> The official policy from schools lately has been "zero tolerance" for violence, meaning if someone hits you and you defend yourself, you get suspended for just as long as they do.
While I think most would agree that endorsing violence is generally bad, I'd advocate children defending themselves in that type of situation. It's not the only thing to do (someone needs to call an adult/teacher/etc) but if kids are penalized for coming to the aid of a fellow in need, what less are we teaching them? [1]
> It's set up to let the school wash their hands of any responsibility, but without having to have an uncomfortable "Your kid is an asshole who keeps starting fights" / "My kid is a perfect angel and I'm suing you for suspending him" conversation.
> It's not designed to solve the victim's problem, it's designed to make it not the school's problem.
Bingo. That's the issue with a lot of these so called solutions to social problems. They only solve the legal problems of the org where they're taking place.
[1]: Spoiler: The lesson is don't get involved in other people's problems.