It's only reality because that is what administrators choose to do. They don't "have to" make such rules, but by making such it's easier on them rather than requiring themselves to deal with the "lowest common denominator". No different than "can't trust one, so trust none". Anyone in the real world with that attitude will never become an effective formal or informal leader or facilitator. He'll quickly become toxic.
"Zero tolerance" doesn't only apply to schools.
My understanding is that the US military has strict rules regarding what knives and guns new recruits, and active soldiers, can carry, even in war zones. Yet the military seems to be functioning effectively. And such rules are enforced by officers who lead men into combat.
Federal buildings like courthouses have strict "zero tolerance" rules. I wonder what might happen if people were allowed to carry any knives and guns they wanted into such places.
If the US military doesn't trust it's own recruits, and active soldiers, to carry whatever they want, and if grown adults cannot be trusted to carry pocketknives into Federal courthouses, why should anyone be surprised when school administrators, who are responsible for the safety of hundreds of children and face the constant threat of lawsuits that could ruin their lives, would have strict rules prohibiting children from bringing knives to school.
Yes it's true that many school administrators take "zero tolerance" too far, like suspending children for squirt-guns or running around pretending to shoot other kids with their fingers, but that's not what the OP did. The OP brought a knife to school in clear violation of the schools established rules. People can say "Well it was such a tiny knife", but that's why they have "zero tolerance" policies- so administrators won't be making arbitrary judgements regarding when a kids knife qualifies as a dangerous weapon. If a teacher saw a kid with a small knife and did nothing about it, and if that kid hurt another child with that knife, that teacher's life could be ruined as a result (termination, lawsuit, loss of teaching credentials), not to mention the harm to the injured child.
And speaking as a parent with two small children, I don't want kids bringing knives to school. And if a child is spotted with a knife at school I want administrators to get involved, take the knife away, and find out why the kid felt the need to bring a knife to school. This isn't the 1950's, a lot of kids today have some serious psychological/behavioral problems. Whether it's the result of bad parenting (or no parenting), a chemical imbalance, or brain damage from mothers who drank, smoked, or took drugs, even young kids these days are capable of extreme violence. I've been at school events and watched some of these kids at play, and let me tell you it can be frightening. I'm talking about kids with no empathy, and no emotional self-control, whose idea of fun was to hurt other kids. Homeschooling is not an option for me so my kids have no choice but to attend public school. So no, I don't want kids to be allowed to bring knives to school.
I know when I was that age, I couldn't wait to finish school and turn 18 and then turn 21. Lots of living and learning to do.
