At the beginning of the 2017-18 school year, there were some new rules and adjustments to the everyday routines of going to school. Some of these newly implemented regulations are not exactly popular. What I am talking about, of course, is not being able to go to the bathroom, locker, water fountain, et cetera, without being pestered by teachers asking your destination or from where you are coming. At the beginning of the 2017-18 school year, there were some new rules and adjustments to the everyday routines of going to school. Some of these newly implemented regulations are not exactly popular. What I am talking about, of course, is not being able to go to the bathroom, locker, water fountain, et cetera, without being pestered by teachers asking your destination or from where you are coming.

This was not the case last year, or in any other past years during my tenure as a student at this school. The student body could once walk in the halls in peace without being bothered. That is no longer the case. While I understand the goal and purpose of trying to crack down on students wandering the hallways, such students who wander are a minority ruining it for the rest of us.

Even still, it is the student’s choice whether s/he decides to miss class time. It affects the person, not the school or the teachers. Cutting classes is obviously not a wise decision, as students lose valuable class time which may affect their potential grades on tests or quizzes, but once again, it is up to the student.  Most students would be diligent enough to figure out if they have missed something.

The entire student body should not be punished because some people wander the hallways on occasion. In my own experience, as someone who doesn’t leave to go to the bathroom often, it is extremely annoying being asked where I am going by teachers, especially ones who do not even know my name. This is even worse when you are trying to return to where you were, being asked again, by the same teacher, where you are headed.

The students at West Milford High School are quite mature enough to leave their classrooms without being questioned. No elementary schools do this; Macopin Middle School does not either. Colleges and Universities, that many students will be headed to i

n a very short time, certainly do not  hassle students when outside of their classrooms or in the hallways. It is honestly insulting, that as young adults, we  cannot travel freely without being stopped multiple times. Hopefully this newly instituted policy will not last very long.