From Zero Tolerance to Zero Accountability: What Are We Teaching Our Kids?

What are we doing to the future of our kids when we punish them for standing up for what’s right?
What are we teaching our boys and girls through these punishments — and what are we taking away from them?
Their morals? Their integrity? Their courage?

We say we want to raise strong, confident young men and women — kids who speak up, defend others, and do what’s right even when it’s uncomfortable.
But the truth is, our schools are teaching them something else entirely.

They’re teaching them to stay quiet.
To never step in.
To rely on “authority” to fix things — even when authority isn’t there to protect them.

All of it is done under the banner of one phrase that’s become more dangerous than anyone wants to admit: Zero Tolerance.

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Scenario One: The Defender

Imagine this: a junior high school courtyard in Louisiana, just after lunch.
One boy sees another walk up behind a girl and slap her on the butt. The girl doesn’t take it lightly — and rightfully so.

The witness steps in and tells the boy, “Leave her alone. Don’t do that again.”

Two young bucks now stand face-to-face, foreheads touching, waiting for the other to make a move. The crowd forms fast — if you’ve ever spent time in a public school, you know that scene. A circle of kids and energy buzzing.

Before anything happens, the principal runs over and breaks it up. She grabs both boys by their shirts and separates them. No punches. No fight. Situation handled.

Or so it seems.

Later that day, the boy who defended the girl gets home and tells his parents he has Saturday school — for almost getting into a fight. No call from the school, no explanation.

His father calls the principal to get more details, and sure enough, his son’s story checks out. The punishment was part of their “Zero Tolerance” policy.

The father isn’t thrilled, but he uses it as a teaching moment. He tells his son, “You won’t always be treated fairly for doing what’s right, but you still have to do what’s right.”

But then comes the question — the one that reveals the real problem.

The father asks, “So what’s my son supposed to do next time?”

The principal says, “He’s to run and tell a teacher.”

The father presses further: “And what if he can’t get away? What if he’s caught or knocked down and starts getting hit? What then?”

Her answer: “If he strikes back, he’ll receive the same punishment as the other kid.”

So basically — a child defending himself, or standing up for someone else, has no right to self-defense.

That’s the message this system sends: it’s safer to run, even if that means taking a beating.

 

Read: Why Boys Need Conflict — how Zero Tolerance weakens boys and how martial arts rebuilds their courage and capability.

Read: Why Women Need Strong Men — How Zero Tolerance silently reshapes the relationship between boys and girls as they grow into adults.

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Scenario Two: The Victim

Now imagine another student — a 13-year-old girl — starting a new school year. She’s not looking for trouble, not trying to stand out.

Then she finds out that a fake nude image of her — created using artificial intelligence — is being passed around by her classmates.

A deepfake. And it looks real enough to fool anyone who sees it.

She does exactly what every school handbook tells her to do — she reports it. She tells multiple teachers and asks for help. But the image keeps spreading. The whispers follow her. The humiliation grows, and no one steps in to stop it.

Then one afternoon, she’s placed on the same bus as the boy accused of making and sharing that image. When she sees him laughing, phone in hand, surrounded by others passing the picture around, something inside her breaks.

She confronts him. Emotions boil over. And she reacts.

By the end of the day, she’s the one facing expulsion — punished under the same “Zero Tolerance” policy that’s supposed to protect kids like her.

No consideration for the digital abuse she endured.
No accountability for the boy who started it all.

The message was clear: how you react matters more than why.

Her father doesn’t excuse her response, but he can’t accept the punishment either. His daughter was ignored all day, humiliated, and backed into a corner — then punished for finally standing up for herself.

Source: WAFB News — “Student Expelled After Confronting Teen Over Deepfake Porn Image

All because “Zero Tolerance” demanded discipline before understanding.

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The Reveal

If you’re thinking those stories sound too specific to be made up — you’re right.

Both happened right here in South Louisiana.
The first took place at Oaklawn Junior High about seven years ago.
The second just happened this year at Sixth Ward Middle School.

Two different kids. Two different schools.
But one broken system.

A system that tells our children:
Don’t defend yourself.
Don’t stand up for others.
Don’t react, even when adults fail to protect you.

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Zero Tolerance or Zero Accountability?

What began as a policy to make schools safer has turned into one that rewards passivity and punishes courage.

When we strip kids of the right to defend themselves or others, we don’t create peace — we create fear.
We don’t raise stronger students — we raise quieter ones.

We’re teaching our sons to walk away from injustice.
We’re teaching our daughters to stay silent when they’re violated.
And we’re teaching an entire generation to rely on authority instead of responsibility.

Zero Tolerance might have started with good intentions, but it’s failed the real-world test.

It’s time for something better — not Zero Tolerance, but Zero Accountability for the adults who hide behind it.

Because when the system fails to protect our children, and then punishes them for defending themselves, that’s not discipline —
that’s cowardice dressed up as policy.

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