EACH SITUATION IS DIFFERENT

Part of growing up is making mistakes -- and learning from
them.

Most of us can look back on our own school days and recall an incident
where we made a bad choice -- talking rudely to a teacher, getting in
a fight with a classmate, or picking on the poor kid who just didn't
seem to fit in.

Those of us of a certain vintage can also probably remember some of
the punishments meted out -- many involving blackboard pointers or
rulers landing on a vulnerable body part.

We can also likely recall more than one caring school official who
took the time to hear our explanations and apologies. Someone who put
the incident into a larger context, based on his or her experience as
an educator and adult.

These days, the same sort of troublemaking occurs in our schools. But
it's also true that this "troublemaking" has, in some cases, reached
far more serious proportions.

And that's a large part of the reason the Safe Schools Act was
established by the province in 2001. It imposes automatic suspensions
or expulsions for offences such as assault, drug trafficking and
possession of weapons or alcohol.

This is obviously serious stuff and should not be tolerated in our
schools. Problem is, that same "zero tolerance" has been extended to
other infractions, many of which are not quite as serious or have
mitigating circumstances.

As one educator points out, instead of trying to determine the cause
of a child's delinquency, school officials are forced to inflict
punishment that may do little to address the real problem. For
example, suspending a truant child. That's a neat trick -- skip school
and be punished by getting even more time off.

This type of policy is only as good as the people who enforce it.
"Zero tolerance" takes away the power to deal with specific
situations.