While students in different grades at Sequoia have various classroom rules around phones, tardies, bathroom rules, and behavior, there are also some that stay consistent throughout all grades.
Students are maturing every minute of their lives, preparing them for the world beyond the current rules given by their teachers and guardians. As students gain more experience, they are given more trust and freedom, and there are less rules they are required to abide by. Students and teachers both have different perspectives on what they believe the right amount of regulation for every grade should be.
At Sequoia, most teachers do not allow phone usage in class, students are not allowed to leave campus while school is in session and the number of bathroom uses per class. A new addition to the 2023-24 school year is the “Tardy Sweep”, where you must be in your class on time or you will be given detention, and teachers are required to lock their doors after the final bell rings.
Chase Wilson, a sophomore at Sequoia, believes that in his freshman year, students didn’t follow the rules as well as they were expected to. But by sophomore year, students listened to the rules and better understood their expectations. The rewards of their actions, Wilson said, was that the rules were less strict. Lots of students agree that rules should loosen their grip on students as they get older.
“All the seniors are pretty much adults at this point. It would be fine if we went off campus. For the freshmen, they’re pretty much kids. It would not really be appropriate for them to go off campus,” senior Holden Kowitt said.
Some students believe maturing affects their lives at school; some say that you can draw a line where students have grown enough to gain certain privileges at a certain age or grade, while others still need to grow.
“Sophomore year, there’s a lot of silly rules that don’t really do a lot. By senior year, they let you do whatever you do, as long as you pay attention during class,” Kowitt said.
As students advance throughout grades, they are able to make more choices for themselves and are given greater privileges.
On the other hand, teachers believe many of the rules are necessary for a more focused and productive school environment. For example, phones have become a big distraction to students and many teachers have formed negative opinions towards their use in classrooms.
“In my first three years teaching, I did allow phones in class and it just became a huge distraction,” freshman biology teacher Eve Kenyon said.
One big part of students gaining more freedom and having to follow less rules is trust. The more a student is trusted by the staff at their school, the more decisions that student can make themselves, and the more they are permitted to do.
“The rules got a lot more strict this year, I get that they want us to get to class on time, but it’s a lot to just put onto us and it’s kind of ridiculous,” senior Ellie Paul said.
This school year, many students are unhappy with the idea of harsher enforcement of rules. But treating each other with kindness is one rule that most students will agree on.
“The most important [rules are] just respecting other people, and respecting other people’s opinions,” Kowitt said.