Chapter Nine Summary and Analysis

In the early- and mid-1990s, teachers and school administrators institute stricter discipline policies for Millenial students, and the students respond with drastically improved conduct in terms of both crime and sexual behavior. Howe and Strauss point out that these improving trends cannot be explained by the strong economy of the 1990s as the best-behaved generation came of age during the Great Depression while the Boomers came of age in good economic times but were responsible for rising crime levels and sexual promiscuity.

The most common new policy to deal with discipline problems are known as "Zero Tolerance," which impose harsh penalties for certain infractions and do not allow for any exceptions. While the original zero tolerance polices focus almost exclusively on violence, they expand to include truancy, drug use, and off campus offenses. While the policies lead to...