Rules permeate every aspect of modern life. The job of enforcing those rules is rarely easy, especially if the rules have never been enforced before. Sometimes that process can become a battle of wills.

It appears that such a battle has begun between the administrators at the Natchez-Adams School District and a tiny percentage of the district’s students bent on causing problems.

We completely support the school’s new &uot;no tolerance&uot; policy in dealing with unruly, violent students.

The policy is simply – obey the rules or go somewhere else.

Violence isn’t tolerated by the administration. Students who choose to be violent or who make threats of violence are arrested.

It seems a bit harsh at first, but the administration has to do something to keep a handful of students from ruining the education of hundreds.

Our public school system is in some ways a microcosm of our world. The majority of people in the world are good and honest. And our schools are filled with hundreds of students. It’s only the few that cause problems that garner lots of attention.

Now as we enter the fourth week of school, we hope the students and, more important, their parents realize that misbehavior will not be tolerated.

Our schools have one focus – give our children the best education possible.

And anything that clouds that focus – like constant disruptions from unruly behavior or threats of the same – must not be allowed to continue.