Maintaining Safe Schools: How? Metal Detectors? Zero Tolerance?

Metal detectors alone will not keep the school safe. People can find ways around them. If some schools are so bad that zero tolerance is necessary, we suggest that the central office should consider closing them entirely.

Just as Erasmus of Rotterdam suggested that a pupil who really requires corporal punishment probably doesn’t belong in school, we suggest that a school which really needs zero tolerance policies probably shouldn’t have children.


We propose the following criteria for distinguishing desirable from undesirable risks in schools: we think schoolteachers and administrators can approve

1) intelligent risks for which there is a
2) reasonable likelihood of success from an application of
3) realistic effort, and in which there is an
4) acceptable loss if failure does happen, a
5) charitable opportunity to recover, and a
6) worthy reward when they do succeed.

To examine these issues further, see Safe Schools: weighing the options

Cordially
-- EGR