Zero Tolerance - The LA Times shows the struggle that a suburban family...just like you and me!...went through with their school district as a result of a bread knife accidentally being left in their son's car.

I fell victim to a zero tolerance policy my freshman year of high school. I distractedly allowed a neighbor to borrow my homework to "compare his answers" right before the bell rang. I didn't really think anything of it, and didn't have any malicious intent, but the teacher caught him copying the answers and turned us both in for cheating, regardless of intent. However, the administration didn't quite see things the same way...here was a teacher carrying out the letter of the law, without thinking about circumstances.

Should there be a room for extenuating circumstances? How do you deal with the fact that actual cheating is prevalent on campuses, but that very few people are actually caught? Does a zero tolerance punishments have any meaning if there was no intent to violate a policy?