Grace Knows No "Zero Tolerance"

There's no room for making mistakes anymore if you are a teenager. What used to be teasing is bullying. Schoolyard pranks have devastating consequences. First-time "screw ups" are often treated as if they are perpetuated by repeat "offenders". There is no grace shown. "Zero tolerance" means just that: ZERO tolerance.

My own daughter learned this the hard way. In the middle of her sixth grade year, we received a call asking us to pick her up from school. She would not be playing in the basketball game that night. She had been involved in a "bullying" incident. She, and two other students were assigned three days of in-school suspension.

Many tears later, the story was revealed that these three "good kids" had sent a note to a little girl asking, "Will you be my girlfriend?" They signed another boy's name to it. It was a childish prank, meant to make fun of a girl who had very few friends. Not a nice thing to do, we all agreed, but bullying?

School officials, who incidentally did not follow the policy as outlined in the school handbook, confirmed that this was the first time she had ever been in trouble. "But we decided to have a zero tolerance for bullying." Bullying? Stupid kids' stuff, maybe... but bullying?

A young man, the grandson of a friend, had everything going for him. An honor student assured of scholarship offers, he was about to enter his senior year of high school. A few weeks before his birthday, on a hot summer's night, a friend convinced him to hang out in the stadium at the high school football field.

One thing led to another, which led to the boys climbing onto the roof of the high school, just to see if they could do it. When his friend suggested they take the next step, breaking into the school building to mess around, the boy declined. He'd never been in any kind of trouble and didn't want to get caught. He stayed on the roof while his friend went ahead and broke in.


Stupid kids' stuff. Right? Am I the only one who remembers all the times that the students on my hall at college talked about getting up on the roof of the conservatory of music? (This was usually after a couple of wine coolers had been consumed.) The only reason I never did it was that there wasn't a ladder. You had to stand on someone's shoulders to get through the trap door in the band room.


It was stupid kids' stuff until my friend's grandson was attacked and caught by the guard dogs who were brought in to find out who had set off a silent alarm at the school. It was stupid kids' stuff until the police carted him off along with the friend, not caring that only one of them had actually gone in the building. And because of the school's zero tolerance policy, my friend's grandson was immediately expelled... for his entire senior year.


Remember, this was an honor student who had never been in trouble before!


This is not an isolated incident. Contrary to what you may believe (and what I believed), the zero tolerance policy started long before 9-11 or the Columbine shootings. You only need to check out the Internet for examples that can be traced back two decades or more. And yet, I would propose that since 9-11 and Columbine, incidents where zero tolerance is used (and perhaps abused) have increased in proportion to our fears.

According to a report put out by the Virginia Department of Education, zero tolerance policies, "originally intended to apply only to serious criminal behavior involving firearms or illegal drugs" have been extended to include a number of behaviors and incidents. In 1998, the number of African American students suspended or expelled from schools was out of proportion to the percentage of students who were African American! This problem is reflected outside of schools as well.

A "google search" of the phrase, "zero tolerance", yields examples that include racial profiling by police or misusing misdemeanors to get "undesireables" off the streets.

No, my friends, this is not "stupid kids' stuff" anymore!

I do not propose that it is a good idea to allow kids to carry weapons to school or engage in illegal behavior. I do not even propose that there should not have been consequences for my friend's grandson. I am not suggesting that even my daughter should not have had consequences. Consequences teach lessons. What I am suggesting is that if these reports are accurate, "zero tolerance" is flawed and needs to be reexamined.

"Kids will be kids"... perhaps. A truer statement is that kids will make mistakes. Sometimes they are stupid ones. Those mistakes don't always have to ruin a young life.

Perhaps I understand grace from a "point of privilege" since Christianity teaches me that by grace we are saved. It is fortunate for us all that grace does not follow a policy of "zero tolerance". If it did, I would have been lost a long time ago.