ZERO TOLERANCE

　
Is Zero Tolerance Effective In Schools?

Zero tolerance imposes automatic punishment for infractions of a stated rule, with the intention of eliminating undesirable conduct. Zero-tolerance policies forbid persons in positions of authority from exercising discretion or changing punishments to fit the circumstances subjectively; they are required to impose a pre-determined punishment regardless of the individual, extenuating circumstances, or past history. Zero-tolerance policies have been adopted in schools and other education venues around the world. These policies are usually promoted as preventing drug abuse and violence in schools. In schools, common zero-tolerance policies concern possession or use of drugs or weapons.

Under zero tolerance school policies, there is a heightened risk of innocent students being punished for behavior that they did not exhibit, or behavior that is misinterpreted or misconstrued. Students with psychological disorders, such as attention deficit disorder, may act outwardly and rashly through no fault of their own. It is argued that these types of students need professional care and attention, rather than strict punishment.

The severity of zero tolerance punishments is greatly debated. Some supporters maintain that these punishments are very effective at preventing deviant behavior, and some opponents maintain that they harm a student's opportunities to improve or gain access to help. For example, suspending or expelling a student because of a drug infraction may remove the student from the school's support system, making him or her more likely to commit further drug infractions.

The safety of students is always the top priority of administration, teachers and parents, and because of this, some supporters say that removing deviant or dangerous students from the student body will prevent bad influences from reaching other students. Opponents say that student bodies aren't as affected by the influence of a few deviant individuals, and that the community as a whole can benefit from providing help and support for those who need it.

Zero tolerance policies are consistent, meaning that there are clear-cut and unarguable punishments for each specific behavior and infraction. This usually means that students are well aware of the consequences for their actions, and that they must be responsible for their decisions. However, some maintain that students sometimes lose control of themselves, and aren't always responsible for misbehaving or violating policies.

Most school administrators strive for firm, fair, and consistent discipline applied with good common sense. Students need consequences, but they must be appropriate to the context of the situation, the disciplinary and academic history of the student, age appropriateness, and related factors.

THEORIST IN EDUCATION:

JEAN PIAGET:

Jean Piaget is a Swiss psychologist who was the first to make a systematice study of the axquisition of understanding in children. Piaget took the intellectual functioning of adults as the central phenomenon to be explained and wanted to know how an adult acquired the ability to think logically and to draw valid conclusions about he world from evidence. Jean Piaget teory is based on the idea that the child develops through stages until they arrive at a stage of thinking that resembles that of an adult. He believes that intellectual growth of a child arises primarily our of the interactions with objects in the environment. Children organize and adapt their experiences to allow them to deal with future situations in a more effective way.

The four stages Piaget separates children in to are sensorimotor (birth-2yrs), preoperational (2yrs-7yrs), concrete-operational (7yrs-12yrs), and formal operations (12yrs-adult). During the sensorimotor stage, the child learns about oneself and their environment through motor and reflex. Though derives from sensation and movement and the child learns that they are separate from their environment and aspects within it. In the preoperational stage, children start to use symbols to represent objects and assumes that others see situations from their viewpoints. Children take in information and then changes it to fit their ideas. During the concrete stage, accommodation increases. The child develops an ability to think abstractly and to make rational judgements about concrete or observable factors. In the final stage, people no longer need concrete objects to make rational judgements. People are capable of reasoning and understanding many possibilities from several different perspectives.

It makes sense that children go through different stages and this is exactly why it is so important to make sure learning is at an appropriate level. There are certain things that children can process. Depending on their age and developmental stage, children are able to process certain social and cognitive situations. In some cases children can not process information because they are not ready and their cognitive process is not at the same level. It is important for children to build on their knowledge and learn from their experiences in order to understand how to handle and process situations effectively.


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990617-2,00.html