Rules, rules, rules. Life is already full of rules, especially for the youth. Rules at school, rules at home. It's all inescapable. And nowadays parents love to get in on complaining about school rules too, not just just the students. See, sometimes the rules prove to be a hindrance to the entire family. Then things start to get real... real quick.
Don't Peek
schitts creek wtf GIF by CBCGiphyTook all the doors off the men's room bathroom stalls because of vandalism for 2 months.
Scanned
School added thumb print scanners at gates of school which counted as registration - needless to say I would just walk to school scan my thumb and walk back home with them none the wiser. Was a great few months until they noticed.
Age of Empires...
Conservative Christian College. A group of us played Age of Empires one weekend. They didn't like it and called a meeting. Everyone involved got misdemeanors on their records. There was nothing in the handbook about it being against the rules. The only person that didn't get any punishment was the son of the president even though he was just as involved as the rest of us.
"Genius"
In my freshman year of high school we had a terrible vandalism problem, the bathrooms would be broken in various ways almost constantly. In a stroke of pure genius, the staff decided that any bathroom that was vandalized would be closed for the week on first offense, the quarter for second, and permanently on the third offense.
They took back the rule after closing every bathroom on day one.
Was quite interesting explaining the write up on my record when I transferred. "You got a misdemeanor for what?!"
Edit: they made it a rule after the fact and did this several other times with things such as nail polish or radio control helicopters.
Is this Footloose?
kevin bacon dancing GIF by STARZGiphyProm was a mandatory lockdown for the night in order to avoid students going to parties after prom.
Prom was held at various house parties across town instead.
That is a lot of over reach. You can't control where kids will go, and what they will do once they've left the building. You should dance everywhere for prom. I get some of these situations, vandals are a problem but when does a solution go from solution, to impeding on privacy and freedom? I'm glad I'm graduated. Keep reading, you will be too.
HOLDEN FOREVER!!!
My high school mascot was Daniel Boone holding a musket. A kid wore a Guns 'n Roses shirt to school and was told he had to change shirts because of the pistols on the shirt. He pointed out the hypocrisy of the school mascot and they changed EVERYTHING. The mascot was switched to holding a flag pole instead.
Every instance of the mascot was changed from the multiple signs outside and around the school to the giant picture in the middle of our basketball stadium. Holden, you're a freaking legend for this.
No Dots
You couldn't wear ANY kind of head items that were "gang colours" (red or blue) - this No included hair bands, scrunchies, beads in your hair, ribbons - ANYTHING. I got in trouble for wearing a blue hair band with white polka dots.
Clothes Check
We had to wear belts. Someone snitched that people weren't wearing belts under their sweaters, and they actually checked and a bunch of people got detentions. Stupid.
We had belt raids at my school where the dean would burst into classes, completely interrupting any education, to check that everyone was wearing a belt.
Chase the Flat
We weren't allowed to play tag football at lunch, only frisbee. When I asked the principal what the difference was, he responded with a sarcastic tone, "A football is round and a frisbee is a flat disk."
He left the school later that year, went to another school, and a few years later was brought up on charges for failing to report the abuse of a student by a teacher.
Poke-Thief
hotline bling pokemon GIFGiphyPokemon cards got banned in middle school because someone stole the vice principal's kid's cards. Yep.
In the Face...
If you were involved in a fight, you got suspended. While it sounds reasonable, context didn't matter.
I got suspended once not for throwing a single punch, kick, whatever. I got suspended because someone knocked the books out of my hand and when I reached down to grab them they punched me in the face.
I got suspended for walking down the hallway and unprovoked getting punched in the face.
Forget Brandon Valley Middle School.
Rules are essential, I totally get it. But maybe it's time to come to the table and invite more voices to sit in when the ideas are being crafted. Education is, and should be, a collaborative effort.
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