Zero tolerance policies aren’t meant to protect students, and they aren’t even meant to protect bullies. They’re meant to protect teachers and principals, mostly from having to face scrutiny for how they handle bullying. They can just punish all parties equally and wash their hands of the matter, and any criticism can be deflected by saying, “zero tolerance; everyone was treated the same.”

Zero tolerance never made any sense to me. When I got bullied and beat up, I’d still get punished, so it basically encouraged me to be violent back since the punishments were the same. It also kinda went directly against all the anti bullying stuff the schools would be pushing for.

I had a rule for my kids for dealing with bullies in school.

First, tell a teacher.

If that doesn’t work, tell me, and I’ll tell the principal.

If that doesn’t work, deal with it yourself, but avoid causing permanent damage.

I never really expected telling the teacher or the principal would help. I just wanted it on the record in case shit went down and lawyers had to get involved.

When oppression becomes norm (bullying is normalized), self-defence becomes “provocation”.

I forgot to take my adhd medication as a twelve year old and my mom gave it to me as I ran out the door. I put it in my pocket, forgot about it until later, and then nearly got expelled for trying to sell drugs [edit: because it fell out of my pocket] because of a zero tolerance policy.

I say nearly, because I’m white with educated parents and a sympathetic situation, so obviously the zero tolerance policy learned a little tolerance.

They both have the appearance of doing something when in reality they do nothing to fix the actual issues because it takes more effort.