Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Mundelein High School you suck


A letter came to our house the other day from the principal of Mundelein High School. It talked about the harsh punishments that will be meted out for those who break the rules. Included among the penalties are:
  • One or more days of out-of-school suspension
  • Revoking of the privilege to attend the Homecoming dance
  • Loss of privileges (such as the ability to drive to school) for the remainder of this term and all of the next

So what is the heinous crime that is bringing down such harsh retribution? Is it selling drugs in the hallway? Distributing child pornography? Threatening a teacher in the classroom? ANNNNGHH! None of the above. It's wearing the color that in past years was assigned to your class for a tradition known as "Color Wars."


No, I'm not kidding. In years past, each class was assigned a color, and competed to show which class had the most school spirit. Apparently, however, some students would take it a little far, spray painting cars and school property, and creating a mess that would have to be cleaned up. Imagine that -- a bunch of high school kids going a little wild.


My favorite part of the whole letter was this reason given for the extreme action: "Finally, many students expressed fear about coming to school and walking to and from their classes that day because of the chaotic environment in the building." What? Are you serious? Many students felt that way? Define many. Was it half the student population? One quarter? One one-hundredth? I doubt it. Probably more like one or two, and my guess is those kids feel threatened every day for a variety of reasons.


Now, if you want to come down heavily on people who break the rules of decency by spray painting the halls or otherwise destroying property or causing harm, I have no problem with that. But it sure seems like this ruling is going way too far the other way. To actually suspend students simply for wearing a particular color is just ridiculous.


Here's a suggestion: crack down on kids dealing drugs, stealing personal possessions out of the locker room and breaking other actual laws. Leave the kids who just want to show a little school spirit alone. MHS administration, you suck.

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