The Seattle Times editorial board argues for “Zero tolerance for cyberbullies,” and while I’d agree that schools have rarely taken bullying nearly seriously enough, just the mention of the phrase “zero tolerance” gives me the willies.
McClure, like all Seattle Public Schools, has a zero-tolerance bullying policy. Cruel remarks and threats posted online may be someone’s idea of free speech but they violate school safety policies.
In recent rulings the U.S. Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that students don’t currently enjoy First Amendment protections even for off-campus speech (unless, of course, they incorporate), an unfortunate precedent that has emboldened school officials in the exercise of their authority. And as a former student myself, I just don’t trust that kind of authority.
First we had zero tolerance for drugs, a policy under which a 13-year-old girl could be strip-searched on suspicion of bringing ibuprofen to school. Then we had zero tolerance for weapons, a policy that inevitably lead to a 14-year-old girl being expelled from school for accidentally bringing in a butter knife.
Really. A butter knife.
And now we want zero tolerance on speech?
As ridiculous as the two examples above are, a pill is a pill and a knife is a knife, and I suppose if you want to be an asshole or an idiot about it, both violate the schools’ zero tolerance policies, and well, a rule is a rule. But if even things as concrete and well defined as physical objects can be taken out of context, just imagine the mess school officials can make applying a zero tolerance policy to words.
No context, no subtext, no reading between the lines unless school officials choose to read between the lines, regardless of what the student really meant. If a teacher overhears a student responding to abuse in kind, that’s a violation of the zero tolerance policy, regardless of whether the real bully was the unheard instigator. And if a school official chooses to misinterpret the typically cruel, mutually abusive teenage banter that often passes between friends, that’s a violation of the zero tolerance policy too.
Do I want schools to crack down on bullying? Absolutely. But do I want my own daughter to be subjected to a zero tolerance policy on something as inherently subjective as speech? Hell no!
A zero tolerance policy is the lazy way out of a complex social problem. It’s the cowardly way out. And it’s no excuse for diminishing the rights of students any further.
Couldn’t agree more. I expect more from our highly educated educators.
This sort of thing drives me nuts…cold readings of “rules” with no context. Folks to just recite laws (from school codes to Constitution) without any concept of the context of the activity are idiots. If that’s a valid method, why do we have Judges, Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative. Just replace all judges and justices with a Microsoft legal encyclopedia program and if something violates a rule, you’re guilty. Circumstances, context or intent don’t matter, just dead words. Ridiculous.
I don’t like one-party rule, where Republicans run everything when they’re in power and block everything when they’re not. We need to restore democracy to America. I want a straight up-or-down vote on health care reform.
I remember when a child was suspended for bringing to school a tiny (1″) plastic replica of a handgun, something that had come with a GI Joe doll kit.
Yes, “zero tolerance” is a crutch for lazy people who don’t want to, or are scared to, exercise judgement — never mind that exercising judgement is what we expect leaders to do every day.
Silly Rabbitt @ 3
That post was abusive.
No school for you until we get a note from your parents.
@6 You think asking for a straight up or down vote on health care reform is “abusive”? Of whom? The minority elite that runs this country in disregard of the interests and wishes of the majority?
3. Roger Rabbit spews:
WTF you retard…the Dems had their chance and you are still blaming R’s????
It’s obvious that an unpopular HC Bill put together behind closed doors with special deals to Unions, Louisiana & Nebraska is going over like a lead balloon.
I welcome the Democrats to try and pass this thing over the will of the people.
You will soon be out of power, the Bill will be gutted when the R’s take power or it won’t be funded…and you will have done all of this for NOTHING!
At least Barney Frank gets it.
Zealots like the HA KLOWNS lead by Racist Roger “Call Puddy a Flying Monkey” Rabbit are killing the Democrat Party.
Did you watch Glen Beck??
He yanked the covers off you assholes.
Progressivism is dead.
Goldy–
Just an observation and suggestion………
There is obviously a line somewhere about death threats on-line that should be taken seriously, but I’m not for schools which are broke to hire Union Nazis to police the internet so I’m with you pretty much on this one.
Also, it seems like you have never stopped being a student which has created an abundance of problems for you. My suggestion is:
GET A F*CKING JOB YOU DEADBEAT!
And have a swell weekend.
Zero tolerance makes the entire situation worse.
In the case of bullying, it’s so much worse today than when I was kid.
I think one reason is because discipline is now either on or off, with no room for gray. So unless the bullying is outrageous, the administrators let it slide. Which opens the flood gates to more bullying.
Jason–
Were you bullied as a kid?
I’m older than you and we usually settled our squabbles pretty quickly.
I think it’s the Liberal, violent TV ; Internet and absentee parents that are at the root of this stuff….not just discipline.
I think I’m digging into the root problem here..
Uhhh..
Moronic right wingers.. News for you..
“Flying Monkeys” were in the Wizard of Oz. They were the minions of the Wicked Witch who did her bidding, her dirty work ok?
“Flying Monkey” has been used in the lefty blogosphere to refer to the ugly name calling fiends that frequented right wing blogs..
Fiends who could not see that the right wing bullshit they imbibed through right wing hate talk radio or right wing publications was just that – bullshit.. Propaganda, distortions, outright lies.
There’s NOTHING racist about “Flying Monkey”. Ok? It’s just something from the Wizard of Oz.
Mr Cynical @ 10
You answer my questions, I’ll answer yours.
In your libertarian utopia, who pays for the administration of our elections and courts?
i bet you have zero tolerance for antisemetic remarks
oh boy, oreilly said tonite fox got 5 times the viewers on election night than cnn. he’s always lying. he should get an honest pollster, like the one the boston globe had when the published a poll 2 weeks before the election showing coakley up by 15…yup thats honest journalism.
@6 The minority elite that runs this country in disregard of the interests and wishes of the majority
New poll finds voter anger drove results of Mass. election
“Dissatisfaction with the direction of the country, antipathy toward federal-government activism and opposition to the Democrats’ health-care proposals drove the upset election of Republican senatorial candidate Scott Brown in Massachusetts, according to a post-election survey of state voters.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....id=topnews
You’re absolutely clueless, dumb bunny.
http://www.politico.com/livepu.....Obama.html
The nonsense of the zero tolerance was created by liberal teachers and administrators. Everything liberals do is utter nonsense. You fuckers are missing a gene or two. The funny part is most of you are arrogant especially the economic terrorist Obama.
Hit squader @ 15
From the same article:
Dems are somewhat adrift but your party stinks..
“And now we want zero tolerance on speech?”
Left, right, it’s looking like everybody’s fucked up these days, Goldy. Dems have been breaking my heart for 41 years now. If it weren’t for the corporatist fascist state our faux libertarian trolls are hankering for, I’d quit voting for those damned Democrats. Yeah, I’m not too pleased. But they’re still better than those wingnut freaks on the right.
@14 A few million mindless pods glued to the toob is your measure of exactly what now?
“i bet you have zero tolerance for antisemetic remarks”
Of course. That’s why you’re on the other side where Puddy and Mr. Klynical give you jew-haters their love. Hmm, I think that has something to do with their twisted spin on Christianity along with the general wingnut state of moral decadence and degradation. Hell, MOT, you can call Puddy a nigger like Troll does and still get some love.
@11 ““Flying Monkeys” were in the Wizard of Oz. They were the minions of the Wicked Witch who did her bidding, her dirty work ok?”
heh- Puddy is a black flying monkey. The KLOWN is a white flying monkey. Eh, Manoftruth is just one strange motherfucker.
Anyways, I think it started with Malkin’s minions. She’d give out an address or something of someone she hates and her little hate-filled flying monkeys would take wing, eventually descending upon the chosen victim to spew their hate. Pretty disgusting. As far as I’m concerned they’re all flying monkeys now, and I could give a flying monkey fuck if they don’t like it.
Christ, just when I’m thinking manoftruth is the dumbest motherfucker on the planet, that fascist freak Mark shows up. Sigh!
i fail to see how puddy’s ethnicity has been referred to several times the last couple of weeks, but you kikes call me racist when i mention your ethnicity. very strange.
My older son recently was dealing with some peeps from Alabama for one of his pre-law classes. The Airbus peeps brought their European families to Alabama. He reported to me some of the European children started Calculus in 9th grade while the American school system may start it for accelerated children in 11th or 12th.
He asked me why are we so far behind? Puddy showed him how American school standards dropped once the NEA took over the schools after 1965. We dumb down to the lowest common denominator, to coddle the ylb arschlochs of the school. So what do you expect when the NEA is in charge with zero tolerance. They are the lazy skuul administrators
As a teacher in a district that had to deal with a cyber-bullying event, I don’t understand the effectiveness of such a policy. For one thing, I wish parents would handle the things that happen at home AT HOME. In our particular incident, everything happened over a weekend and the schools had nothing to do with it. Yet we were forced to become involved and the whole mess ended up on CNN.
There are many ways to bully someone over the computer. I don’t understand why a school district thinks they can have such a policy be effective. What one parent considers bullying, another would consider as just name calling.
Yet, surely you all remember the young girl who committed suicide after a school friend’s MOTHER posted horrible things about the girl online.
Goldy, the examples you present are very real, and very stupid. But they are the exception. Every day administrators and teachers are faced with making decisions for thousands of kids, all of whom come from families with differing tolerance levels for everything. We do the best we can, we make mistakes. This policy is silly and is not the answer.
But there are no easy answers. Protecting your children at school has just gotten, exponentially, a thousand times harder.
And Puddy…be careful what you wish for. If we stripped our schools of everything that sets us apart from European schools–particularly sports during school hours–most parents would revolt. When schools have toyed with the idea of year round school, many parents complain about disrupted family vacations. In many countries, getting an education is held in much higher esteem, with little regard for what many Americans have been sold as “intellectualism” and “elitism.”
manoftooth @13,
Funny. If I had zero tolerance for antisemitism, you’d have been banned long ago.
For one thing, I wish parents would handle the things that happen at home AT HOME. In our particular incident, everything happened over a weekend and the schools had nothing to do with it. Yet we were forced to become involved and the whole mess ended up on CNN.
goodness gracious..dont you people get it. they want authority over what happens at home also so they can indoctrinate your kids in the socialist agenda. thats why they dont want you spanking your kids. they want you to have no control over them, just state control.
Stupes I went to private school through 7th grade. You said you went to public.
By your own words, you were the one who was “coddled”.
And it looks like your kids went to public as well.. Why are you putting down your own kids..
The right wing peeps who can be racist or sexist and you don’t hardly condemn, idiots like Pudge, Doofus (who’s been back), Proud Ass, Stamn and others say peeps who go private are superior to YOU..
And moreover, the Europeans come from socialist countries or so say your silly peeps who don’t want us to have the health care systems they take for granted.
So you’re saying education from lefty countries is better than here. Wow!
Eat it SUCKA!
ylb arschloch,
Once again you add nothing to the conversation. Puddy was already past the foundation classes in 1965 when the US was highly ranked. Puddy delivered the statistics and ranks of the US vs the world from 1965 until now. Go back and use your useless Goldy HA backup and look at all the data presented from 1965 until now monomaniacal one. Oh wait a minute… you don’t take orders from conservatives. We all know why. Facts explode your arschloch, since it’s proven your are mindless, useless, feckless and worthless. That’s why your son is a conservative right? He did a Run Forrest Run from your worthless politics. Says much about you in the home eh?
The socialist medicine country meme has NOTHING to do with educational prowess you stupid moron. Only an arschloch such as you would dare to compare medical methods with education. The US has slipped since 1965. It has NOTHING to do with my children going to public school. Puddy taught his children to read before they entered into school. They had a leg up on arschloch children such as yours fool. BTW my children scored in the 99% of the WASL fool. They easily met the WASL graduation requirement so rejected by today’s parents.
Show us facts fool! You love to make useless postulations, but you never bring facts. Your Goldy database backup has educational fact after fact posted by Pudge, Cynical, RUFUS, Stamn, and Puddy. Wait a minute… if you looked them up you’d be following Puddy’s orders. So we all know you will prove to be as stupid as ever.
So bring your facts fool. Come on that’s an order. Watch this arschloch run away. Now he’s trapped… if he looks them up in the backup database or now looks them up he’s followed Puddy’s orders.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Go for it fool!
ylb arschloch,
We have the best medical system in the world while our educational system has slipped. Why do citizens come to America for treatment. Why do parents bring co-joined twins to America fool? Why are American trained doctors so in demand in overseas poor countries? So another blow to your comment #27.
Looks like your are dining on your own arschloch again!
LMBBAO LMBBAO LMBBAO
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
28 – What???? You’re praising the educational system of socialist countries..
You and your stupid peeps call us names when we ask why can’t we have the thing that folks in Europe and Japan and some other places take for granted.
You whine that’s socialist..
Such a bunch of whiny dumbfucks.
29 – If you got the GREEN..
And if you merely have “insurance”, it’s off to bankruptcy court.
“Insurance” in other countries like Switzerland doesn’t mean that fool.
Oh but that’s a “socialist” country right?
Really? My oldest started reading at 3 years old. All me and mom did was read a lot to the child.. My other kid started reading about the same time I caught on – second half of first grade. And we were both young for our classes.
One can imagine how you “taught” your kids. Strict “discipline” I bet..
YLB–
Your theme song—
YLB told us he was “between” jobs.
How can you be “between” jobs when you never had one to begin with???
I’m just askin’
33 – Got any examples of my racism yet coward?
Hey you got guns right fiend? You’re ready to defend your family against the hoardes during the tribulation or whatever’s got you frightened…
Why can’t you back up what you say about others?
Both me and Steve have pointed out numerous examples of your bunch’s racism..
What did I say about my son moron? Backup this bullshit.
You’re lying about him.
Like the miserable fiend you are.. Just the other night he slammed Republicans. Why would he do that?
Well I’ll be darned. Are you beginning to get it, Goldy? These silly rules are not made by Republicans. They are made by liberal Democrats.
Nuthin important for the last 5+ years fool!
Anything you say prick but I pointed out your raging addiction to worthless right wing bullshit and its my side that’s been winning for those 5+ years..
Of course you dodged my question about what I said about my son because it would have exposed another one of your delusional fantasies..
damn ylb, I feel sorry for your son….you are such a shining example of a man…not.
39 – Oh and a coward like you who is all name-calling and no action is a shining example to his kid?
Cough up the proof of my racism you miserable right wing coward..