They tell us to act like adults, to make conscious decisions and prepare for the real world. They lecture and nag about our apparent “obstinance” till we’re both blue in the face. They exceed in pointing out our faults and call it “real world treatment”. When all along, they’ve been treating us like children…

One would think that with today’s liberal mindedness and demand for everyone’s satisfaction without remittance, it wouldn’t be a huge deal to bend the rules a bit. But, one would be thinking impractically… No, in high school especially, there is no leeway. They crack down hard if even the slightest stipulation is opposed. Even when there is a reasonable explanation for such an opposition, they don’t lose any ground. They’re quick to discipline and strict on implementation of punishment.

To a degree, they are doing their job and it is to their own discretion to come up with the severity of reprimand. But it’s hypocritical the way they prepare us for adulthood one day, then punish us for not following ridiculous regulations the next. How are we ever supposed to gain the sense of being an adult if they insist upon treating us like children? When in high school, there are obvious reasons to have certain mandates and rules to keep students in line, that I atest to. But when these rules are no different or are no less austere as when we were children, can they really say they’re “preparing us for adulthood”?

For example, it’s absurd that students are forbidden from bringing over-the-counter medicine to

school. It’s one thing if the students are handing these drugs out to their peers. But when it’s possible for a ten-year old to go to the same store and purchase the same drugs with no restriction, is it really necessary to ban us from bringing them for our own personal use? Prescription drugs are a slightly different matter. They should have more regulation but not to the point where a student has to go to the office and take it at a designated time (unless the doctor so tells them). It’s the student’s responsibility to take the medication and if they really want us to act like adults, they need to let us assume responsibility.

High school is the final step before we’re thrown into adulthood. How can they lecture about us becoming adults if they are the ones withholding the rights of adults from us? This is the source of the issue in our society, there is no middle ground between child and adult, or at least not that anyone will allow us. We go from ‘no phones during class’ and ‘no food outside the cafeteria’, to complete independency where your choice is the final choice. It’s time we were allowed the independence we need if they are to continue rebuking us for these “shortcomings”.