School Anarchy

United States
August 17, 2008 3:33am CST
Hi i got to a catholic school and we have pretty much no rights there. there are uniforms, hair codes, shoes codes, and any other sort of strict rule you can think of. The little calendar they give us says their is a non discrimination policy but then why can girls have long hair and guys cant? why can't guys have piercings? I have been the subject of this for my entire school career. And now as i approach my final year at this school, i have considered to do the one thing no one else has had the guts to do. I will take action, i will make a stand. I have always been something of the black sheep, i have friends but we are all into strange things. we are the computer geeks of the school. Our motto is that the majority isn't always a good thing, sometimes the majority just means all the fools are on the same side. i have been working up the case against the school for several years. I doubt i will be able to do anything to truly change the school but i might be able to stir up enough of a scandal to douse it's reputation. My forces will grow even more as more turn on to the cause. I am not suggesting violence, just to make that clear, i am just going to talk this out. words are a kids greatest weapon, and if heavily armed with knowledge they can make a difference. i have always prided myself with my ability to find loopholes in almost anything. My greatest asset will be the schools supposed "non discrimination policy". If this policy is true then i should be able to come into school in a dress with my ears pierced and hair that goes to my waist (not that i would want to). Which would mean the school has lied to everyone witch will lead to more and more visionaries like me ready to take the stand. What few students fail to grasp is that they have the power. In the schools are a handful of teachers and faulty and an army of students ready to begin the over throw of the school as soon as the order is given. Think about it, if there is a class with a bad teacher, just leave the class. With enough people leaving the room at once the lesson wont be able to go on. How will they get us back in the class. As soon as they lay so much as a hair on any one of us they are immediately guilty of assault and battery. They can not get us back into the room by force and with our strong wills they will not be able to convince us to get back in. Now the question is, what laws have we broken? Zero, nadda, zip, nill, none. If there is a presentation you don't want to attend simply don't go. The same logic applies to that as to before. with no control over the student the school will eventually collapse upon itself. And this is where my story ends. I hope that you know feel empowered by this article enough so that you will go out and make a difference in the world.
3 responses
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
17 Aug 08
First of all I want you to know that I graduated high school in 1973 so I am very familiar with the thoughts that you have about student revolutions. We, too, wanted to beat the *establishment* who told us what to do, how to act, how to think, etc. so don't think I'm coming down on you because I'm some old joker who doesn't have a clue. As for your situation, you attend a private school which your parents pay good money for you to attend, I imagine so that you can receive a better education than they believe you would receive in public school. Private schools, like private clubs, can dictate the behavior of those who belong. They can dictate dress codes and any other codes they choose and the consumer market will dictate whether these codes stand. Make them unreasonable to the consumer (the parents in your case) and the school has no customers...students. Non discrimination does not apply to dress codes, it applies to race, creed, color, etc. The school is well within its rights to establish a dress code for males and a separate one for females so you will not win this argument. The debate over dress codes at both private and public schools has been going on for generations and has not been won because the schools are permitted to establish standards that the students are required to follow. As far as a mass walk out goes...been there, done that, was arrested and suspended for it more than once as well as grounded by my parents so let me save you some grief. You're correct that the school staff cannot lay hands on you and your fellow rebels if you stage a walk out but, what they can do is have law enforcement come to the school to remove you and charge you with disorderly conduct for disrupting class and interfering with the other students' ability to get the education their parents are paying for. The school can also suspend you so your parents will be paying their hard earned money for you to sit on your butt at home. The school will not be overthrown, it will continue to function, control will only be lost for as long as it takes for law enforcement to arrive, the majority of the student body will not participate in the revolution so the school will not collapse upon itself. But, you could spend quite a while in hot water with your parents. Since you're a senior this year my suggestion to you is to stop trying to buck the system, to use the advantage you have by attending a private school to get into a good college and to concentrate on framing the groundwork for whatever it is that you want to do with your future by getting a good education. You're only in high school for four years, you will be in the adult workforce for about 50 years so, you tell me, which is more important...a high school revolution that will fail to produce any results or your future?
1 person likes this
• Philippines
17 Aug 08
Hi! I too went to a Catholic school and they also enforced the same things. I don't think they enforced those rules for nothing. Maybe there's something in their mind that only they understand and they think that is good for their students and their school's image. Maybe you could try asking them that so you can understand or if you think their reason is nonsense then it is up to you. I think it is discipline and professionalism that they would want the students to learn. There's this "ideal" type of student / person that could be in their mind. I don't know if most Catholic schools do that since I've only been into one but I think it's because the school is governed, aside from common school rules, with religious concepts and conservative ideals. If you didn't like those rules, maybe you should have chosen a school that didn't have them. The approach of a Catholic educational institution is to educate their students in an integral way most especially: physical, mental (academic excellence), social (more of charity work), moral, spiritual, etc. Discipline (all those rules they made) is included in one of these aspects.
17 Aug 08
I would just like to tell you that " for healthy life you'll have to have the bitter medicines" ...... thats all I want to tell you....
3 Sep 08
You sound like a smart kid - no doubt helped by a quality education, although you seem to be decrying it now. I'm going to break something to you - wherever you want to get in life, there will be rules, regulations, spaces for negotiation but only in rare occasions will you get props for turning the establishment upside down. It is hardly 'visionary' to realise that you outnumber the teachers. It is definitely not visionary to fail to realise that most schools, let alone Catholic schools, have rules, regulations and some sort of dress code. You're in your final year. Just suck it up and save your wrath for the things that matter. There'll be plenty of opportunity to make a difference in the future - just don't ruin your future by making mistakes now.