After lunch colored wrappers, leftover banana peels, and streaks of ketchup are scattered across tables and crumpled on the floors. A mess that students have left without an afterthought of who might be cleaning it up. 

School is so much more than grades… at least it should be. As you go through years of school not only are you learning Science, English, and Math, but you are also learning how to be part of a community.

As a student you spend approximately 35 hours a week inside of the school building and not being a respectful part of the community isn’t going to make it easier to get through the day. 

There are certain expectations that you are held to not by administrators or teachers but by your peers. Freshman Finley Blankenship says, “Always pay attention in class, do all your work, and treat others how you want to be treated.” This is the basis of what you should be doing as a part of the school community. 

But students have seemed to have forgotten this “golden rule” and only look out for themselves. “I set a good example by cleaning up after myself. Others shouldn’t have to do that, it’s my mess,” junior Talia Valdez details. But, a messy hallway is just the start of the pattern of disrespect from students. 

The bathrooms are plastered with the thick smell of fruity pebbles and marijuana, and walking into a stall is like walking into a biohazard. A student should be able to use the restroom without a cloud of smoke being blown into their face. Valdez adds, “Go to the bathroom to go to the bathroom. They shouldn’t be used for other reasons.”

Doing drugs at school is not only incredibly bad for your health, but a blatant disregard of respect for your peers and others that have to walk through the stench.

Students wouldn’t do these things in front of adults and they should be held to the same expectations in front of their peers. School should be a place where, as a student, you should feel safe, respected, and comfortable; But, instead, it has become a place where you can’t walk down the hallway without tripping over garbage and running into smoke. 

Showing respect for your peers doesn’t make you less cool or respected, but actually the opposite. “Get involved with your school, be kind to people, and be a good influence to others,” freshman Sophia Vega remarked. 

Being a part of a school means being a part of a community, which seems like something students don’t know how to do.