Monday through Friday, 8 A.M. to 3:05 P.M., five days a week, I am not in control of how my time and energy is spent. When I wake up, I am expected to dress myself according to what school officials believe is “appropriate”, so that their students won't be distracted right? I think students would be just as distracted if I wear full sweats, looking like a hobo, in the middle of August. School dress codes are arguably just another way in which women are discriminated against. 

When you pull up to the school, you are to park in a designated area according to a useless “parking tag” that is a sad excuse to raise money for the football team and nothing else. Yes, you have to pay for parking at my school. 

     By 8:05 A.M you are to be seated in your class. If you are even one minute late, lets say, due to a badge malfunction, you are sent to the office for a tardy slip. Every tardy after 3 tardies is a detention. You have to scan your ID badge at every door to enter the building, and if you lose this precious keycard, you are required to buy another. Yet another small but significant way the school leeches money out of their students. If you miss more than ten minutes of a class, you are counted absent for that entire class period, no matter if you were present for the rest of the 50 minute class. If you miss a day without a parent excusing you or due to a school event, then your absence is counted as “unexcused”. Every unexcused absence is a phone call from the principal to your parents. Six “unexcused” absences in a semester, according to the student handbook, credit for a specific course may be denied and your parents “shall be subject to a civil penalty as prescribed by law.” 

     You also cannot just simply leave the campus without getting into some serious trouble. According to educationrevolution.org, “Democratic and progressive schools have found that children are happier and learn better when they are free to come and go.” The school is covered with cameras that track your every move, and once noticed you are absent without an excuse, parents will be notified. The core curriculum is also a load of nonsense. We are taught what is required to pass a standardized test. So, we as students absorb what we need to pass, and only remember it long enough to take the test. “High schools are not preparing students with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel after graduation. Only 1 in 4 high school students graduate college-ready in the 4 core subjects of English, Reading, Math and Science” This quote is from DoSomething.org.

Basically, what I’m trying to get at is that the school need to teach students how to be independent, but all they are reaching portraying is how to box students in with excessive rules and regulations.