I HAVE ZERO TOLERANCE FOR THESE POLICIES

Zero tolerance. It started out as a policy that many government agencies
adopted as a way to reduce crime. The policy is that the highest punishment
allowed be given for large crimes to discourage people from doing them.
Schools in the United States have adopted this policy as well, but it has
started to get out of hand.

For example, in November 1997, a 7-year-old boy in Colorado Springs, Colo.,
was suspended for giving a classmate a piece of lemon candy. The teacher
thought it was some sort of illegal substance. An ambulance was called and
the boy was suspended. The school board said that a child who brought candy
to school was just as dangerous as a teen-ager with a gun.

Three boys were suspended in April 1999 in Greeley, Colo., for playing with
a water gun. The administrators said that their zero-tolerance policy on
weapons required that the boys be suspended.

A 10-year-old girl in Thornton, Colo., was suspended on an allegation of
sexual harassment in November 1997. What had she done? She had repeatedly
asked a boy if he liked her. He complained to a teacher, and the girl was
suspended. The school lifted the suspension after her parents complained.

In suburban Atlanta, an 11-year-old girl was suspended in September 2000
because school officials said that a 10-inch chain on her Tweety bird
wallet violated the school district's zero-tolerance policy toward weapons.

I think that this is getting out of hand. I think that zero tolerance for
weapons, drugs and violence has turned into zero tolerance for teen-agers
in general.

If every student at every school were suspended for merely having a neon
toy that shot water, for jokingly saying that he or she was going to hurt
someone, asking someone out, or for joking about doing drugs, there would
be no point in having school. There would be no students.

. Jocelyn Wright is a junior at Mount Airy High School.