John Whitehead's Commentary
The Lockdown in America's Public Schools
Two kindergarten boys are playing cops and robbers--a scene typical of the playground adventures of countless boys through the ages. "I'm gonna get you, you rotten robber," one kid yells, chasing his friend across the playground. The other boy, turning back once in a while to point a trigger with his hand, races off. The cops are in hot pursuit. "Bang, bang, you're dead," one shouts. "No! Bang, bang, you're dead!" the other cries, before both fall to the ground in melodramatic agony.
But in a new twist on an old game, it's not the good cop who gets the bad guys. Now, the game ends when the school officials call in the "good" cops, who arrest the "bad" kindergartners for engaging in juvenile crime. At least, that's the way it played out at one New Jersey school when four little boys were suspended for using their fingers as make-believe weapons. At another school, an 8-year-old boy was arrested and charged with terrorism for pointing a paper gun at his classmates and announcing, "I'm going to kill you all."
And at one California elementary school recently, school officials went so far as to call the police when a little boy was caught playing cops and robbers at recess. The school principal then told the concerned parents that their child was a "terrorist" because he played cops and robbers.
For once, school officials are right on target--these are acts of terrorism. But the culprits here are not overactive schoolboys. The individuals guilty of instilling terror in the hearts and minds of young children and parents nationwide seem to be well-intentioned school officials who, in an effort to enforce zero tolerance policies against violence and weapons, have moved our schools into a lockdown mentality.
Since the shootings at Columbine High School several years ago, school officials have understandably been working to make the schools safer and prevent further violence and tragedy. But instead of common sense policies aimed at educating students about violence, some school officials have subscribed to a "lockdown" mentality, all but turning the schools into juvenile prisons. Security checkpoints, metal detectors, drug-sniffing dogs and police officers walking the hallways are just some of what's being done to make the schools safer. In the process, however, school officials have begun treating our young people like suspects and criminals.
The list of incidents in which zero tolerance policies have targeted students for "crimes" is growing at an alarming rate. Now the playground is under attack--and, more critically, the imaginations and play of our young people. Tag is taboo because it involves touching and tackling. Cowboys and Indians is culturally and politically incorrect. Cops and robbers involves make-believe guns, a no-no in our frightened society. Dodgeball came on the radar screen last year because it turns children into moving targets. Even recess is being targeted for extinction.
"Play is the work of children," said Anna Freud, daughter of the man who reshaped Western psychoanalysis. And, in this instance, she's right on the money. But as school officials try to control the playtime of young children, and in the process root out all that is violent or unfair or politically incorrect, it often seems as if young boys are the ones under fire.
As a father of four boys and a girl, I can attest to the fact that boys tend to play make-believe games involving fighting and physical interaction much more than girls. It used to be that in viewing the chaos and confusion that can ensue when young boys are at play, the best and only response was, "Boys will be boys." But now it seems that boys can't be boys. In fact, many individuals seem to be subscribing to feminist Gloria Steinem's notion, "We need to raise boys like we raise girls."
Repression, control and fear seem to be the code words of the day in dealing with young people--especially pre-teen boys. But take away their play, their outlet for expression and role-playing, and we take away their exploration of the world.
The argument that the schools are a more violent place in need of stricter controls doesn't hold up to the research. Indeed, the Center for Injury Prevention and Control, an adjunct of the Center for Disease Control, recently reported that violent deaths in school have dropped precipitously over the last decade. This means that school is one of the safest places a child can be. Yet suspensions of students continue to proliferate and cause such organizations as the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice to question the need for zero tolerance policies in our schools.
Sadly, we're forcing our children to not be children at a time when we should do all we can to protect the sanctity of childhood. Children grow up too fast as it is. Instead of trying to control the things that are all theirs and precious to childhood--imagination and play--isn't it time we respect this season of their lives and let them make-believe a little longer? And isn't it time that we get some common sense back into our schools? Calling the cops when an 8-year-old waves a paper gun isn't going to stop a misguided teenager from pulling a gun on his classmates. But taking the time to teach that child respect for life and right from wrong just might.
But in a new twist on an old game, it's not the good cop who gets the bad guys. Now, the game ends when the school officials call in the "good" cops, who arrest the "bad" kindergartners for engaging in juvenile crime. At least, that's the way it played out at one New Jersey school when four little boys were suspended for using their fingers as make-believe weapons. At another school, an 8-year-old boy was arrested and charged with terrorism for pointing a paper gun at his classmates and announcing, "I'm going to kill you all."
And at one California elementary school recently, school officials went so far as to call the police when a little boy was caught playing cops and robbers at recess. The school principal then told the concerned parents that their child was a "terrorist" because he played cops and robbers.
For once, school officials are right on target--these are acts of terrorism. But the culprits here are not overactive schoolboys. The individuals guilty of instilling terror in the hearts and minds of young children and parents nationwide seem to be well-intentioned school officials who, in an effort to enforce zero tolerance policies against violence and weapons, have moved our schools into a lockdown mentality.
Since the shootings at Columbine High School several years ago, school officials have understandably been working to make the schools safer and prevent further violence and tragedy. But instead of common sense policies aimed at educating students about violence, some school officials have subscribed to a "lockdown" mentality, all but turning the schools into juvenile prisons. Security checkpoints, metal detectors, drug-sniffing dogs and police officers walking the hallways are just some of what's being done to make the schools safer. In the process, however, school officials have begun treating our young people like suspects and criminals.
The list of incidents in which zero tolerance policies have targeted students for "crimes" is growing at an alarming rate. Now the playground is under attack--and, more critically, the imaginations and play of our young people. Tag is taboo because it involves touching and tackling. Cowboys and Indians is culturally and politically incorrect. Cops and robbers involves make-believe guns, a no-no in our frightened society. Dodgeball came on the radar screen last year because it turns children into moving targets. Even recess is being targeted for extinction.
"Play is the work of children," said Anna Freud, daughter of the man who reshaped Western psychoanalysis. And, in this instance, she's right on the money. But as school officials try to control the playtime of young children, and in the process root out all that is violent or unfair or politically incorrect, it often seems as if young boys are the ones under fire.
As a father of four boys and a girl, I can attest to the fact that boys tend to play make-believe games involving fighting and physical interaction much more than girls. It used to be that in viewing the chaos and confusion that can ensue when young boys are at play, the best and only response was, "Boys will be boys." But now it seems that boys can't be boys. In fact, many individuals seem to be subscribing to feminist Gloria Steinem's notion, "We need to raise boys like we raise girls."
Repression, control and fear seem to be the code words of the day in dealing with young people--especially pre-teen boys. But take away their play, their outlet for expression and role-playing, and we take away their exploration of the world.
The argument that the schools are a more violent place in need of stricter controls doesn't hold up to the research. Indeed, the Center for Injury Prevention and Control, an adjunct of the Center for Disease Control, recently reported that violent deaths in school have dropped precipitously over the last decade. This means that school is one of the safest places a child can be. Yet suspensions of students continue to proliferate and cause such organizations as the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice to question the need for zero tolerance policies in our schools.
Sadly, we're forcing our children to not be children at a time when we should do all we can to protect the sanctity of childhood. Children grow up too fast as it is. Instead of trying to control the things that are all theirs and precious to childhood--imagination and play--isn't it time we respect this season of their lives and let them make-believe a little longer? And isn't it time that we get some common sense back into our schools? Calling the cops when an 8-year-old waves a paper gun isn't going to stop a misguided teenager from pulling a gun on his classmates. But taking the time to teach that child respect for life and right from wrong just might.
ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
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