Convenience vs. Zero Tolerance

In the news this morning, the Swiss Army Knife people have made a knife with a memory stick included. This is great(and I might mention that there are only 200 days until my birthday), but it will never sell, at least not to the American High School student, who would probably get suspended for 10 days for bringing a weapon to school. This, of course, doesn't make me want one any less. Honestly, I don't think I've ever owned a Swiss Army knife, maybe now it's time.

Now, back to zero tolerance. I've been thinking quite a bit about personal freedom, since I took the Politopia.com quiz. Zero tolerance policies violate personal freedoms, not only for the person breaking the policy, but for the person obligated to enforce said policy. Think about it, if you're a school principal and someone brings their homework in on a memory stick to print it out, it's ok. No problems. But if you attach that memory stick to a couple knives, a scissors, a nailfile and a toothpick, despite how silly it seems, you're forced to suspend this student for bringing a weapon to school. Zero tolerance forces you. Otherwise you are in violation of the policy, and rest assured your ass will be held accountable. You can't make the decision to be lenient. You are screwed.

Is the system flawed? Hell yes. I think we all know that, but the real question is, do I have a solution? Well, not yet. When I do, I will run for office, and there will be smear campaigns about all the rotten stuff I've done over the years. Don't worry, I won't jerk you around about it, either. I'll answer any question fairly posed. Why is all this on my mind this morning? That's easy. My English teacher last night had us write an essay on what we think teachers should do beyond the basic 3R's. After I read my essay aloud, he said I should run for president(he also said it was excellently written- I'm waiting for him to tell me that I don't need his class, but I'm not holding my breath).

Ok. Now that I've rambled out of control(again) I'm going to find something else to occupy myself with for a bit.