Zero Tolerance Policies in School
School is a part of life that everyone must go through. Sadly, school bullying is a part of most school in every country. Bullies exist outside of the schools, on the streets; hence the need for self defense – so why would it be a surprise that these behaviors start as early as grade school? So prevalent are instances of school bullying that many schools have integrated “anti-bullying” programs into their classrooms and hallways. It begs to question, though, how effective programs such as “Zero Tolerance” really are in helping kids escape bully beatings.
In the book, The Scarred Heart, one of the stories told by author Helen Smith is that of April Michelle Himes, an innocent 13-year-old girl who committed suicide. “Kids at school called her fat, threw things at her and pushed her around. They ridiculed her with rumors that she stuffed tissues in her bra. She attempted suicide and her parents admitted her to an inpatient mental hospital program and sought counseling but said it didn’t help. After missing fifty-three out of the required one hundred and eighty days of school, she was told that she would have to return to school or appear before a truancy board which could then send her to a juvenile detention center. She decided the better alternative was to go into her bedroom and hang herself with a belt. … In times past, she could have just dropped out of school, but now kids like her are trapped by compulsory education.”
Am I saying that self defense could have helped a girl like April? Well, YES. Learning self defense – through self defense videos or through a class or through You Tube, who cares – is better than feeling like a victim.
But this is exactly where the problem lies; in victimization. Kids who employ self defense techniques to ward off an attack are just as guilty as their attacker in the eyes of a Zero Tolerance school policy. I ask you, does it make sense that your child would be taught NOT to defend themselves at school? Would you not use self defense if someone tried to hurt you? Would you teach your child to defend themselves if someone on the street tried to hurt them or kidnap them?
School bullying is a problem, and it has been around for a long long time. For the past two decades, school districts have run through a gamut of programs teaching children about the effects of bullying; and yet the problem still exists. States all around the country have issues with school bullying. In Massachusetts headlines were made when 11-year-old Charles Joseph Walker-Hoover hanged himself rather than face another day of bullying. In the same state, Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old immigrant from Ireland, hanged herself after months of bullying by students at the public school she attended in the affluent community of South Hadley.
Instead of teaching our kids to simply take bullying for fear of expulsion; perhaps it is a better choice to get them into class, or get them some self defense videos that can give them the confidence and tools necessary to stay safe. Children of all ages deserve to have a voice. Nobody deserves to be a victim of another person. Should your child have to defend themselves in school; you’ll just have to be there to defend them from the school system that may seek to punish their RIGHT to use self defense.
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