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Any time you hear "Zero Tolerance" substitute "Zero Common Sense" and "Zero Discretion" and you'll usually be right on the money. "Educators" who wonder why they are held in ever lowering esteem need only to look at situations like this to figure it out.

Well, I can agree with HALF of what ya said, Larry. "Zero Tolerance" is a dumb policy that leaves out any resolution using common sense. As to your second point, teachers might be slipping in the esteem given to them, but that's not because they aren't, for the vast majority of them, dedicated professionals. It's because parents at home and society in general are giving them an impossible load to carry. They not only have to teach the given subject, they have to teach right from wrong in the most basic sense of the word, they have to teach the kids how to get along cause their parents are socially inept themselves, and finally, they have to respond, politely, to the "my little darling" parents, who have raised children largely inept in social skills and lack basic responsibility towards themselves and society. Parents have little esteem for teachers because they have little self respect (not to be confused with self love) themselves. I know. I've been there. Before anybody critisizes teachers, take a day and observe a class room.

Fidelis et Fortis