School Governance

              The student handbook contains a section in the front that holds the rules, regulations, and general proceedings of the school day.  I think I skimmed the pages once when I first got a handbook, freshman year, and then few times since to see if something I’d gotten yelled at for was in there or to see what times the bells were.  I just didn’t see the relevance in looking over it.  It didn’t apply to me, right?

            I was so wrong, it applies to everything I do, I just didn’t realize it until I looked over it again this year.  It holds codes of conduct, rules and times and proceedings for everything that happens at the school, which I dedicate a majority of my life to at this point in time.  It’s not only relevant, it’s importantly so.

            I think the reason I didn’t realize earlier, is that because the vast majority of the rules are common sense things.  Don’t bring knives to school because it scares people.  Don’t show up to class late because it causes hassle for the teacher and other students.  Come to school when you’re not contagious because it’s hard to learn when you’re not there.  It hadn’t occurred to me that some people needed these things spelled out for them.

            But, I think that might be the point.  If the rules are there for the good of everyone, we shouldn’t have to think about them, they should just be.  Be for the sake of creating that structure around everyone.  I definitely think that that’s the idea the political thinkers had had when they were structuralizing the idea of a government.  They were trying to get the world to have common sense and civility.

            I don’t think the school policy needs to be changed, to be honest.  It gives us general freedom to an appropriate extent.  It makes certain people feel safe from harm and doesn’t hinder those who aren’t concerned by things like that too much.  It works for the school without too much hassle, which is good enough for me.

Author's Note

we had to write an editorial for my civics class on our school governance.