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“Walk on the right side of the hall,” “Put your mask on,” and “Use the right stairs” are probably common phrases you hear from your teachers every day. Often students disregard the rules and an extended summer due to the COVID-19 shutdown in March may be to blame. Some say it is the teacher’s job to enforce the rules, while others like staff member Kerry Naylor say that students should “police themselves.” I believe that an extreme enforcement of the rules is not necessary for a school environment because it would create a stressful and hostile environment. 

Students are already stressed with classes and homework, and our current situation with COVID-19 adds another layer of anxiety. Senior Joe Dorminy says: “I think rules that are not COVID-related do not need to be more enforced.” Dorminy has lots of work to get done from his classes, and taking Coronavirus into account is another duty. A fellow senior, Jake Bollinger, says: “This year is already difficult as it is, and people are still struggling with the guidelines and rules already in place. Strict enforcement would cause more harm than good.” Harsh enforcement would only add another level of pressure to classes and put stress on students.

With strict principles, students would not be able to operate with comfort and a tense environment would be created. An experiment was conducted to see how well students would take a quiz with strict rules and another was taken with no rules. The first experiment with strict rules resulted in a 60%, while the quiz with no rules resulted in a 100%. The UCLA’s Center for Civil Rights Remedies conducted a study that looked at discipline data at 95,000 public schools. Their research had found that discipline is a strong indicator that students will eventually drop out, and students that drop out are much more likely to end up in prison. The researchers call this the “school to prison pipeline.”

Conclusively, school ordinances should not be more enforced because it would create a stressful environment. Students are already responsible for homework and keeping up with their classes, and harsh enforcement would only pressure students instead of getting results. And with COVID in effect, students are already cautious of their surroundings.