New book takes on zero tolerance fervor in schools

Tuesday - 7/19/2011

Leanne Italie

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - High-tech surveillance. Metal detectors. Zero tolerance for, well, just about any bad behavior, real or overblown.

Welcome to "Lockdown High," the title of a sweeping new book by journalist Annette Fuentes, describing how the schoolhouse has become a jailhouse and fear prevails.

Dating to Ronald Reagan's war on drugs launched nearly three decades ago, fueled by campus shootings and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, "preoccupation with security and violence are particularly acute when it comes to children and teenagers," she writes.

But a paradox exists, Fuentes argues, and it goes like this: "Children are considered both potential victims, vulnerable to dangers from every corner, and perpetrators of great violence and mayhem, demanding strict, preventive discipline."

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