Everyday I walk down halls full of angry students looking for someone to blame.  From having their identification card scanned for being improperly worn to being told to take off a beanie, the angry and disenchanted refuse to accept responsibility for their own actions.

Administration is simply doing its job by enforcing school policy.  Dress codes and IDs exist in the workplace as well, and in all honesty, our dress code is very lax in comparison to what is seen in Buzzfeed’s “We Dress According to High School Dress Codes for a Week” videos.  I can wear jeans missing a quarter of the fabric on the front as long as my fingertips do not pass where the ripped portion is, yet students still become aggravated when they have to change into jeans that are not ripped up to their hips.  

According to the Constitutional Rights Foundation, dress codes can reduce acts of violence in schools.  If everyone looks relatively the same, in theory, students are less likely to be bullied, not as many gangs can easily identify one another through clothing items and fewer students would be a victim of theft because their Gucci jacket stands out.  On top of this, hats are not allowed because they block faces from the hallway security cameras.Our dress code is determined by the Comal Independent School District School Board, so it is unfair to be angry with administrators and teachers over a policy they have no control over.

IDs are being introduced into high schools around the country in response to the increasing number of school shootings.  Student IDs allow for easy identification of students and those not meant to be on campus, as well as allowing the opportunity for us to become more technology based, as we now use them to buy lunch or check out a library book.  Wearing IDs around your neck at school is not as big an inconvenience for students as it is for administration. Putting new rules in place means more work for administration. They have to enforce wearing IDs, staying in dress code, and attending Flexible Instruction Time sessions.

On top of administration, teachers get a large part of the blow.  When students become annoyed after getting in trouble for not following the rules, they tend to lash out at those around them.  As a teacher’s kid, I tend to hear a different perspective of how constant back-talk from students takes a toll on educators. From flinging pencils into the ceiling tiles to my strangest experience of freshman girls squeaking dog toys in the lower B wing bathroom, students make the lives of teachers miserable; they cannot sit down and follow directions.  These are skills that we learned in kindergarten, but for some reason unbeknownst to me, students have left all of their manners and respect in elementary school.

When my peers are caught not wearing their ID or out of dress code, they immediately take their heated opinions to private SnapChat stories.  By using offensive gestures and foul language, students lash out at assistant principals and teachers when they could simply accept that they are not blameless in these situations.

Students argue respect is earned, therefore the APs need to earn the respect of every student for them to comply with school policy, but that’s insane.  Seven administrators do not have the time or ability to “earn” the respect of more than 3,000 students, and they should not be expected to.

Rules are rules, and students should respect authority figures in school.  I don’t understand why students think there is weakness in owning up to a mistake.  Administration is not asking for an unreasonable amount of change to be made in the everyday lives of students.  

I have grown up in a household that shows respect to adults even if how I act is not a true representation of how I feel.  Respect should be automatically given to teachers and administration from students, because the power that students are granted in school is how they behave.  Students are not powerless; everyday they choose how to act.