Top 10 Most Pointless Rules in School
Holy crap, I feel bad for those kids who go to schools where they have to wear uniforms. I'm lucky I don't go to a uniform school because I like to express myself. I like to wear hoodies, jeans, pants, etc., and I DO NOT like to wear skirts (poor girls who have to wear skirts because it's part of their uniform). Also, I only wear dresses when it's a special occasion.
School uniforms limit self-expression. You can't really express yourself with school uniforms, and in some schools, even if you modify a teeny-tiny bit of your uniform, the teachers will yell at you for not "dressing properly". Oh yeah, also, I heard some schools only limit their students to wearing three colors only. That just sucks because I have a LOT of colorful clothes in my closet, and like I said, I like to express myself. I agree, school uniforms are pointless and limit self-expression.
One time, this girl in my class peed herself after being denied access to the bathroom. She didn't tell anybody, but after class, when she was walking through the hallway, everyone saw.
This is by far the stupidest rule I've ever heard. Even a couple of times when I've gone to the bathroom before class (and during the break) so I don't have to go during class, they still get upset at me for not telling them that I went to the bathroom during the break. And we only get like less than five minutes to get from one side of the school to the next (depending on where your classroom is). And it's literally a break between classes, which is a time to change classrooms, stretch your legs, get a drink of water, and go to the bathroom. So why do they get so upset when I don't tell them where I was when I come into the classroom? It's obvious that I either didn't have enough time to walk from one class to the next (since my school is big) before the bell rang or I went to the bathroom before class started so I didn't "disrupt" the class by asking to go during the lesson.
I'm not quite a martial arts expert, but having experienced bullying myself, I can say that, as horrible as it is, the absolute best strategy for self-defense is to stand your ground. Stare them down, show no fear. This intimidates bullies because they are insecure cowards who crave the feeling of power.
As soon as you revoke their ability to scare you, they'll collapse into a pathetic pile of nerves.
Aw man, this rule sucks. I remember this one time where I had a bully who constantly stalked me everywhere around school! This one time, I was going to the office for something I don't remember, and he was following me. While I was walking, he yanked my arm and pushed me to the ground.
I got up and pushed him really hard. A teacher saw this and then idiotically made me say sorry. We both stayed after school. After I got home, I talked to my dad about it, and he was super mad. The next day, I got 2 days ISS, and the bully did not get punished at all! I was so pissed. But he never bullied me again after that.
So, you want us to starve? Where are we going to get $500? From a bank? No! What if the family is poor? Would you still do this? This rule is nonsense.
In my county, if you have money, then you get a choice of which foods you want on the menu. If not, you would just get the combo. Why? Because here, law states that schools must give at least three food items to children during lunch. However, I do not know if it is the same in other places. They should really change it if the rule above applies. Parents will really complain.
So what used to happen at certain schools is you would get a sandwich if you didn't have money for lunch. Nothing gross, you would just get a sandwich of your choice and whatever sides you wanted. I thought this rule was a decent one.
My dad had this problem in school. He had low blood sugar, but back in the 50s, they didn't know that, and there was no snack time. He was so poor, he barely had any food to eat. So, instead of passing out, he would sneak some sweet potatoes that the kindly school lady would give to him, and he would eat when no one was looking.
It's a good thing these days they have a snack break for the younger grades.
This rule always gets me. I don't understand why some teachers don't let students eat in class. It's not like they make a huge mess.
I know for a fact that some people at my school don't even get lunch, so not letting students eat sounds pretty cruel if you ask me.
I wear beanies all the time because I like to express myself. Once, I was caught with a beanie at school, and a teacher saw me and decided to make me play a game called "Guess the staff!" It's basically where you have to identify a few staff members who have half of their faces obscured.
How am I supposed to know who staff members are? Furthermore, nobody covers half of their face with a hood, so don't tell me that it's a "safety precaution."
The staff at my school have a hate fetish for hats! There are students playing with condoms, doing drugs, and making out in the hallway, and all they worry about is hats!? We always hear "Remember not to wear hats!" every other day. Never "Don't do drugs," "Don't be making out in the hallway!" or "Stop bringing condoms to school!" It's always "Remember not to wear hats!"
Look, I get that they want us to become smart, but seriously... You've just finished 4 WHOLE HOURS of schoolwork, and now they want us to spend another 2 hours doing more of the same thing. These schools just don't know when enough is enough.
They probably don't even keep track of time because they just want students to keep doing "work, work, work."
I have probably been forced to do more hours of work both in school and at home than the number of hours I've spent doing things I actually enjoy in my entire life. Being a full-time student is probably one of the most psychologically demanding things you go through in your lifetime.
What's more, my school is considering eliminating electives altogether and having the school day simply consist of three, two-hour-long core classes (humanities, science, and math). The only respite we would have would be lunch. This does so much more harm than good.
Not even, bro. They be like, "Why do I hear talking?" or "I'll wait," and then expect us to stop talking out of respect. Maybe you can hear me because you have ears. And if you say you're going to wait, then just wait. Teachers can't even keep their own word these days!
During class, this is understandable when some students are trying to focus on what the teacher is saying. However, banning it in the halls or during lunch is just plainly cruel.
Some of my teachers are so strict with this rule that they give out detentions to the whole class if one person talks.
This one time in class, I was wearing my Fitbit Versa! Because it looks so much like an Apple Watch, that's what the teacher thought it was. Anyway, the teacher had broken her foot, so she couldn't move to the whiteboard. We all assembled around her desk. I and a few other kids were shoved to the back.
The teacher was explaining something, and I tapped my watch to see the time. Unfortunately, the teacher looked up at this specific moment. She saw me "playing" (her words, not mine) on my watch and confiscated it. I didn't get it back until Friday (it was Tuesday). She told me never to wear it to school again. I did, by the way! Stuff the rules! All I wanted was the time!
Yes, I understand some kids truly enjoy PE and playing soccer and basketball and being on teams. But not me. For an introvert like me and many others, it's hard enough to be in a group without it being in gym where you're constantly being judged by your teachers and peers on your skills. Life in middle and high school nowadays is stressful enough without worrying about the newest gym unit that you're terrible at. Even worse, you're on a team with all the athletic kids that are great at that sport, and you are terrible at it.
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Single-gender schools are kind of stupid.
This maybe makes sense because learning a language makes you smarter. Also, people that only know one language will never be able to communicate in different languages in life.
If you must learn more than 1-2 languages, then they are pressuring you, and there is something wrong with them. Like, what if you don't want to learn more than 1-2 languages? This is why I'm neutral on this rule.
In my school, I was forced to learn German. I never wanted to learn it and never planned to live in German-speaking countries.
I get that people might stick gum on your seat and it may get stuck to your pants, but there's a simple solution without banning gum: No sticking gum on seats! I chew gum in class basically every day, and the teachers get super mad when you get busted. I've always seen this rule as completely pointless because gum not only gives you fresh breath but can also act as a stress reliever. And you're at school, so you're going to need a stress reliever.
It is pointless! Gum can help you concentrate. When I was in third grade, I was chewing gum and then the teacher sent me to the principal's office!
I mean, what the heck? It's not our fault that you can't stop looking at my hair. Hair shouldn't matter. Get used to it, I'm not changing it!
So this one is hard. Yes, unnatural hair is distracting for a few people, but it's your choice what color hair you have, nobody else's.
But I only just dyed my hair a few days ago! It's so unfair. I love dying my blonde hair, and it helps me express my style.
So I like to sit in the front of the classroom so the tall people don't obstruct my view of the board, but I generally get seated in the back because they know I'm a good student. Good students should be able to choose.
My geography teacher seems to love seating me right in front of her. Why can't I just sit at the back where I can mind my own business? I'm a good student anyway.
Sometimes we don't even have our friends in any of our classes. And the friends we actually do have, we can't sit beside.
My teacher says it's "fun" and "educational," but I have no idea why. She says we have to understand what the character feels and how emotional they sound. Sure, but don't force me to stand up there and read the part of Goldilocks when she says "This porridge is just right *gobble gobble gobble*." Plus, sometimes people pause and refuse to say anymore even when everyone is literally screaming at them to keep reading. Because of this, we will miss half of break. Then they think everyone hates them and start to cry. It's all the teachers' fault.
See, I'm in year 4, and I'm supposed to be learning about scripts because the year 3s and 4s have to learn how to "express" emotions. I just don't know what's up with teachers these days. They make it so embarrassing, and when they say, "I hope you like your new roles in this play, because you can't switch!" Like, seriously? Also, they force you to do a part even when you say you are being pulled right out of your comfort zone. If there aren't enough roles, they just make up random characters.
For example, in the Seussical play that I did last year, we were split into two groups on different nights so that we had enough parts. But then they made up the jungle citizens, mini clowns, extra bird girls and boys, and many more. For the elephant bird, they had a stuffed toy which was actually Dumbo, the flying elephant! I mean, you could've just made that fictional and taken away the elephant bird instead of paying so much money for a school play!
And no going within 4 inches of each other in a small school with 1,000 students and over 40 kids per class. How?
Why does this rule still exist? Can we even put our hands on our own siblings at school? What in the world?
I've never understood this rule.
This is stupid! What if you have shorts but your arms are really long? It's just stupid altogether. Just boycott. Everyone come to school wearing shorts that are not arm length.
This is unfair because my arms are really long and other people's don't go past their waist, so they can wear whatever they want!
What the hell? So these short girls that have short arms can be walking around school with their bottoms hanging out and they can't say anything about it because it's still arm length. What are they going to do then?
Ok, my school hasn't done a play in a while. And I'm a boy in year 6, I'm going to be backstage. I believe year 6 productions have better songs.
But for assemblies:
Teachers: Super happy and positive songs!
Year 6 Students: Songs with explicit lyrics
I literally have never watched or participated in a school play that was remotely entertaining.
Why do we have to sing babyish songs? Sixth graders should be able to sing Tokyo Narita and Wasting Time!
Just in case... JUST in case... one of the kids hides a loaded pistol, a grenade, five ninja stars, and a jar of cyanide in one.
Unless you're 5, this rule is pointless. Throwing snow doesn't hurt at all.
Yeah, they act like the snow is full of knives.
Sorry if your school has this rule. It sucks. Why do you have to take a few people out? You know, people aren't good with having to leave their friend group to make more friends. What if they are put in a friend group they hate?
So if you have 6 friends (including you), one of them has to leave? And be lonely? Not many people are good with making new friends. Let them have the people they feel safe with or mostly trust.
I luckily never had this issue. Maybe they think a group over five is a gang, even if it's just Christian church kids like me.
In my school, you can wear any shoe except steel-toed boots and anything that exposes your toe. And I always wear black shoes, so this wouldn't affect me. Doesn't mean I agree with it.
Not everyone likes school shoes, especially black shoes, since some of them are as hard as wearing rocks tied to your feet. Black is also a dark, depressing color. Not to be rude to anyone who likes the color black, I like it too.
Ours have to be completely black with no patterns. Guess what? I'm wearing my new shoes (with leopard print) to school tomorrow. Who cares?
My school doesn't have this rule, but everyone brings dodgeballs to class. My school is weird.
Wait, this sounds wrong... I meant hard footballs.
Well, how are you supposed to kick or throw them?
Apparently, any color that is "unnatural" and "a distraction" or something like that. I don't know about anyone else, but for me, weird hair is as much of a distraction as the posters on the walls.
My current school only allows us to dye our hair with natural hair colors, while the high schools don't give a flip about what color you dye your hair.
My friend permanently dyed her hair lilac, and the teacher was fine. I temporarily dye mine red and get suspended for two weeks?!
This is so pointless. My high school doesn't have this rule at all, sorry if yours does. My hair goes down to my knees and everyone stares at me with a smile, especially the boys.
Most of our lives (girls and boys and non-binary people) people might want to grow their hair, but then you just force them to cut it? Let them do them!
This is a rule at some places? Oh no! My hair almost goes down my whole back and I would never cut it. I would just get detention! Yay!
Never had this problem. However, anything over a quick kiss will get you detention.
A lot of people from my school would get suspended.
Wait a sec... Some schools don't allow couples?
That's why I just bring a metal water bottle. I could be drinking water, tea, juice, or even soda and my teachers wouldn't have a single clue.
My school has this stupid rule, and I just don't listen. Sometimes I even put soda in there!
I bring coffee to school in my water bottle, and the PE teacher gets mad at me. Like, what?