Argumentative Essay On School Security

When one hears "school security" these days, the word that goes with it is "tighten." Indeed, given both external threats and unruly (sometimes violent) student behavior, it makes sense to think that the most sensible course of action is to err on the side of more stringent measures, harsher sanctions and less permissive administration.

It largely comes down to liability - whenever an individual with a history of troubled or criminal behavior snaps or becomes involved in an incident severe enough to attract government or media attention, many of the questions asked in the aftermath are variations on "why was this person not in jail." The same applies to schools, where administrators often end up having to justify themselves to parents and

This isn 't the first time that "bureaucratic determinism," where administrators declare themselves powerless to exert discretion and end up punishing students for infractions that even they agree didn 't contain any elements of threat or aggression, has triggered calls for a more lenient approach. Public outrage and media exposure have succeeded in reversing sanctions in cases such as suspensions when a student makes a "finger gun" (some schools interpret any such displays as threats).

It 's an uphill battle, though, and the stone rolls down as soon as it reaches the top. A 13-year-old girl received a three-day suspension from a Texas middle school for a finger gun in 2010, making headlines; in December 2012, the hammer of justice came down on a 6-year-old, who received a one-day suspension from a Maryland elementary school for the same reason. That incident made the Washington Post, with over a thousand comments lambasting the school administrators for overreacting; nonetheless, in October of 2013, an 8-year-old was suspended for a day in Florida, also for making a finger

It wasn 't just students and their parents - civil rights groups got involved, as did educators, and even juvenile judges sounded alarm at the number of young people who came out of zero tolerance with arrest records and other disciplinary millstones around their necks. The Obama Justice Department has also pressed school districts to find alternatives to arrest and expulsion.

In recent years, Florida has indeed changed its approach - a 2009 amendment puts more discretion in the hands of school administrators to discipline students. A number of counties have also set up alternative sanctions for infractions - counseling, community service and other rehabilitative programs aim to help students improve their behavior, unlike expulsion, which left students to wander the streets during the day, fall behind on school work and get into even more trouble.

It remains to be seen if zero tolerance policies nationwide will be relaxed or replaced with a more lenient and rehabilitation-oriented approach; perhaps the recent "thaw" will lead into another freeze. Lawmakers and administrators should, however, keep in mind that a school system that has too much in common with jail may end up producing students who are all too ready to become