Starting my senior year at C.K. McClatchy High School has been nothing but fun, engaging, and full of commitment and stability.
However, for some kids who enrolled this year, it has been a bit difficult to adjust to the new rules. This year I have seen it become way stricter and sadly more complicated than it needs to be. From the Bathroom policy, Inhumane expectations, and effects on the well-being of students, here I will announce what to expect.
Like most High Schools we all are familiar with the policies for being late during the first bell or period, but it has gotten to be more impossible to roll with it with the rules. Schools nowadays seem to not understand the true reasons why children can’t make days on time, being from neighborhoods far away from the school, transportation issues, or even household issues. It can all affect the way we get to school.
Now, as a new part of the policy in the system, the school requires “Tardy” kids to visit the side of the school and be cited a red pass and to wait in the auditorium for the remainder of the period. This is to make sure they are not intrusive towards classes in session, but in my opinion, this seems to be the most backward way to approach the issue and fails in making children more prepared for next time.
Furthermore, we look at the Issue with the bathroom policy. According to vinmec.com, “Doctors recommend emptying the bladder often, about every three hours. But we all know there are circumstances in which it is not possible to do this often. While delaying urinating for an hour or two won’t pose any threat to your health, you can harm your body by holding it in for too long or forming a habit.” So when you have to wait for the 10-minute policy or can’t make a quick stop to the bathroom due to kids hot boxing it in the stalls, it becomes an inconvenience.
Especially from my perspective of having to hold it for long periods of the day, and still not being able to exit to relieve my duties. When my educators ask me “Why couldn’t you go during the
passing period?” I get a wave of frustration and the urge to just use the classroom sink as a urinal.
I can understand what they have to do in order to keep their jobs, follow the rules, and be nothing but a lever in the system of the district. But if they want to educate us about real-world differences, reflections, and morality. Then why does my bladder have to be inflamed just to go to the same set of inhumane conditions and rules?
In addition, we have just gotten out of a pandemic. And the fact the male gendered bathroom has no soap to clean our hands? That clearly explains why most kids are getting sick all of a sudden, and thus the absences are peaking higher in numbers.
I have had many great experiences with this school. I was always passionate about getting good grades and getting work done, but I just never felt good about the conditions and rules they make us have to follow. And overall, it’s just unnecessary to keep this going. Moreover, in my opinion the school is right about the cell phone policy, and millions of other people would agree with me.
School is a place where everyone should be doing something. It is more or less an industrial workplace of progress and testing. And I agree that the issue of kids and their cell phones causes a disruption with staying on task and paying attention, but I think we can do better when it comes to making kids understand why it is important and respectful to keep your phone off during a lecture. I feel at this point the school has given up on trying to make kids pay attention and keep their cell phones off. I don’t think taking someone’s personal property sets a good example of why phones are bad to have at school.
Returning to the bathrooms and the condition of the school, according to California Code, Education Code – EDC § 35292.5 “Every restroom shall at all times be maintained and cleaned regularly, fully operational and stocked at all times with toilet paper, soap, and paper towels or functional hand dryers.” And yet every morning I arrive at McClatchy, the school’s bathrooms are nothing but disgusting, they’re never functional, and the scarcity of soap for washing hands continues. Schools (Especially with how many kids go to McClatchy) need to be a safe, clean and a humane environment for our children and their future.
In addition, this year I have seen that along with there being no soap in the bathrooms, the faucets are also not operational. It won’t release water and the mechanism for the faucet itself is broken. Now I personally do not believe that some devious acts of sophomore “tomfoolery” was involved but more or less the actual facility itself. It didn’t look like it was smashed or the pipe was ripped off but maybe something that has to do with the water system in the school.
I want to also look at the psyche of the modern day hard working student at C.K. Mcclatchy.
First things first, High school is not an easy part of life to begin with, but schoolwork can be very intense sometimes. More or less inconvenient and not educational. As a senior, I recall my sophomore year being the most troubling for my mental health due to my overwhelming amount of work I had to finish to move on, and having the fear of becoming a super senior.
So as a student here it shouldn’t have to be hard to work in Art or any kind of electives, but the math teachers at the school honestly are not great with dealing with kids. I recall when I was in a math class and seeing mine and others’ grades plummet even though I was trying my hardest, I just didn’t seem to make any progress.
To that, I think homework is just outdated and something to make kids feel better about themselves in math should be more priority for the school. Making tons of homework for kids to do is not how development for a human being’s brain works. Not being able to fulfill outside-of-school hobbies, family, work or even achieving big stepping stones in life is a common issue for kids nowadays. Perhaps it’s the reason why most kids take summer school and flunk the classes because of how useless and hopeless it can feel to work on nothing but homework and studying.
In conclusion, I don’t want people who read this article to feel this school is a lost cause. C.K. McClatchy High School is one of the best schools in the whole city in my opinion and it’ll always have its flaws. Like every other school in the district. I want this to be a message for kids to speak up, and not have to deal with the same regulations, and I want parents, teenagers and faculty to read up and to understand what to expect.
To leave this on a good note, I have had the funniest and most memorable times here and before I graduate this year I want to improve this school to make it better than last year and the years before. I don’t want kids to have to deal with the same thing over and over again. The system of education is already a 300 year old, outdated system and it is up to us as a community to change it and make better decisions for our children’s development in becoming an outstanding citizen.
Final word: To any students reading this article and are just as annoyed with children vaping in the bathrooms and not having clean stalls to do business in, I humbly recommended sneaking into the bathroom near the math hall. It is the faculty bathroom to the right of the first hallway near the entrance. It has soap, and a functional faucet so come visit it if you can.