Schools in the Knox County district have been enforcing the zero tolerance for bullying phrase for years now. What good has this actually done though? The teachers & principals always say there’s no tolerance for bullying, but they never follow through with what they say. As someone who has been bullied before, the Knox County Schools system did barely anything about it other than sit by and watch it happen. There have been kids bullied & the administration does not bat an eye at it. Why is that? They are supposedly for no bullying, why can’t they enforce the rules they create? Sure, there is less violence, but bullying comes in much more forms than your stereotypical movie violence bullying. It can go from just picking on you for small things constantly to assaulting you. That’s what schools fail to realize. Words do hurt kids and teens & do affect the way they think about themselves. Bullying can cause things like suicide or self harm to happen. Why aren’t the schools trying to prevent this? The zero tolerance policy does nothing to help. All it shows is that the school can say they are for no bullying, but they can turn around and act like nobody is getting hurt within their schools. Even when kids tell administration about being bullied, there’s a small chance anything will actually happen. Teachers and principals alike have forgotten that physically harming someone isn't the only form of harm there is. We need to get rid of the zero tolerance policy & actually put in resources to help kids being bullied. There need to be resources for kids more likely to be bullied, such as minority groups like LGBTQ+ kids, poc, people with disabilities, etc. Kids should be able to feel safe in school without worrying about getting bullied for who they are.