The Problem with "Zero Tolerance"

Here is the policy:

All touching -- not only fighting or inappropriate touching -- is against the rules at Kilmer Middle School in Vienna. Hand-holding, handshakes and high-fives? Banned. The rule has been conveyed to students this way: "NO PHYSICAL CONTACT!!!!!"

School officials say the rule helps keep crowded hallways and lunchrooms safe and orderly, and ensures that all students are comfortable. But Hal, 13, and his parents think the school's hands-off approach goes too far, and they are lobbying for a change.

Here is how the principal explains it:

"You get into shades of gray," Hernandez said. "The kids say, 'If he can high-five, then I can do this.' "

The problem: Has the school given up on teaching the students to think for themselves?

"How do kids learn what's right and what's wrong?" Henri Beaulieu [Father of student reprimanded for giving a fellow student a brief hug] asked. "They are all smart kids, and they can draw lines. If they cross them, they can get in trouble. But I don't think it would happen too often." Beaulieu has written a letter to the county School Board asking it to review the rule.

I have always believed that "strict adherence to black-and-white rules" that discourage any self-thought are a hallmark of totalitarian regimes. Democracies are best served when we teach our children values and judgement.

Let me add a few things:

1) Physical contact is at the core of human development and well being. Dr. John Suler writes:

Humans need physical contact with each other. Infants sink into depression and die without it. How parents interact physically with them becomes a cornerstone of their identity and well-being. Adults deprived of tactile contact for long periods will tell you just how depriving it feels. In day to day relationships, never underestimate the power of a handshake, a pat on the back, a hug, or a kiss.

So, we worry about giving kids milk in case they miss it at home, but we deny them physical contact?

2) Now that we had distance / computer based learning, we are finding that it is not the best for education. Western Kentucky Community and Technical college points this out as the first "Major disadvantage" of their distance learning programs.


3) Study the Chinese techniques used on POWs during the Korean War. You don't need much in the way of physical or emotional harrassment/abuse if you deny human contact. That is why is played such a large role in Orwell's 1984 and other books that explore living in totalitarian regimes.

In my opinion, rules like this are inhuman and create the very problems they are trying to avoid.

Coverage of the schools is from Washington Post.