Who Gave Up The Custody Of Their Children To The Schools?

5 Pages 1238 Words

Public schools and universities are meant to be a safe learning environment where everyone has an equal opportunity to learn. Nearly all have policies against drugs, skimpy outfits, and weapons. And mostly everyone (except for the students this puts a damper on) agrees. Sound like a flawless system? The fact of the matter is that the schools have had a rapidly increasing grip over regulation of the free will of students in the past few decades, and it appears to only be getting worse.
Before getting into many of the absurd cases that have occurred across the country, it is vital to understand why this subject needs to be addressed, as well as why the schools have gotten to this point in the first place. The zero tolerance policies are aimed to eliminate violent behavior exhibited by students who show signs of harm towards any other pupil or against a faculty member. These policies expand their reign across adolescents in high school all the way down to kindergarteners.
The most familiar event of a tragedy occurring due to the lack of attention given to students is Columbine High School. April 1999 - two students go into school late one day and violently murder 12 fellow students along with one of the teachers. Afterwards, a series of smaller cases swept across the country. And After a few months of investigations, it became more apparent that the students who committed the atrocities had been showing signs of their violent behavior for quite some time.
This then began the notion that the schools should be the ones keeping an eye on the children, because apparently the parents aren’t capable of doing it themselves. This is where the real problem lies. When schools assume the role of a parent, it only leads to disaster. Students feel alienated and as if they are doing something wrong, and when an innocent student is punished to the extreme it only worsens whatever problem there might actually be. Zero tolerance makes zero sense, an...