John Derbyshire

About the author: John Derbyshire is a writer, critic, commentator, and novelist living on Long Island in New York.

Zero tolerance policies are a conservative reaction against the dangerous liberal policies that have prevailed in the United States since the 1960s. Unfortunately, zero tolerance goes too far—schools should not be run by inflexible bureaucracies that punish students for minor infractions without regard for individual circumstances. In an attempt to regain authority during America's moral crisis, people have embraced the concept of legalism, or fa, a concept originating in ancient China. Fa mandates governance by strict, inflexible laws that see citizens as too selfish to be ruled by anything but fear. Zero tolerance is an example of fa -oriented policies. However, schools need to adopt a more li -oriented approach, the idea that humans are...