As many students know, there were some new rules established here at PHS, but are they all fair? I conducted a survey of 60 students, from all grades, to get their opinion based on one new rule in particular, no outside containers allowed in at home games. There is a lot of controversy on this topic. The school put this rule in place because students were making poor decisions, so they thought this would be the best solution. Is it the best solution? Many students say no. Many students also agree that concession prices are too much, and most teenagers don’t carry cash.

One of the questions I asked was, if you could change one thing about this rule, what would it be? Many students answered having clear bottles, having our bottles checked just like our backpacks are, being allowed to have unopened containers in the game, give athletes some leniency after games, and why don’t we just have free water at football games? This is all some good student feedback that could help revise the rule. It would be so much easier to just to bring a refillable water bottle to the game.

The rule only applies for students as well, so parents could bring something into the game and just give it to their kid, that’s how a lot of students don’t follow the rule. So, there are loopholes to the rule. Another rule that follows this is that once you enter the game, you can’t get back in. This was established at the same time. To most students this rule is a little over the top. What if we forget something in our car and absolutely need it?

Should students have some say in the new rules put in at PHS? Maybe we should revise this rule and have some student opinion on it? I feel that students could have a huge impact on the rules if we were allowed to share how we feel. An idea we could possibly take advantage of is Principal’s Advisory. This is an efficient way to discuss a problem or topic and we can address it there. I’m sure many students don’t want to do that, or maybe there are more students who agree with it more than what I just surveyed. We won’t know unless more students speak up.

Banning one thing is not going to solve anything. There are always those students who won’t follow the rules and do what they want. No matter how hard we try to apply new rules, not all students agree or follow them.