zero tolerance policies made prominent, however, most students will not listen, therefore rendering zero tolerance policies useless. “Sure, kids will tell you these experiences were meaningful and that they liked them, but there’s no evidence that liking a program or experiencing an emotionally powerful presentation leads to changes in youth behavior,” says the article, “Many School Drug Prevention Programs Are Ineffective.” Students may feel that these presentations are insulting to their behavior or even distrustful. Adults in this generation force teens to be people that they want us to be, not who we want to be. Resulting in the student acting out. The behavior of students will not change for zero tolerance

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