Kristin's+essay

As a senior at North Kingstown High School, I have dealt with the current lunch policy for four years. Although I am aware of the fact that many seniors have dealt with it before me, but I for one think it is time for a change. For years senior privileges have been taken away because of classes before us. Now it is time for us to regain our privileges. I’m not asking for something old; I’m talking about something new. Next year the seniors will be starting the next step in their lives, be it college or entering the work force. We will be embarking on new responsibilities and the harsh realities of life. We are asking that we start this step early, to prepare for what lays ahead. For many adults this issue may not seem important, but to seniors it is everything. We would like to be given the privilege of leaving the school during our lunch period. By receiving this privilege we are preparing ourselves for what lays ahead. You would be giving us the experience of what it is like to be live in the outside world. This issue came about during a senior seminar class when we were discussing how our senior week has become less of what it used to be. We were realizing how unprepared we were for next year. Leaving has never been an issue before, but with today’s economy it seems like letting the seniors leave would make sense. By keeping seniors in the school, trash is left in the hallways, more lunch needs to be made which in turn costs the town more money, and the kids are crammed into a 22 minute lunch period where they need to some how eat lunch. Everyone in the school is affected from the janitors to the students. For many adulthood is right around the corner; yet they still want to treat us as kids. There are two major viewpoints that we encountered as we interviewed various officials within our school about our project and what we were trying to accomplish. It seemed that the administrators were either 'for' our project or 'against' it. One of our avid supporters seemed to be our principal himself. From an interview conducted by three members of our group, the findings were that, although he recognized that some concerns would be raised by this project, it was a symbol of change. An idea which he seemed to welcome within his school system. Also, the idea of the responsibility and time management skills that would be gained from this experience and indulgence would greatly help us cope with life in the real world, he agreed. On the opposite side, one of our assistant principals seemed very against the idea of seniors being allowed to leave during lunches. Another three students from our group interviewed this assistant principal and our findings were much different than those who interviewed Foley. Safety seemed the biggest concern on the 'against' side. Even if students had parent permission to leave school grounds during lunch hours, the school would still be responsible for the child. Also, the general feeling was that changing the policy simply wasn't necessary. One assistant principal said something along the lines of, we provide the students of this school with good food, friendship, a good amount of time to themselves. Why change? What more do they need? While his concerns were valid, I thought high school was supposed to be preparing us for the “real” world. What does this say? For my own personal opinion, I am in favor of extending the policy. I understand that one’s initial reaction is “of course you are; you are just a kid. What do you know?” But by this time next year I am going to be off on my own, be responsible for me. There isn’t going to be anyone hanging over my shoulder to make sure I make it to class or do my laundry. It’s going to be all up to me. In high school I’m not forced to take responsibility in any major way. In order to work this project and help it go somewhere, my group is focusing on changing this rule to allow senior with cars to leave during lunches. In order to do this, the lunch schedule will have to be changed back to a 3-lunch schedule, which one of our interviewee's pointed out was how the lunches were set up before our school was re-built into the model it is now. Allowing seniors to leave would create less chaos in the lunch rooms as well as give seniors a greater sense of freedom and teach time restrictions. In conclusion, while there are both pros and cons to this proposal, I believe that the pros out way the cons. Our group will continue to work on moving forward with our plan to change the privileges offered to seniors, specifically allowing those seniors with cars to leave during lunch and eat lunch in the town. This will often be the way lunch and free times are spent in college so why not prepare students now by giving then this freedom? Making it an only-senior privilege only makes sense: seniors dominate the parking lots and seniors only have on year left. Even our activities director agrees that seniors should have more privileges in our school other than being allowed parking spots, which the juniors also have, and being allowed to sit outside or one a bench in the spine during lunches. Seniors are one-step away from freedom-filled college. Shouldn't the school be giving them more of a taste of this freedom? College is an overwhelming experience as it is. Why not help us ease into this transition and give us some more freedom?