How is it possible, after all the problems we've had with outbreaks of murderous violence in schools, that a Delaware elementary school student can walk onto the school grounds wielding a knife in front of teachers and classmates--and escape having the school district's zero-tolerance penalty imposed? Not only is the knife-wielder not punished, he's interviewed as some sort of victim on national TV, where he expressed no remorse and had the gall to refer to his deadly weapon as a "utensil!" Yeah, a utensil that could have been used to cut a classmate's throat from ear to ear.
http://www.postchronicle.com/...
Being a nerdy A student doesn't put Zachary Christie above the law. Plenty of other students in his district have been punished under the zero tolerance rule. One girl was expelled for bringing a cake knife to use on a birthday cake that she had brought for a classmate. Who does Zachary think he is to expect special treatment denied to everyone else?
Zachary's excuse-making defenders say, Oh, it was just a "camping utensil." What kind of pro-violence person could possibly make excuses for bringing a weapon into a grammar school? It was a Swiss Army KNIFE. K-N-I-F-E. You know, like the weapon OJ Simpson used on his wife and Ron Brown. Like the weapon Susan Atkins used on Sharon Tate.
Sure, there are people who will say that zero-tolerance laws, like mandatory sentencing, are indicative of a tunnel-visioned, don't-bother-me-with-the-details, one-size-fits-all approach to events, events which are sometimes not straightforward and therefore require judgment, experience, and common sense for a just outcome to be reached.
To such people, I say, "What part of 'He brandished a knife at school' don't you understand?" Such people are just pro-school violence types that frankly shouldn't be allowed to hold positions of responsibility in our communities, let alone express their corrupt opinions in public forums like this one without being insulted and flamed.
Zachary's excuse-makers will say, "Look, the very people who enacted the zero-tolerance laws say Zachary should get a break." Give ME a break!Their opinion should not be considered at all. Since when do we pick and choose who is above the law and who isn't? Just because he's a popular A-student who wears a tie to school, he gets off when others don't? What part of "He brandished a weapon at school" don't they understand?
Sometimes I despair for this country. For the past two weeks, a bunch of pro-rape people have been saying that Roman Polanski should get probation, just because probation was recommended by the pro-rape DA, the misogynist probation officers, the soft-on-rape prison psychiatrists, and the bought-off victim and her mother. Now, a bunch of pro-child-on-child violence types want to stop justice from being served on a kid who willfully concealed a deadly weapon on his person, transported it to school, and brandished it in front of teachers and classmates!