Zero tolerance policies have become the easy way out — for schools and companies. You can’t possess drugs (of any kind), engage in harassment, or bring weapons to school or work. To avoid any appearance of bias, all discretion is taken from school administrators and human resources professionals. So, a student or employee who violates the policy is suspended or fired.

As reported by the New York Times, a zero tolerance policy against bringing weapons to school in Delaware demonstrates that such policies aren’t easy at all. They’re stupid.

A six-year-old student brought his new Cub Scout camping tool to show off at school. The tool was a combination spoon, fork and knife. Whamo! The kid is suspended and sentenced to 45 days in the school district’s reform school in accordance with the zero tolerance weapons policy.

This policy has also resulted in the suspension of a student whose grandmother sent a knife to school with a birthday cake. Another student was suspended for using a utility knife to cut out windows in a paper house. Why not jail the grandmother? Why not forbid the source of paper cuts?

Some employers have also gone the way of zero tolerance. It levels the playing field. It eliminates bias. Why, it solves workplace problems that once seemed insoluble.

Do you think for a minute that the six-year-old child or grandchild of a Delaware big dog would have been suspended because he brought a Cub Scout camping tool to school? Do you think the CEO is going to be disciplined for harassment (or anything else) in the same manner as a front-line supervisor?

But consistency isn’t the real issue. People aren’t robots. One size doesn’t fit all. Common sense still makes sense. Supervisors — at school or work — are paid to have discretion and to use it wisely. A zero tolerance policy or system provides a sense of security that’s so false as to be a lie.