Velazquez 1

Arturo Velazquez
Huerta
ENGL 1T Puente
30 March 2015
Being Set Up for Shackles Rather Than Greatness
There is an issue in our school system that incorporates the justice system to discipline
students known as the Zero Tolerance Policy.(APA Zero Tolerance Task Force 111). Zero
Tolerance policy is policy that was issued to prevent anything that can cause schools to be seen
as a harmful location such as fighting, guns and drugs. In the article Are Zero Tolerance
Policies Effective in the School? An Evidentiary Review and Recommendations by APA Zero
Tolerance Task Force (APA), American Psychological Association, reveals the Primary
intentions of the Zero Tolerance Policy. The APA reflects the purpose of the Zero Tolerance in
the educational setting in which the purpose of Zero Tolerance was to discard any one who was
seen as a disruption towards the other students and the outcome will be a safer climate however
data has shown that the outcomes were opposite than expected(113). The idea that the APA
conveys the initial intentions of the Zero Tolerance policy were create the climate of the school
much safer for the students however the results were opposite. The consequences of Zero
Tolerance Policy was teacher stereotypes, stereotypes leads to disproportionately targeted
populations, and being deprived of the opportunity to learn from ones mistakes. However, some
suggestions to improve student behavior is having staff culturally in tuned with ones students
and having staff members discipline misbehavior.
Some teachers that are not align with ones students can result into teacher stereotypes.
According to Annette Fuentes, female author, in Arresting Development Zero tolerance and the

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criminalization of children refers to Russell Skiba, Indiana University Professor, in where he

examines the outcomes of teachers who are culturally disconnected with ones students and how
they may discipline misbehavior. Skiba describes culturally discontinuities can create
adversarial dynamics in the classroom . . . . . and negative stereotypes of black youth can lead to
authoritarian disciplining and overreliance suspensions (20). The idea of how a teacher not
being culturally in tune can affect the approach in how one may discipline a child when
misbehaving. Skiba demonstrates how a minor disruption can lead to a suspension or even
expulsion due to the fact of a disconnect between the teacher and student. The idea in how the
disconnect between the instructor and his student may result into enforcing zero tolerance
irrationally by holding a group of students of color at a drastic expectation knowing that students
of color often act out more compared to other students. This idea can be seen as stereotyping in
how one may expect someone of color to act out in the classroom setting more frequently
compared to non-students of color. This idea of treating a student differently due to stereotypes
because one isnt culturally in tuned with ones students can have a negative effect of feeling
targeted. The idea of teacher stereotypes can have a large influence which leads to
disproportionately targeted populations.
Negative stereotypes can lead to disproportionately targeted populations which can cause
an individual to feel that one is setup to fail. Fuentes refers to Breaking Schools Rules, a study of
2011 Texas public schools, in where it presents the amount of students expelled or suspended for
violations of codes of conduct. According to Fuentes, the study illustrates Black and special
education students were most likely to be suspended or expelled. And students suspended or
expelled for discretionary violations were three times as likely to have a subsequent brush with
the juvenile justice system(20). This idea demonstrates how Black and special education

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students were the most likely to violate the zero tolerance policy than any other student. The idea
of how it was expected for black and special education students to misbehave had a negative
impact on students in how it cause one to feel hovered over by teachers waiting for these
students to make a mistake in where one can make an excuse to get rid of them. Another negative
impact zero tolerance policy had on students particularly those who were students of color
caused one to develop a pattern with the justice system due to irrational treatment one received
for misbehaving. The study of Breaking Schools Rules demonstrates the outcomes for students
who were disproportionately targeted in school that lead students to be likely incarcerated due to
the fact that one was already in the justice system. This idea demonstrates in how students who
feel that one is being set up to fail actually causes students to fail not only in the education
setting but rather society in where one enters the juvenile justice system. The idea of how
stereotypes can lead to disproportionately targeted populations can determine whether ones fails
or succeeds; however one can prevent this from happening by training staff members to be
culturally in tuned with ones students.
Training staff members to be culturally in tuned with ones students can be more effective
when disciplining students behavior. This can cause a teacher to have a different approach in
disciplining the student by being understanding in what one may have to deal with. APA Task
Force describes the suggestion that may be an alternate approach in dealing with misbehavior in
where teachers are trained in how to react in certain situations. APA states One of the most
effective disciplinary strategies is to prevent the occurrence of misbehavior through effective
instruction and classroom management, thereby maximizing student opportunity to learn and
reducing disciplinary referrals.(118). The idea of increasing the opportunity to learn for students
while reducing referral handouts causes a student to feel at ease in a way that they do not have to

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worry about being targeted and set up to fail. But rather a sense of comfort of knowing that the
teacher would rather try to offer one the opportunity to learn rather than wasting time to deal
with discipling misbehavior. The idea of training staff members to be culturally in tuned with
ones students eliminates any stereotypes due to understanding where the student is coming from
that causes them to misbehave during class. Also the idea of teachers being culturally in tuned
with ones students eliminates the idea of having to record discretionary violations which can
minimize the amount of students who are incarcerated due to the idea of violating the Zero
Tolerance policy.
Being deprived of the opportunity to learn from ones mistakes can cause a student to feel
confused in how to tell the difference of what is right from wrong. Fuentes describes in how
school districts are having the police officers deal with disciplining the students Rather than staff
members. Fuentes states In districts across the country, the presence of police inside public
schools has led to rising rates of arrests of students for minor violations of disciplinary codes or
simply youthful hijinks that in another era would have landed a student in the principals office.
The idea of the teachable moment, turning a student error into a learning opportunity, is less
likely in a schoolhouse where handcuff-wielding cops teach the lesson.(20). Fuentes
demonstrates in how students are being arrested for minor misbehaviors that would have simply
landed them in the principals office. The outcomes of this idea causes a student to not fully
understand what one may have done wrong. Although some may argue that being disciplined by
a police officer can have more effect, it wont cause the student to learn from one mistakes.
Fuentes demonstrates in how the presence of police officers at schools has resulted in a large
amount of student arrests. The idea of students being arrested for actions that might have been
addressed with a visit to the principals office can have a negative effect in how students are

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entering the justice system rapidly after the presences of officers because it shows that one is
creating a criminal record for something that one may see it has a drastic consequence. This can
cause a student to reflect in what right from wrong is and can cause one to contradict himself in
where one may see something harmful can be seen as a delinquent action by a police officer.
However the idea of being stripped of the opportunity of a teachable moment can be resolved by
defining who is responsible for disciplining students misbehavior.
Being deprived of the opportunity to learn from ones mistake can be resolved by defining
the responsibility of staff members in disciplining misbehavior rather than police officers. This
idea can prevent injustice disciplinary actions in where the staff members determine the
consequence for minor disciplinary violations. APA Task Force describes how an alternative
approach of disciplining code violations should be disciplined in fair consequences. APA states
Classroom management should be infused into the preparation of preservice teachers so that
beginning teachers are properly equipped to handle the majority of minor classroom disruptions
and to defuse rather than escalate behavioral incidents (116). The idea of defining which
behaviors should be disciplined by staff members and which should be disciplined by the justice
system can prevent any future injustice arrests that should have been dealt with a minor
disciplinary actions. The idea of having staff members discipline student misbehavior can have
more an effect in a way that they may approach the student in a conversation in where they
discuss in what one may has done wrong and also prevents the situation from escalating. By that
idea causes the student to learn from ones mistake knowing what the consequences are going be
next time. APA demonstrates the idea of training staff how to approach a minor classroom
disruption can prevent a student of entering the justice system and have a mindset of being setup
to fail.

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The outcomes of Zero Tolerance had on students were staff member negative stereotypes,
which leads to targeting disproportionately populations, and being stripped of teachable
moments(Fuentes 20). However some suggestions to approach misbehavior conduct is
developing a connection between the teacher, the student and also staff members given
responsibility in discipling the students. The importance of bringing this issue to the attention is
because students are being disciplined irrationally for minor disciplinary violations. Also the
idea of reexamining the Zero Tolerance policy can minimize the amount of students who are
incarcerated for discretionary violations. The crucial reason why it's important to bring the
outcomes of Zero Tolerance to attention is because the ones who are impacted the most are
students in how a large portion of students are entering the juvenile system rather than going to
college. Also teachers are being impacted by Zero Tolerance in how they are becoming lazy by
depending on the justice system to discipline the students in where they should be in charge of
disciplining.

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Works Cited
American Psychological Associate Zero Tolerance Task Force. Are Zero Tolerance Policies
Effective in the Schools? American Psychological Association. American Psychological
Associate. Web. 18 Sept
Fuentes, Annette. "Arresting Development: Zero Tolerance and the Criminalization of Children"
Volume 6; winter 2011-2012; pages 18-23 2011-2012.