“Why can’t we go out for lunch? We can’t trust you guys to come back.”
This answer always bothered me throughout my recent high school years. I was always discouraged by the fact that I couldn’t grab food with my friends. My highschool happened to have a high graduation rate of around 90 percent. Clearly the students cared about their education. I viewed this as a clear example of ageism. The youth is meant to lead the next generation. How can we do so if limitations like this are in place due to a simple fact of our age.
To rebel against this condascending rule I would either leave for lunch or just skip class. it made me feel like I did have the option to leave. Although in doing so I would just hurt myself by adding abscenses to my record. This was not an ideal way of challenging this rule. Eventually I realized it was best to embrace this rule. There was truly no way of avoiding this without hurting myself. Looking back I still realize how unfair this rule was. I do not regret defying the rule. As it helped me acknowledge what was most important. In life your priorties come before pleasure.
Hey Andrew, I totally get what you’re saying. I had the same problem too in high school, and it was super frustrating when rules felt like they were taking away our freedom, even though most of us were responsible and cared about school. It did feel like a lack of trust, and I agree it seemed unfair. I also tried skipping class a few times to make a point, but I realized it just ended up hurting me in the long run. Sometimes, even if a rule seems dumb, it’s better to just follow it for your own good, even though it’s hard to accept. Maybe schools could find a way to give us more freedom based on responsibility instead of just age. Anyway, thanks for sharing, it got me thinking more about how these rules affect us in ways we don’t always see at first.
This was so real, Andrew. I too, felt as though sometimes certain school rules made were just made out of spite, ESPECIALLY when the whole grade would get affected, when really it was just a select group of people causing all the trouble. Those kind of impulsive emotions got to me too, and I’m glad to see someone feels the same way. I do think school systems should stop generalizing all types of student behavior and actively seek out what specifically is pulling the grade(s) down. I do believe in challenging something that seems unjust, but I agree maybe sometimes it just isn’t worth it the effort.
This is certainly a lesson and I think most students can relate to this.
NOW — if you were to take this forward, is this a defining event in your educational life? Who was the person who directed this answer to you? The principal? Was this a confrontation with an authority figure that happened daily? Was this the beginning of your being the student in the class who ALWAYS questioned authority? I am trying to find out if this was a transformative important event in your educational life? Or just something that happened and not so important. I am trying to help you decide if this is something to pursue further as the seed to a larger story.
Then you would need CSD concrete specific details. Who wwere your buddies standing with you when you had this conversation with Principal Smith (names and details?)? Did this conversation happen in the hallway or in the office? You will eventually create scene of this conversation — if you choose to go forward using this HW. As we study our class readings, RLW to analyze how writers create scenes and details.