“Life is a game that one plays according to the rules,” said author J.D. Salinger. Life, like a game, encompasses certain guidelines and principles that individuals are expected to adhere to. Just as in a game, abiding by these rules in life can lead to a more fulfilling experience. Choosing to follow the rules is a matter of personal discretion, but disregarding them entails potential consequences at your own peril.
The purpose of these rules in a classroom is to maintain students’ focus while teachers teach and safeguard them from potential harm. Students decide to rebel against these rules because they either simply don’t agree with them or forget about them since they are so new and have yet to become a habit.
While the prohibition of phones out in class has long been a standard rule in North High classrooms, this year, there has been an increased emphasis on the reinforcement of this rule. Collectively, the school added a phone bag, hanging on a wall in every classroom.
Students are expected to put their phones in their assigned pocket of the phone bag as they are walking into class. If they refuse to do so, a teacher could punish them by giving them detention, in-school suspension, or another form of reasonable punishment of the teacher’s choice.
Many students have faced several issues with the recently implemented rule for various reasons. One particular problem they face is the tendency to go get their phone at the end of the class period. For example, a student retrieving their phone from their second-period class, adds to the many excuses as to why they might ask to leave their third-period class.
Another concern students have encountered is the increased difficulty of reaching their next class on time, particularly when everyone rushes to retrieve their phones from the designated phone bag as the bell rings. Some ways to get around this problem include teachers ending class a minute early or extending the passing time in between periods.
Other students find the phone bag pointless and believe it should be optional.
“The rule was put there so we don’t use our phones in class, but not everyone did use their phones even before the rule,” said freshman Tory Flood.
Flood argues that most students did not use their phones in class and if they did it was only hurting their own learning, not anyone else’s.
Further, the attendance policy has also been changed. This policy has been updated to avoid excessive absences of a class. After 28 days of absences in a quarter, students become ineligible to get credit for that course.
“I don’t like the new attendance policy because it seems unnecessary and adds undue stress,” said sophomore Ben Salamatbad. Students feel that the policy makes sense to have, but doesn’t apply to most of them.
Lastly, wearing ID cards around your neck has been highly stressed this year. For most students, it has not yet become a habit to put it around their necks when roaming the halls, but hopefully, it will. Moreover, forgetting your ID card twice a week results in detention.
Wearing the ID card is strictly for the safety of our school. “We need to know if someone in the school actually belongs in the school…it is not meant to feel like a prison,” said security guard Paul.
As circumstances change and new challenges arise, the rules may require adjustments and needed modifications. The rules are not set in stone but are subject to change and adapt over time. When people voice their concerns and offer suggestions for improvement, it can lead to a more responsive and fair rule-making process.
