Does the zero tolerance policy work?Technically speaking yes it does. In practice though it’s just a mess of meaningless words. The policy is supposed to stop students and teachers from bullying others before the first incident. What it does, is stop bullying before it happens again after the first, second, or third incidents. Sometimes it doesn’t stop it until after the hundredth incident. My experiences with the zero tolerance policy leads me to believe that it could work, but I can also tell from my experiences that it doesn’t work unless we tell teachers and administration what is going on.

Yes, the zero tolerance policy is supposed to stop bullying before it happens. Does it? Yes and no; it stops the bullying after it has been reported for the first incident and before a later incident occurs. Notice that I did not say second or third incident. I instead mentioned later incidents because sometimes people can be bullied for years before the policy kicks in and protects them. I myself was bullied from kindergarten all the way through to the second semester in tenth grade. It was in ninth grade when the policy finally stopped one of the bullies. It is stopping another one currently. So yes, the policy does and does not work.

The policy should work, and it does, but only if you tell teachers what’s going on. If you don’t tell a teacher or administration, then they won’t know to use the policy. I myself have had this experience and let me tell you, it is better to tell a teacher or administration than to try to take care of it yourself. When you try to take care of a problem yourself, plans made up by students to deal with another student hardly ever work. It is always best to let a teacher deal with it, which is why students have to tell the administration or a teacher.

Now what if it’s the administration and the teachers that are verbally, physically, or sexually assaulting you. Well, if that happens you should tell the Department Of Education (DOE) about it. The DOE is required by law to enforce the zero tolerance policy, especially on the teachers and administration. If our country wants us to learn in school then they need to make sure that we have teachers who won’t bully or harass its students. It is impossible to learn when teachers don’t do their job correctly. I had a teacher who was like this, back in middle school. Currently, he is teaching my younger sister. After I told my father about this teacher he went to the school administration. The problem was still only dealt with after my father threatened to press charges the second time he came to the school. However he is returning to his old habits of sexism and bias against non-athletic kids.

The zero tolerance policy only works and will only work when we tell the teachers, the administration, the Department Of Education, or even the police. It is against the law to bully a fellow student. It counts as harassment. At the age of 18 any sort of harassment can land you a bunk in a jail cell. However when we are being harassed we have to tell someone or nothing will happen, ever. All of our lives, are too precious to throw away with a small yet powerful decision to not tell anyone about bullying. If you are or see someone being bullied. Tell a teacher or administration, because then and only then can they do something about it.